ADDERS, 87 



They are also occasionally found on the heaths near London and in 

 the neighbourhood of Paris ; they are met with at Montmorency, 

 and in the forest of Fontainebleau. They feed upon lizards, frogs, 

 molluscs, worms, insects, and small mammalia, such as field-mice, 

 shrews, and moles. They pass the winter and early spring in deep 

 hollows, in a state of torpor, where they are sheltered from the cold. 

 It is not unusual to find several adders coiled up together in one 

 heap, entwined and interlaced together.* 



The movement of Adders is abrupt, slow, and irregular. They 

 appear to be shy and timid creatures, shunning the day, and only 

 seeking their food in the evening. The young come into the world 

 alive ; so long as they are maintained within the mother, they are 

 enclosed in eggs with membranous shells. Soon after their birth the 

 young Vipers, whose length does not exceed six or seven inches, are 

 abandoned by the parent, and left to shift for themselves. They do 

 not, however, acquire their full development till they are six or 

 seven years old. Adders are justly considered objects of fear and 

 horror both to men and to other animals, as they bear with them 

 a formidable apparatus, of which it is important that both the 

 structure and the mode of action should be known. This venomous 

 apparatus is composed of three parts the secreting glands, the 

 canal, and the hooked fangs. 



The gland is the organ which secretes the venom ; it is situated 

 upon the sides of the head, behind and a little beneath the globe of 

 the eye ; it is formed of a number of inflated bladders, composed of 

 a granular tissue, and disposed with great regularity along the 

 excretory canal, not unlike the barbs of a pen-feather. This arrange- 

 ment, however, is only visible through a microscope. The tube 

 destined to conduct the secreted venom through the gland is straight 

 and cylindrical ; after being filled, in its short journey it ends in 

 two peculiar hook-like teeth, called fangs, tapering to a point, and 

 horn-like. They are much longer than the others, and placed one to 

 the right, the other to the left, of the upper jaw. The adder, then, is 

 furnished with two of these poison-fangs ; they are curved and sharp- 

 pointed, convex anteriorly, and furnished with a straight duct which 

 commences in one part by a slit placed at the anterior part of its 

 base, terminating by a second and smaller cleft towards its point, 

 and on the same side. This last cleft is like a little trench or fine 

 furrow, which extends the whole length of its convexity. These 

 hooked teeth are surrounded by a fold of the gums, which receives 



* In the Highlands of Scotland I have twice observed this. ED. 



