184 VIPER. 



or abdomen, thus concealing itself behind a leaf. Its 

 colour is green, of various shades, the under parts of the 

 limbs are reddish, and each side of the body has a blackish 

 or violet-coloured streak, below which it is white. During 

 the summer the animal inhabits the woods, but in autumn 

 it descends to the waters, where it passes the winter 

 imbedded in the soft mud. On its reviving in the spring, 

 the female deposits her spawn, and the male exerts a very 

 loud sharp croak, which may be heard at a great distance. 

 These beautiful little animals may be domesticated and 

 used as living barometers, being more noisy on the 

 approach of rain, and quiet in fine weather. Their 

 chief food consists of flies, at which they dart with great 

 activity after creeping quietly up to them, as a cat does to 

 a mouse. They are found in America, Italy, Germany, 

 France, &c. but not in the British Isles. 



THE COMMON VIPER 



Is pretty well known in every part of the Old Continent : 

 it is found in Great Britain, but is excluded, together with 

 the others of the order, from Ireland. It varies much in 

 colour, from a pale dun to a deep brown, but is always 

 marked with a chain ofrhomboidal blackish spots. The 

 head is broad and somewhat flattened, bulging out at the 

 sides toward the back; its colour is blackish, and on its 

 upper part is a large divided and somewhat heart-shaped 

 spot. The under surface of the body is dusky or blackish, 

 with a gloss of blue, resembling polished steel. The general 

 length of the viper is a foot and a half or two feet ; some 

 have been seen, measuring nearly three feet. The fangs, 

 which are situated as usual in the fore part of the upper 

 jaw, are two in number, accompanied sometimes with 

 smaller ones. The viper has long been esteemed the most 

 poisonous of the European serpents ; many instances are 

 related of its fatality; it does not appear, however, certain 

 that it has ever produced so terrible an effect, though it is 

 possible that it might occur, where the situation of the 

 bite, and other circumstances, were favourable to the 

 diffusion of the poison. The bite is usually attended with 

 a painful and troublesome swelling, but is seldom produc- 

 tive of other ill consequences; it is more fatal to the lesser 

 animals. The poison of the viper has been, and is still, 

 used by savage nations for their poisoned arrows. The 



