NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 45 



lacerta, known by the name of eft, or newt ; which serve them 

 for coverings to their gills, and for fins to swim with while in 

 this state ; and which they lose, as well as the fins of their 

 tails, when they change their state and become land animals, 

 as I have observed, by keeping them alive for some time 

 myself." 



Linnaeus, in his "Systema Naturae," hints at what Mr. Ellis 

 advances more than once. 



Providence has been so indulgent to us as to allow of but 

 one venomous reptile of the serpent kind in these kingdoms, 

 and that is the viper. As you propose the good of mankind 

 to be an object of your publications, you will not omit to 

 mention common salad-oil as a sovereign remedy against the 

 bite of the viper. As to the blind worm (Anguis fragilis, 

 so-called because it snaps in sunder with a small blow), I have 

 found, on examination, that it is perfectly innocuous. 5 A 

 neighboring yeoman (to whom I am indebted for some good 

 hints) killed and opened a female viper about the 2/th May : 

 he found her filled with a chain of eleven eggs, about the size 

 of those of a blackbird ; but none of them were advanced so 

 far towards a state of maturity as to contain any rudiments 

 of young. Though they are oviparous, yet they are vivipa- 

 rous also, hatching their young within their bellies, and then 

 bringing them forth. Whereas snakes lay chains of eggs 

 every summer in my melon beds, in spite of all that my peo- 

 ple can do to prevent them ; which eggs do not hatch till the 

 spring following, as I have often experienced. Several intel- 

 ligent folks assure me that they have seen the viper open her 

 mouth and admit her helpless young down her throat on sud- 

 den surprises, just as the female opossum does her brood into 

 the pouch under her belly, upon the like emergencies ; and yet 

 the London viper-catchers insist on it, to Mr. Barrington, that 

 no such thing ever happens. The serpent kind eat, I believe, 

 but once in a year; or rather, but only just at one season of 

 the year. Country-people talk much of a water-snake, but, I 

 am pretty sure, without any reason ; for the common snake 

 (Coluber natrix) delights much to sport in the water, perhaps 

 with a view to procure frogs and other food. 6 



I cannot well guess how you are to make out your twelve 



