TIIR HORNED ADDER, 107 



tohac,,, j.ii,-.. with impunity. The Hottentots will ..ft,. n kill tt..- I'ulT \dd.-r l.\ -pining in its 



face tin- juice ,,f chewed tobacco, or making it hite tl n.l of a Mirk whirh ha> l-.-n ruhU-d in 



the tobacco oil found in all pi IN* that have been long n--.| without being cleaned. 



Tli.- Bushmen are in the habit of procuring from tin- t.-eth of tliis >.T]-nt tin- |M.im with 

 which thc\ arm their tiny but moot fearful arrows. In th" capture of the i'uff Adder they 

 display \.-iy great courage and address. Taking advantage of the reptile's sln^ish hal.its. 

 th.-\ plant their twre feet uj-.n its neck Itefore it lias ignite made up its reptilian mind to 

 iirtiou. ami. holdini: it linnly down, cut otT its head and extract the poison at their leisure. 

 In order t<> make it adhesive to the arrow |>int. it i- mi\.-d with the glutinous juice of the 

 amaryllis. 



Then- seems to U- no certain lein.-dies for the bite of the Puff Adder. Ammonia appears 

 to U- the l-ast iii.-iiicacious suhstance for that purpose, and the natives occasionally att. -mpt 

 to heal the injury by splitting a living fowl acrom the breast, and applying the still 

 palpitating halves to tlie wound. There \ a kind of seed called the "gentleman bean," 

 which is >ai<l to ha\e a Iwneficial effe<-t. If one of the>e U-aits IH plaretl on the recently 

 intli.'t.-.l \\oninl. it adheres with great firmness, and is said to alisorl* the poison from the 

 s\ stem, and to fall off as soon as this olijWt is achieved. The Bunhmen are in the habit of 

 swallowing the poLson whenever they kill a Puff Adder and do not need its venomous store 

 for their arrows, hoping thereby to render themselves proof against its effects. When exam- 

 ined nii'l'T the microscope, the poison resolves itself into minute crystalline spiculfc, not 

 unlike those of Epsom salts, which must IK' kept perfectly dry or they will soon vanish from 

 the ^Hass on which they are placed. 



The color of the Puff Adder is brown, chequered with dark brown and white, and with 

 a reddish Itand U-t ween the eyes. The under parts are paler than the upper. 



SK\ 11: M. other deadly serpents of the same country are closely allied to the puff adder. 

 The first is the DA- APHKK, or UIVKK JACK (Clotho naslcomit) of the colonists, remarkable 



for the loiiir curved horn or spine njHrn the nose, formed by the peculiar development of the 

 scales nvei the n.-iril. This . nrion.H st| ui-inii. U i,nl\ fmin-l in tin- male. In color it i- mu.-h 

 darker than the puff adder, being black, marbled with a paler hue, and decorated with 

 -midry loft-ni.'e-shaped spots along the back. 



I'm: I'M:.. AMU it (Clotho dtropos) is another of these fearful reptiles. As its name 

 denotes, it is found more among the hills and stony ranges than on the plains, hut is not 

 nnfrequcntly found upon the flats, and will sometimes intrude into very awkward positions, 

 such as the floor of a hut, or even the bed upon which some wearied man is about to cast 

 himself. It is not quite so poisonous as the puff adder, thongh its looks are quite as nnpre- 

 pm in,-. :ni'i i; aVer I'it.'s unl--ss pnr]H>s..l\ irritat.-d r fii-ld--n u|.n. 



It is an ugly, thick-l>odied, slow-crawling creature, with a suddenly tapering tail and a 

 most evil looking head. It is not a large reptile, its average length being about eighteen 

 inches. Its color is olive-gray, marbled on the sides, and decorated along the back with four 

 rows of dark squared spots. 



YET one more species of this genus deserves a passing notice. This is the HO*UNEI> ADDER 

 (('MJti> iiirniitn , sometimes, hut erroneously, called the Cerastes, a term that is rightly applied 

 to another S-rp.-n: shortly to be described. It sometimes goes by the popular name ..f 

 HORN-SHAN. It derives its name of Horned Adder from the groups of little thread-like horns 

 that are seen on the head, one group appearing above each eye. In some works of Natural 

 History, it Is called the PMMKH Viru:. in allusion to these curious groups. It is not \i-i> 

 graceful in form, 1>eing decidedly short, squat, and puffy in shape, but is very prettily 

 marked, ita body t>eing richly marbled with chestnut, covered with a multitude of minute 

 dots, and variegated with four rows of dark spots along the back, two rows running on each 

 side of the vertebral line. 



