424 



HISTORY OF FROGS LIZARDS, AND SERPENTS. 



wound is very venomous, and causes the parti 

 aflected to corrupt in a very short time ; the 

 Coral Serpent, which is red, and whose bite is 

 said to be fatal. But of all others, the Cobra 

 di Capello, or Hooded Serpent, inflicts the 

 most deadly and incurable wounds. 1 Of this 



first sight, a striking resemblance to the Blind-worm, but 

 on closer examination it is found to possess two pair of 

 such very short paws, that they cannot possibly reach the 

 ground. 



This animal belongs to the family of the Sdnoides, 

 which are all distinguished by the extreme smaliness of 

 their members, and of which some species present very 

 remarkable peculiarities. Some Seps are only provided 

 with one toe on each foot; the bipeds possess only one 

 pair of paws, situated at the hinder part of their body; 

 the foremost paws only are observable in the bimanus. 



One species inhabits the southern part of France, but 

 is rare; in the north it is entirely unknown. In Italy, 

 where it is more common, it is known by the name of 

 Oicella or Ciciqua. The scales of its belly are separated 

 from those of its back by three lines. This reptile is not 

 dangerous, for nature has not bestowed upon it any ve- 

 nom, and even if it possessed any, its mouth is too small 

 fur it to bite a man, or any other large animal. 



1 The naja or cobra di capello is equally remarkable 



foi the elegance of its form, the strength of its body, and 

 the danger which accompanies its bite. It has received 

 the name of spectacle snake, in consequence of a black 

 mark which more or less exactly represents spectacles on 

 the extensible portion of its neck. When the animal is 

 in a state of repose, the neck has no greater a diameter 

 than the head, but under the influence of passion, the skin 

 of this part extends in the form of a coif or hood. This 

 serpent inhabits Coromandel, and is not found in Peru or 

 Mexico, as many modern naturalists have erroneously 

 slated, after Seba. It is very formidable from its enve- 

 nomed bite, which is as dangerous as that of any other 

 species of reptiles. When surprised by some imprudent 

 traveller, it slowly raises its head, swells its neck, and 

 advances against its aggressor in undulating movements 

 executed solely by the tail. 



In the sixth volume of the " Asiatic Researches," Mr 

 Boaz, after having examined with care the ancient cu- 

 rative processes for the bite of venomous serpents, recom- 

 mends in the last place as a specific in the dreadful ma- 

 lady caused by the poison of the cobra di capello, nitrate 

 of silver, which was a remedy long since proposed by 

 Fontana in the case of the viper. In the second volume 

 of the same collection, Mr J. Williams has inserted a 

 paper on the caustic volatile alkali against the deleterious 

 eflects of the bite of different serpents, and particularly 

 that of the cobra di captllo. It seems that this medica- 

 ment should be applied both externally on the wound, 

 and at the same time administered internally. A re- 

 medy much boasted of by some of the ancient mission- 

 aries, who had travelled in the East Indies, and whopre. 

 tended to ewe the bite of the naja, as well as that of other 

 venomous animals, has been proved useless by the expe- 

 riments of the learned Redi. This is a calculous con- 

 cretion, which according to them is formed near the head, 

 or in the body of the serpent in question, and which is 

 named serpent or cobra-stone. This account of the ori- 

 gin of this pretended stone is assuredly false, and it is 



formidable creature there are five or six differ- 

 ent kinds ; but they are all equally dangerous, 

 and iheir bite followed by speedy and certain 

 death. It is trotn three to eight feet long, 

 with two large fangs hanging out of the 

 upper jaw. It has a broad neck, and a mark 



nothing but a factitious medicament composed by some 

 charlatan. It appears to be nothing but a blackish or 

 greenish argillaceous earth, which has the property of 

 absorbing with great facility the humours which are 

 formed at the surface of any wound whatever. But in 

 India it is believed to imbibe quickly the poison dis- 

 charged recently into the body of an animal bitten by the 

 naja. 



The name of aspic has been given amongst all civilized 

 nations to a serpent rendered ever memorable by the 

 death of Cleopatra, whose beauty, glory, honours, and 

 deplorable end, have occupied the historians and poets 

 of all nations. It has been only since the expedition of 

 the French to Egypt that the true species of the aspic 

 has been ascertained. During the pei icd of that expedi- 

 tion, the French philosophers attached to the army ob- 

 served a species of ophidian, regarded as harmless by 

 Linnaeus and most herpetologists, but considered as ex- 

 tremely venomous by the traveller, Forskal. This ser- 

 pent is called haje by the inhabitants, and recent travel- 

 lers have incontestably proved that it is the true aspic 

 of the ancients, which never inhabited Europe; for the 

 reptile which some years since infested the forest of Fon. 

 tainbleau, and was called by this name, was nothing but 

 a variety of the common viper, and the cespiny of the 

 Swedes is quite another species from the oue in ques- 

 tion. 



Forskal informs us that when the haje is provoked, is 

 swells and extends its neck greatly, and then springt 

 with a single bound upon its enemy. This habit of rear- 

 ing up when it is approached, caused the ancient inhabi- 

 tants of the countries watered by the Nile, to believe 

 that this serpent guarded the fields which it inhabited. 

 They made it in consequence the emblem of the protect- 

 ing divinity of the world. They sculptured it on the 

 two sides of a globe, on the portico of all their temples. 

 It is often exhibited by the jugglers at Cairo, apparently 

 metamorphosed into a rod or wand, which is done by 

 pressing its nape with the finger, and thus causing a sort 

 of catalepsy. They take care, however, to remove the 

 fangs, which might cause very serious accidents. 



The poison of the haje is excessively violent, and far 

 more deleterious than that of the European viper, which 

 it resembles i" its yellowish tint, and its transparence. 

 Forskal relates, that having taken a very small drop of 

 it, and introduced it into a slight incision made in the thigh 

 of a pigeon, he saw this unfortunate bird perish in a 

 quarter of an hour in convulsions and vomitings. The 

 modes adopted against the bite of the haje are the same, 

 for the most part, as those used in the case of that of the 

 viper, particularly cauterization by fire, alcholized pot- 

 assum, &c., and the administration of sudorifics inter- 

 nally. Supplement to the English edition of Cuvier by 

 Edward Griffith and others. 



Serpents in South Africa. The late excellent Mr 

 Thomas Pringle, whose residence in South Africa, though 

 unproductive to himself in a pecuniary sense, was fertile 

 in observation, and has added largely to our knowledge 

 of that portion of the globe, gives the following account 

 of the Venomous Serpents to be found there: 



" The serpents of South Africa (he says) commonly 

 accounted the most dangerous, are the Cobra Capello (or 

 hooded snake), the Puff-Adder, and the Berg-Adder (or 

 mountain snake). The first of these is exceedingly 

 fierce and active, and sometimes, it is sard, attains the 

 formidable length of ten feet ; I have, however, never 



