82 DO VIPERS SWALLOW THEIK YOUNG 



lustres must have run their course since a good hare, as 

 old and tough as human credulity, was started in the 

 columns of the Field, and, lo ! it is running as stoutly 

 as ever. 



'Do vipers swallow their young?' It has been 

 asserted from a very remote antiquity that they do 

 that when danger threatens, the parent snake opens 

 her mouth, into which the snakelets straightway pass 

 for shelter in the gullet. Recognised authorities have 

 ranged themselves on each side in this discussion; 

 some relying on the abundant evidence of people of 

 known integrity, who claim to have been eye-witnesses 

 of the feat; others refusing to be convinced without 

 ocular and anatomical proof, usually a postulate in 

 questions of natural science. Admittedly, it is a deli- 

 cate matter to prove, owing to the very nature of it. 

 First, you must find your viper; not at this season 

 though, when vipers are most accessible, but late in 

 summer, after the young are out. Next, you must 

 alarm the brood, and watch closely to see if they enter 

 their parent's mouth. Then (and here comes the really 

 trying part of it) you must secure the throat of your 

 viper by tying a piece of string securely round it. 

 Probably it will be found more convenient to kill your 

 viper before this stage of the experiment ; but this it 

 behoves you to do delicately, as if you loved her (which, 

 if you are a properly constituted human being, you 

 certainly don't), so as not to derange the internal 

 anatomy. Lastly, you must be careful never to mislay 

 the address of Professor Stewart, Curator of the 



