35^ SNAKES. 



supplementary) of a puff adder which he found. His words, 

 if not strictly scientific, arc so graphic as to convey a true 

 idea of these terrible weapons. The viper was five feet four 

 inches long, and fifteen inches in girth in its largest part. The 

 head was two and a half inches broad. Sir Samuel counted 

 ' eight teeth ' (fangs), and secured five of them, the two most 

 prominent being nearly one inch long. 'The poison fangs 

 are artfully contrived, by some diabolical freak of nature, as 

 pointed tubes, through which the poison is injected into the 

 base of the wound inflicted. The extreme point of the fang 

 is solid, and is so finely sharpened that beneath a powerful 

 microscope it is perfectly smooth, although the point of the 

 finest needle is rough !'i He describes the aperture in the 

 fang as like a tiny slit cut in a quill. 



This ' slit ' is a very important feature in the fang, and is 

 the cause of much trouble in deciding whether a bitten person 

 has been poisoned or not. It is in reality a very small 

 space 7iear the point, where the involution of the fang is 

 incomplete, that is, where it has remained unjoined. This is 

 to permit the emission of the venom. It is not close to the 

 point, which, as Sir S. Baker affirms, is solid. Being solid, 

 it is stronger and sharper, penetrating the skin of the victim 

 more easily, and making way for the venom which in viperine 

 fangs then follows and escapes through the slit into the wound. 

 By this we comprehend how a person may receive a puncture 

 only, or a scratch with this extreme but solid point, but not 

 deep enough for the poison to enter. The space between 

 the lines at a in the next illustration shows where this slit in 



^ The Albert Nyanza, or Great Basin of the Nile, by Sir Sam. Baker. London, 

 1866. 



