EEPTILES. 457 



7. YIPERA BERUS, L. Yanlig Huggorm. The Common 

 Yiper. The Adder. 



Nilsson gives us the following synonymes : Coluber 

 Berus, L., " Faun Suec. ;" Vipera Berus, Daud., Bell, 

 "British Reptiles/' p. 58. 



To this belongs la petite vipere (G. Chersea), Cuv. ; 

 Regne. An. (his C. berus belongs to the G. aspis, L., 

 which is not Swedish) . 



Pelia Chersea, Bp. Asping Svensk. 



Black variety, G. prester, L. ; black viper, Bell ; Svart 

 huggorm (Svensk.), Smaland "bosse." 



That the common viper is subject to great variation in 

 colour I will not deny, for I have frequently myself killed 

 in Sweden, all the varieties mentioned by Bell the brown, 

 red, and black ; and as far as my examination would lead 

 me to believe, they were all the common viper in dif- 

 ferent states of colouring, but that Linnets G. prester, is 

 nothing more than a black variety of the common viper 

 I do not believe ; in fact, I think we have in Sweden two 

 very distinct species of the black viper, and although 

 Linnasus seemed to be aware of the fact, no other Swedish 

 naturalist except Magister Hardin of Carlstad appears to 

 be so. 



During a little excursion with that gentleman in 1861, 

 over the North Wermland fells, we killed a black viper bask- 

 ing in a "small wood by the side of " Hagg Fell," Ostmark, 

 which we preserved in spirits, and brought home. When 

 we examined it afterwards, it exactly tallied with Linnets 

 description of the G. prester: abdominal plates 153; tail 

 scuta 32. In describing this coluber prester in his "Fauna 

 Suecica," Linne says : " Yipera anglica Nigricans, Smolandis 

 bosse ; habitat in sylvis rarior. Corpus atrum." In his de- 

 scription of C. berus , in the same work he says : ' ' Yipera 

 anglica fusca, Sw., Huggorm. Corpus cinereum dorso linea 

 undulata nigricante conspicua; habitat in Suecica frequens." 

 Abdominal plates 146 ; scuta 39. 



