210 OPHIDIA. — VIPERAD^, 



width of the head, which is covered with small 

 scales ; by the scales of the body being in general 

 rough and keeled ; and by the tail being usually- 

 short in comparison with the body, and often thin 

 or slender. The belly is clothed with broad band- 

 like shields or plates, as in the Snakes : there are 

 no vestiges of limbs. Some have a deep pit, like 

 a second nostril on the cheek, just in front of the 

 eye, as the Rattlesnakes, whose singular caudal 

 appendage we have just noticed. Others have the 

 tail terminating in a small recurved spine, and 

 others have two minute spines resembling re- 

 curved horns, on the tip of the nose. The Najas 

 have the power of dilating the skin of the neck 

 to an enormous extent when irritated. All the 

 species with which we are acquainted, bring forth 

 their young alive, the eggs being hatched in the 

 moment of birth : the term Viper is an abbrevia- 

 tion of I'ivipara, which expresses this quality. 



One of the most remarkable phenomena in 

 Natural History is the power which, from time 

 immemorial, has been exercised in the East by 

 certain persons over the most venomous Serpents. 

 It is more than once alluded to in the Sacred 

 Scriptures,* and multitudes of modern writers 

 have described the practices of these Snake- 

 charmers wdth more or less of accuracy. The 

 Snakes chiefly subjected to their skill are the 

 various species of Cerastes, or Horned Vipers, and 

 of Naja, or Hooded Snakes, which are common 

 both in Africa and India, Many persons afl^rm 

 that there is nothing extraordinary in the process ; 

 that the Snakes are tamed for the purpose, and 

 deprived of their fangs, before the exhibition ; but 



* Ps. Iviii. 4, 5. — Jer. viii. 17. 



