APPENDIX. ■ 489 



^ne very remarkable account of this kind is from Italy by Dr. Sprcngell.* 

 Ai Milan he found a viper catcher, who feldom was wuhout fixty or more 

 vipers alive, kept together in a back room, open at top; he had them from 

 ill parts of Italy, and fold them dead or alive according to the u!es they 

 were defigned for. Having one day got a female viper, big with young, 

 we catched fome mice, and threw in one at a time; amonglt all that num- 

 ber of vipers, which were upwards of fixty, there was none of thpin in the 

 leaft concerned himfelf about the moufc, till the prcgnan'. female viper an(i 

 the moufe interchanged eyes ; whereupon the moule (lartled ; but the vi- 

 per raifed her head, and turned her neck into a perfeft bow, the moiith 

 Open, the tongue playing, the eyes all on lire, and the tail ercft : The 

 tnoufe feemed foon recovered of his fris^ht, would take a turn or two, and 

 fomecimes more, pretty brifkly round the viper, and giving at times a 

 fqueak, would run with a great deal of fwiftnefs into the chops of uie vi- 

 per, where it gradually funk down the gullet. All this while the viper 

 never ftirred out ot her place, but lay in a ling." 



It is to be obferved, that no viper wi'l feed when confined, except a 

 pregnant female viper. The Doftor faw the lame thing at BrulTels, whete 

 a foldier had catched a large viper big with youngs 



I^From the Travels of Le Valliant in Africa.] 

 IN the additional volumes of the travels of Le Valiiant into Africa, 

 appear fome very ftrikingfafls relative to the fafrinating power of lerp?iits. 

 Two of them are authenticated on the evidence of the author himfelf, and 

 the other is fanftioned by his belief iu the veracity ''f the relator. 



The inftances produced by Le Valiiant are briefly as follow ; 



Firfl inftance. — "One day, in one of our excutdons in hun'ing, we 

 perceived a motion in the branches ot one of the trefs. Immediately wc 

 heard the piercing cries of a flirike, and law it tremble as if in coMvjj|(r>ns. 

 We fir ft conceived that it was held in the gripe of fome bitd of prev\; 

 but a clofer attention led us to difcover lipon the next branch of the tree, 

 a large ferpent, that with flretched out neck, and fiery eyes, thougn p rfc£l= 

 ly ilill, was gazing at the poor animal. The as;ony of t'le hiid was lerri- 

 ble ; but fear had deprived it of llrength, and, as if tied by the 1?; it 

 feemed to have loft the power of flight. One of the company ran for a 

 fufee ; but before he returned, the fhiike was dead, and we oiily Ihot ctie 

 Jerpent. I requefted that the diftance betv/een the place where the bird 

 i;ad experienced the convulfions, and that occupied by the ferpent m'aht 

 be meafured. Upon doing fo, we found it to be three feet and a halt, and 

 we were all convinced that the fhrike had died neither from the biie, nor 

 the poifon of its enemy. I ftripped it a!fo before the whole company, 

 and made themobferve, that it was untouched, and had not received the 

 flighteft wound." 



Second inftance. — " Hunting one day, in a marfhy piece of ground, I 

 heard, all at once, in a tuft of reeds, a piercing and very lamentable cry» 

 Anxious to know what it was, I ftole loftly to the place, where I perceiv- 

 ed a fmall moufe, like the fhrike on the tree, in agonizing convulfions, and 

 two yards farther a ferpent, whofe eyes were intently fixed upon it. The 

 moment the reptile faw me, it glided away; but the bufinefs was done. 

 Upon taking up the moufe, it expired in my hand, without its being pof- 

 fible for me to difcover, by the raoft atlcatlve examination, what had oc- 

 iSafioned its death." 



* Phil. Tranf, No. 39;;. 



