204 ON THE OEOGRArillCAL 



of tlic Geographical Distril)iition of Ophidians, wc now 

 propose to treat more particuhirly of each region of the 

 earth known to be mhabited by these animals. 



In commencing ^^'ith Europe, we perceive that this part of 

 the globe supports neither Calamars, nor Heterodons, nor 

 Lycodons ; tliat the true Tree- Snakes are not found in it, 

 nor even the Ilerpetodryas ; that it furnishes neither the 

 Homalopsis nor the Boa ; that the Colubriform Venomous 

 Serpents and Sea-Serpents are never there met with ; lastly, 

 that the true Venomous Snakes have no other representa- 

 tives than several species of the genus Vipera. There is 

 not one species peculiar to the central, or northern parts 

 of Europe, — almost all being ec[ually found in the South of 

 Europe, a region which produces several species that also 

 inhabit the adjacent parts of Africa or of Asia. We can, 

 however, assign limits to some of the species, Avliich affords 

 room for some curious specr.lations. The common Viper, 

 Vipera berus, for example, inhabits all the central part of 

 Europe, and appears also distributed m temperate parts of 

 Asia, even to the Lake of Baikal ; it is also found in Eng- 

 land* and Sweden ; but towards the West, it is not found 

 beyond the Seine, while the Alps appear to form the boun- 

 dary of this speciest on the South. In the southern 

 and western parts of Europe it is replaced by the Vipera 

 Aspis, the Aspic, which is found from Trieste throughout 

 Italv and Sicilv, in Switzerland, and in the whole of 

 France, from the Seine to the Pyi-enecs, and probably 

 also in the Iberian peninsula. J The southern parts of 

 the east of Europe produce, on the other hand, a third 

 species of this genus, the Vipera ammodi/tes, which is ffjund 

 from Styria to the south of Hungary, in Greece, inDalmatia, 



• [It is very common in Scotland. The Translator has specimens 

 killed in Dumfriesshire, in Peebles-shire, and in Ross-shire.] 



t It is said that it has been also met with in the valley of the Po, 

 near Florence, but in vei-y small number. 



:J [The Translator saw, in the apothecary shops in Madrid, and 

 other cities in Spain, many specimens of the Vipera Aspis, of a yellow- 

 ish olive-brown colour, with detached spots along the back, a slender 

 body, and large head. He noted it at the time as "a variety of the 

 common Viper ;" none like our Vipera berus were observed by him in 

 Spain.] 



