94 _ OPHIDIANS. 
bistre color upon a lighter background, and covered with small round 
spots. 
Tt has long, stout fangs; it is viviparous. One, which was 
kept in a small box for a long time in South America, gave 
birth to 20 snakelets. It is exceedingly abundant in the 
valley of the River Magdalena. 
VIPERA LACHESIS, 
Second Variety, VipERA LACHESIS TRIGONOCEPHALUS. 
This variety is not known to have been found anywhere 
except in Dutch Guiana, where it is called Curucucu, and in 
British Guiana, Conanaconchi or Bushmaster. Its length 
varies from 3 to 14 feet; it is supposed to be the largest 
poisonous snake known; this is the original Trigonocephalus 
of Dr. Hering; the poison of which is used so frequently in 
homeeopathie practice as a medicinal agent. 
The following description is that of a specimen in the pos- 
session of Dr. Boericke of Philadelphia. 
Length 7’ 7/7; abdominal scuta 228 entire, subeaudal squame 37 
pairs (making 265); body covered with 26 rows of scales, the central 
row over the axis of the dorsum most highly carinated, each successive 
row being less so down towards the sides; scales diminish slightly in 
size toward the neck, gradually and much more so towards the tail, on 
the point of which they are very small; tip of tail 14’’ in length, and 
terminates in a sharp, horny point, 47” in length; head considerably 
depressed at the eyes, but rises towards the rostrum, the extreme point 
of which is as high as the occiput ; head covered with very small scales, 
gradually increasing in size towards the neck ; rostrum covered by one 
large triangular shield; upper periphery of the mouth is sheathed by 
8 shields, precisely the same as those described in the Vipera lachesis 
bufocephalus; the largest shield is between the eye and the nostril; 
nostrils gaping, slightly turned backwards, infundibuliform ; body marked 
with a zigzag line of semi-rhomboidal macule, having the angles on 
one side opposite the points on the other; the rhomboidal macule 
are broken in several places along the line of the dorsum; the macule 
