1209 



VIPERID.E. 



VIPERID^E. 



1213 



We now proceed to describe a few of the forms illustrative of this 

 poisonous family. 



Peliaa Berta, Merr. ; Vipera, Ray ; F. vulgarU, Latr. ; V. communis, 

 Leach ; the Common Viper. 



" The head," says Mr. Bell, in his 'British Reptiles,' "is somewhat 

 depressed, almost oval, slightly widening behind the eyes. Gape as 

 long as the head, extending behind. No teeth in the upper maxillary 

 bones excepting the poison-fangs ; a row of small teeth in the palatine 

 bone on each side. Neck rather smaller than the back of the head, 

 from which the body increases to nearly the middle of the entire 

 length ; the rest of the body to the vent scarcely diminishing ; the 

 tail becoming almost abruptly smaller, and tapering to its extremity, 

 which is pointed : the tail varies in proportion to the body, but is 

 generally not more than one-eighth of the total length, and in some 

 even less. The head is covered with small squamose plates, which 

 in some specimens are regularly formed and symmetrically placed ; 

 but in others they are very irregular. There are three which are 

 larger than the others, namely, the vertical and the pair of occipital 

 plate*. The scales of the back and sides are semioval or somewhat 

 lanceolate, imbricated, and distinctly carinated. They are disposed 

 in eight' en series. The plates of the abdomen have nothing particular 

 in their form ; they vary in number, but usually consist of about one 

 hundred and forty to about one hundred and fifty, and those of the 

 tail are about thirty-five pairs. 



Head of the Viper. (Bell.) 



" The general ground-colour varies considerably. In some it is 

 nearly olive, in others a rich deep brown, and in others a dirty 

 brownish-yellow ; and when in high health, and shortly after having 

 cast the skin, the surface is slightly iridescent in particular lights. A 

 mark between the eyes, a spot on each side of the hinder part of the 

 head, and a zigzag line running the whole length of the body and tail, 

 formed by a series of confluent rhombs, as well as a row of small 

 triangular spots on each side, all of a much darker hue than the 

 ground-colour of the body, and frequently almost black. I have a 

 specimen in my collection which I received alive from Hornsey Wood, 

 the ground of which was almost perfectly white, and all the markings 

 jet-black. The under parts are plumbeous in some, with lighter or 

 darker spots ; in others wholly black." 



Common Viper or Adder (t'irera commun'u). 



This i, not improbably, the'E^u of Aristotle and the Greeks, and 

 the Vipera of Virgil (' Georg.,' iii. 417), Pliny ('Nat. Hist.,' viii. 39 

 x. 42 ; xi. 37) and the Romans. It is the Marasso of the Italians 

 ViiM-re of the French; Hugg-Orm of the Swedes ; and Adder (ancientlj 

 written Nedre, and later Eddre, with the loss of the initial n, fron 

 the Anglo-Saxon Ntcdre) of the country people in many parts o 

 England and Scotland. 



This reptile is found in Europe generally, from the north of KUSSH 

 to the south of Italy and Spain ; in England and Scotland, but not in 

 Ireland. 



From a very early period there appears to have been a notion tna 

 the female Viper, in order to take care of her young, swallows them 

 Thin is a question not easily answered, and it has been warmly dis 

 I. There is no physiological reason against it. The younj 

 might live in such a situation for some time : it is well known tha 

 frogs will lire and cry in the stomach of a serpent. But the evidenc 



f the viper-catchers is strong against the fact, and we have never met 

 ith any one who could state that he had actually seen the young 

 nter or issue from that retreat. It is not improbable that when 

 emale vipers in the last stage of pregnancy have been surprised, 

 nd on being opened have disclosed living young, the spectators, not 

 ware of the extreme thinness of the membrane which incloses 

 hem, and which a very slight pressure will suffice to rupture, have 

 eaped to the conclusion that the young had entered the mouth for 

 selection. 



When a viper is about to strike, it is generally more or less coiled, 

 and elevates the head and neck, which are drawn backwards, the 

 ormer in a horizontal position. The head is then suddenly darted at 

 he object of attack, and the erected tooth plunged into it and with- 

 Lrawn with a motion almost too quick for the eye to follow. Unless 

 very much irritated the serpent will not immediately repeat the bite, 

 as if conscious that time is required for the renewal of the poisonous 

 lecretion, so as to make it sufficiently virulent. 



We are not aware of any well-authenticated case of a person bitten 

 >y a viper terminating fatally ; but we would by no means insure a 

 torson so wounded in the heats of summer or autumn, especially if 

 rhe wound be inflicted on a naked part, and if he be of a bad habit of 

 >ody. The remedy used by viper-catchers is to rub olive-oil on the 

 >art woundtd, over a chafing-dish of coals. They also take it inter- 

 lally. Some of them suffer themselves to bo bitten by vipers full of 

 sweltered venom," confident in their remedy. Such cases will be 

 bund in the work of Dr. Mead, who proved the innocence of the 

 loison when swallowed, by taking it himself without the slightest 

 11 effect, an example not to be rashly followed, for any recent injury 

 io the gums, or the skin of the mouth or throat generally, would 

 render such an experiment extremely hazardous from the vascularity 

 of the part. Great medical virtues have been attributed to vipers. 



The lingering belief in the wonderfully invigorating qualities of 

 viper broth ' is not yet quite extinct in some places. Pliny, Galen, 

 and others praise the efficacy of viper flesh in the cure of ulcers, 

 elephantiasis, and other disorders arising from a corrupt state of the 

 system. By the ancients the animal was generally served to the patient 

 boiled like fish, as being more efficacious than when taken in the form 

 of a powder or other dried state. Sir Kenelm Digby's beautiful wife 

 was fed on capons fattened with the flesh of vipers. 



Open copses, dry heaths, newly-cleared woodlands, and sandy wastes 

 are the usual haunts of the viper, which, in winter, is frequently found 

 in its hybernaculum, intertwined with several of its own species, and 

 in an almost torpid state. These conglomerations may have given 

 rise to the mode in which the celebrated Ovum Auguinum was pro- 

 duced. Pliny indeed (' Nat. Hist.,' xxix., c. 3) attributes its produc- 

 tion to snakes convoluted together in the summer, and notices the 

 statements of the Druids with regard to this mystic creation. Mason 

 has- not omitted to take advantage of this tradition in his ' Caractacus,' 

 where the Druid sings 



" Fi-om the grot of charms and spells, 

 "Where our matron sister dwells, 

 Brennus, has thy holy hand 

 Safely brought the Druid -wand, 

 And the potent adder-stone 

 'Gender'd 'fore the autumnal moon 

 When in undulating twine 

 The foaming snakes prolific join." 



Our modern druidesses gives much the same account of the Ovum 

 Anguin im, Gliiiu Neidr, as the Welsh call it, or the Adder-Gem, as the 

 Roman philosopher does, but seem not to have sq exalted an opinion 

 of its powers, using it only to assist children in cutting their teeth, 

 or to cure the chin-cough, or to drive away an ague. These beads are 

 made of glass, and of a very rich blue colour : some are plain, others 

 streaked : we say nothing of the figure, as the annexed plate will 

 convey a stronger idea of it than words. 



Adder-Stones. (Pennant.) 



Vipera (Oerasfa) eaudalis, Smith ( Vipera occUata, Smith), is a species 

 described by Dr. Andrew Smith, and is found in South Africa. 



Dr. Smith says of this snake, that, though generally inactive, it is 

 by no means so when injured : its movements are then performed with 

 activity ; and when once it seizes the obnoxious object, it retains its 



