SNAKES 173 



accepted by the majority of naturalists, as the phenomenon 

 may be explained by the fact that, when disturbed, the 

 young escape into the herbage with such speed that the 

 spectator, who is the victim of an optical delusion, imagines 

 that they must have taken refuge down the throat of their 

 mother. On the female being opened she is found to 

 contain fully developed and active young, which are, 

 however, but part of the brood about to be expelled. 

 Some years ago the Field newspaper offered quite a sub- 

 stantial reward to any one producing conclusive evidence 

 of a viper having swallowed her young ; the reward was 

 never claimed. 



Although somewhat savage when first captured, the 

 Common Viper often becames quite tame, and the writer 

 has often had specimens which allowed themselves to be 

 handled without showing any signs of resentment. The 

 largest recorded specimen of this snake measures twenty- 

 eight inches ; about twenty inches is the average length. 



The Long-nosed Viper, V. ammodytes, common in 

 South Austria, Hungary, and the Balkan Peninsula, is 

 characterized by the snout, which is produced into a long, 

 fleshy appendage, covered with scales. It grows to a 

 much larger size than the common species, specimens of 

 over two feet being of common occurrence, and, unlike 

 V. beruSj does well in captivity, feeding on mice, small 

 rats, and lizards. 



Orsini's Viper, F. orsinii, which has a somewhat pointed 

 snout, but no fleshy appendage, occurs in the French Alps, 

 Italy, Bosnia, Lower Austria, and Hungary. The typical 

 form feeds almost entirely on lizards, but the variety 

 macrops, restricted to Bosnia, although endowed with as 



