Il6 THE BRITISH REPTILES. 



from the nape, and there is a dark streak ending in the eye. The 

 males are lighter in colour but have darker markings ; the female 

 is larger than the male. The length may reach twenty-eight inches, 

 hut in this country the average is ten. The tail is about a seventh 

 of the total length in the male and about a tenth in the female. 

 The female has a habit of basking in the sun, apparently for the 

 purpose of stimulating the development of the eggs, which are 

 extruded in July and August, the young, from ten to twenty in number, 

 escaping from them at the same time. As Gilbert White says, 

 " they issue into the world with the true viper spirit about them, 

 showing great alertness as soon as disengaged." Though frequently 

 seen abroad in the daytime, vipers are chiefly nocturnal. They live 

 largely on mice and voles, and hence are found in the fields of 

 grain on which those rodents feed. They do not enter water, and 

 prefer sunny, open places, heaths and moors, and the outskirts and 

 clearings of the woods. They hibernate, often in company, for 

 nearly half the year, but occasionally emerge from their retreat 

 if the weather be warmer than usual. They cast their skin once or 

 oftener during the summer, and for a few days afterwards are quite 

 brilliant in colour. To prepare for striking a viper coils itself up 

 with its head in the centre of the coil and drawn a little back, and 

 quick as lightning uncoils itself like a spring, supporting itself on its 

 tail, and distending its mouth upwards, drops its fangs forwards and 

 drives them straight into the victim, closing the mouth as the blow 

 is given so as to squirt the venom into the wound. The bite is but 

 momentary, the fangs being withdrawn as soon as the injection is 

 made, ready for a second attack if necessary. A viper can, however, 

 strike without coiling, and should never be held by the tail or the 

 middle, but always near the head. As there are two poison teeth, 

 there are, of course, two holes in the flesh which are the width of 

 the mouth apart. The poisoning does not always end fatally, but it 

 is as well to avoid it if possible. In the New Forest, where more 

 vipers have been caught than elsewhere, the professional hunters 

 use a forked stick about five feet long with which to pin the reptile 

 down to the ground by its neck, and carry a pair of wooden pincers 

 with points half an inch broad with which to lift it safely into the 

 collecting box. 



In these notes we have said nothing about the many synonyms 

 borne by these reptiles, but, as a help to reference, we may as well 

 give a selection from these alternative names, some of which are of 

 recent introduction, while others are more or less obsolete. 



Anguis bicolor, 75 

 Anguis cinereus, 75 

 Anguis eryx, 75 

 Anguis fragilis, 75 

 Anguis lineata, 75 



Caretta imbricata, 3 

 Caretta squamata, 73 

 Chelone imbricata, 73 

 Chelonia imbricata, 73 



Chelonia multiscutata, 73 

 Coluber austriacus, 80 

 Coluber her us, 81 

 Coluber cceruleus, 81 

 Coluber ferrugineus, 80 

 Coluber laevis, 80 

 Coluber murorum, 79 

 Coluber natrix, 79 

 Coluber torquatus, 79 

 Coriudo coriacea, 74 



