SNAKES 171 



sole representative of the genus, which also occurs in the 

 Moluccas and New Guinea. It has a very viperine appear- 

 ance, and was, in fact, long placed amongst the vipers. 

 The head is distinct from the neck. The eye is small, 

 with a vertically elliptic pupil. The body, the scales upon 

 which are keeled, is stout. The fangs are large. The 

 colour of this snake is yellowish or reddish-brown, with 

 dark cross-bands. 



The Death Adder has as nervous a disposition as the 

 cobras, and when disturbed flattens out its entire body, 

 raising its head slightly as if to strike. According to 

 Krefft, the young, ten to fifteen in number, begin to snap 

 right and left as soon as they have broken through the 

 egg-covering. 



The Vipers, family Viperid^, are the most highly 

 modified of poisonous snakes, the maxillary bone, to which 

 the poison fangs are fixed, being much shortened and 

 movable vertically, a mechanism by means of which the 

 fangs, which are usually of very large size, may be raised 

 and lowered. The family is divided into two well-defined 

 sub-families, the Vipers proper {Viperince) inhabiting 

 Europe, Asia, and Africa, and the Pit-Vipers {Crotalincs)^ 

 of Asia and America, the latter being distinguished from 

 the former by the presence of a deep pit, probably a sensory 

 organ, situated on each side of the snout, between the 

 nostril and the eye. 



The type genus Vipera comprises about twenty species, 

 which are distributed over Europe, Africa, and the greater 

 part of Asia. The head, which is distinct from the neck, 

 is covered with scales or small shields. The body and tail 



