﻿226 VIPERID^ 



the effect of the poison being awaited as in other 

 Viperid snakes. This Viper is as a rule of gentle 

 disposition, allowing itself to be handled without 

 attempting to bite, and village boys have been seen 

 playing with them. Although occurring in such 

 enormous numbers at Laxenburg, no accident from 

 snake-bite has ever been heard of. The form from 

 the Balkan Peninsula {V. macrops) is even more pacific 

 still, and is believed never to make use of its poison 

 apparatus, its food consisting of orthopterous insects. 

 According to Captain Veith, who has collected a large 

 number of specimens of this Southern form, the con- 

 tents of the stomach as well as the excrements show 

 this snake to feed exclusively on grasshoppers. On 

 one occasion a big specimen showed such a swelling 

 of the body as to lead to the conclusion that it had 

 swallowed a mouse, but it soon after disgorged what 

 proved to be a ball made up of the agglutinated 

 remains of at least a hundred grasshoppers. When 

 handled, this Viper hisses or even pretends to snap, 

 but with closed mouth, never biting unless seriously 

 hurt. The poison appears to have little effect on man. 

 Reproduction. — Nothing has been published on the 

 breeding habits of this species, but in a letter to 

 the author, dated January 14, 1913, Herr L. 

 von Kirchroth, who has examined over 4,000 

 specimens since 1890, says the young are born in 

 July or August, exceptionally as early as June. 

 Young females bring forth from six to eight young, 



