LETTER XXXI 



TO THE SAME 



SELBORNE, April 29, 1776. 



DEAR SIR, On August the 4th, 1775, we surprised a 

 large viper, which seemed very heavy and bloated, as it lay 

 in the grass basking in the sun. When we came to cut it 

 up, we found that the abdomen was crowded with young, 

 fifteen in number ; the shortest of which measured full 

 seven inches, and were about the size of full-grown earth- 

 worms. This little fry issued into the world with, the true 

 viper-spirit about them, showing great alertness as soon as 

 disengaged from the belly of the dam : * they twisted and 

 wriggled about, and set themselves up, and gaped very wide 

 when touched with a stick, showing manifest tokens of 

 menace and defiance, though as yet they had no manner of 

 fangs that we could find, even with the help of our glasses. 



To a thinking mind nothing is more wonderful than that 

 early instinct which impresses young animals with a notion 

 of the situation of their natural weapons, and of using them 



1 As White correctly supposed, the young were in utero. Scientific evidence 

 is still wanting to show that the Adder ever shelters her young in her neck. It is 

 very desirable that one of the many Adders reported to have given refuge to their 

 progeny in the manner described should be preserved, with the young in situ, for 



the scalpel of an anatomist. [G. A. B.] 



1 08 



