108 



THE CERASTES, OR HORNED VIPER. 



THE true CERASTES, or HORNED VIPER, is a native of Northern Africa, and divides with 

 the cobra of the same country the questionable honor of being the "worm of Nile," to whose 

 venomous tooth Cleopatra's death was due. 



The bite of this most ungainly looking Serpent is extremely dangerous, though, perhaps, 

 not quite so deadly as that of the cobra, and the creature is therefore not quite so much 

 dreaded as might be imagined. The Cerastes has a most curious appearance, owing to a 

 rather larg horn-like scale which projects over each eye, and which, according to the natives, 

 is possessed of wonderful virtues. They fancy that one of the so-called horns contains the 

 supply of poison for the teeth, and that the other, if pounded and the powder rubbed over 

 the eyelids, will enable the fortunate experimenter to see all the wealth of the earth a privilege 

 which, according to the peculiar cast of the Oriental mind, is of nearly as much value as the 

 actual possession. The reader may remember a tale in the "Arabian Nights," in which a 

 similar story is narrated. 



The Cerastes has, according to Bruce, an awkward habit of crawling until it is alongside 

 of the creature whom it is about to attack, and then making a sidelong leap at its victim. He 



CERASTES, OB HOBNKD VIPEB. Vipera cerasta. 



relates an instance where he saw a Cerastes perform a certainly curious feat : " I saw one of 

 them at Cairo crawl up the side of a box in which there were many, and there lie still as if 

 hiding himself, till one of the people who brought them to us came near him, and though in a 

 very disadvantageous position, sticking, as it were, perpendicularly to the side of the box, he 

 leaped near the distance of three feet, and fastened between the man's forefinger and thumb, 

 so as to bring the blood." 



The man who was thus bitten happened to be one of the men who profess Serpent charm- 

 ing, and avow themselves to be proof against the bite of any poisonous Snake. In this instance 

 no ill effects followed the hurt, although Bruce proved that the poison-fangs had not been 

 extracted, by making the reptile bite a pelican, which died in about thirteen minutes. Some 

 persons have suggested that in this, as well as in other similar instance, the man was a clever 

 juggler, who substituted a really venomous specimen for a Snake whose poison-fangs had been 



