80 OUR REPTILES. 



number, but my impression is that it was not more 

 than six or eight."* Another gentleman recently 

 communicated to Science Gossip the following 

 occurrence : — 



Some years since I was shooting in a wood, and came 

 suddenly on a viper lying on a sunny bank. As soon as the 

 viper caught sight of me, it began to hiss, and I distinctly 

 saw several young ones, about three or four inches long, run 

 up to the parent and vanish down its throat ; arjd from the way 

 in which the parent kept its mouth open, and the young ones 

 glided into it, I should say they were accustomed to that sort 

 of thing, f 



We must not forget that some time since the 

 following occurrences were narrated in the Zoologist, 

 by the editor himself, and whilst they strengthen 

 the evidence of the Viper swallowing its young, 

 further serve to establish the fact of viviparous 

 reptiles being addicted to that habit. Both these 

 illustrations refer to the " Scaly Lizard," which, 

 like the Viper, brings forth its young alive. " My 

 late lamented friend, William Christy, jun., found 

 a fine specimen of the common Scaly Lizard with 

 two young ones; taking an interest in everything 

 relating to Natural History, he put them into a 

 small pocket vasculum to bring home, but when he 

 next opened the vasculum the young ones had dis- 

 appeared, and the belly of the parent was greatly 



* Science Gossip, p. 108. 

 t Science Gossip , p. 160. 



