THE nnXCTPAL SPECIES ()E I'OISONOUS SNAKES TM 



Total length, 850 milliiiietres ; tail 30. 



Habitat : Cape of Good Hope. 



(5) B. cornuta (fig. 38). — Nostrils opening upwards and out- 

 wards. Head covered with small, imbricate, strongly keeled scales ; 

 2 — 5 raised scales, like horns, above each eye ; 12 — 14 scales round 

 the eye ; 12 — 15 supralabials ; 2 — 3 infralabials. Scales on the body 

 keeled, in 25—29 rows ; 120—152 

 ventrals ; 18 — 36 subcaudals. 



Colour grey or reddish - brown, 



with black spots> edged with white 



and arranged in 3 or 4 longitudinal 



series ; a dark, oblique streak from 



the eye to the mouth ; belly yellow 



or brown, uniform or spotted. ,n ^ oq t,-,- , 



' i Fig. 38. — Bitis cornuta. 



Total length, 510 millimetres; (After Dumeril and Bibron.) 



tail 35. 



Habitat : Cape Colony, Namaqualand, Damaraland. 



(0) B. caudalis. — Nostrils opening upwards and outwards. 

 12 — 16 scales from one eye to the other across the head ; above 

 each eye a single, erect, horn-like scale ; 10 — 16 scales round the 

 eye ; 10 — 13 supralabials ; 2 — 3 infralabials. Scales on the body 

 in 22 — 29 rows, strongly keeled; 112 — 153 ventrals; 18 — 33 sub- 

 caudals. 



Colour reddish or sandy-grey, with 2 series of brown spots with 

 light centres, and frequently a vertebral series of narrow spots ; 

 belly dull yellow, uniform, or with small black spots on the sides. 



Total length, 360 millimetres ; tail 25. 



Habitat : South-west Africa, from Angola to Namaqualand. 



(7) B. gabonica (Gaboon Viper, or Eiver Jack Viper). — Nostrils 

 directed upwards and outwards. Head covered with small, 

 moderately keeled scales, smallest on the vertex, 13 — 16 from eye 

 to eye ; 15 — 19 scales round the eye ; a pair of erectile, triangular, 

 nasal " horns," consisting of sometimes tricuspid shields, between 

 the supranasals ; 13 — 16 supralabials ; 4 — 5 infralabials. Scales 



