26 VENOMS 
generally with an undulating or zigzag band along the vertebral 
column, and a series of lateral spots. A black spot shaped like 
a V, an X, or a circumflex accent, on the head. The tip of the tail 
is yellow or reddish. Some specimens are entirely black. 
Total length from 350 to 700 millimetres ; tail 75 to 90. 
Habitat: Northern Europe, and especially the mountains of 
Central Europe; irregularly distributed in Southern Europe; 
Northern Spain and Portugal, Northern Italy, Bosnia, Caucasus. 
This viper, which is very common in France, ranges as far as 
the Scandinavian Peninsula to about the 65th parallel of North 
Latitude. It is sometimes met with among the mountains at an 
altitude of about 6,500 feet (2,000 metres). It is found on heaths, in 
erass-lands, vineyards, and forests. Certain parts of the sandy 
moors of North Germany are literally infested with it. It abounds 
in the Jura, Isère, Ardèche, Auvergne, Brittany, Vendée, and the 
Forest of Fontainebleau. 
It seeks its prey by night, and feeds on voles, small birds, frogs, 
lizards, and small fish. During the summer it shows a preference 
for moist places, often even remaining in the water, in which it 
swims with ease. 
Light and fire attract it. It does not climb trees, but 1s 
frequently found coiled up on boughs of dead wood scattered on 
the ground. 
When on the defensive, and preparing to bite, it throws its 
head back, and makes a sudden dart of from a foot to sixteen inches. 
If irritated it makes a sort of hissing noise. 
To pass the winter it retires into the crevices of rocks or into 
old tree-trunks, where it entwines itself closely with a number of 
its congeners. In this way ten or fifteen vipers are frequently 
found together in the same hole. 
In April, the whole company awakes, and copulation then takes 
place. The eggs are laid in August and September, and the young 
immediately crawl out of the shell, already prepared to bite, and 
