VENOMOUS SERPENTS. 



sugar-canes, where it feeds on rats, and causes the death of many 

 slaves. Its length is from six to seven feet, and it is extremely 

 active; it climbs the highest trees in pursuit of its prey, and 

 springs like lightning, not only on birds and other small animals 

 upon which it ordinarily feeds, but also on large animals, and 

 even on man. 



67. The VIPERS, Vipera, differ from the venomous serpents 

 just mentioned, by the absence of the pits behind the nostrils. 

 Fig. 22. Many of them have been frequently 



confounded with the Colubers, on 

 account of their double, sub-caudal 

 plates, and some of them having the 

 head furnished with large plates like 

 the latter; but most all Vipers have 

 the head covered by small imbricated 

 HKAD OF A VIPER. or granular scales, (Fig. 22.) The 



Common Viper, Viper a benis, possesses this latter character. 

 It rarely exceeds two feet in length, (Fig. 23.) and is generally 

 brown with a double row of transverse, black spots along the 

 back, and another row upon the flank ; but fiy m 23. 



these spots are often united, forming zig-zag 

 bands. One of 'these Vipers is sometimes 

 named the Asp, in some parts of France, but 

 it should not be confounded with the true Asp 

 of the ancients. It inhabits the mountainous, 

 stony and woody districts of temperate and 

 Southern Europe. It feeds on mice, moles, 

 young birds, reptiles, and even insects and 

 worms. During the cold season, these reptiles 

 remain benumbed in holes, where several are 

 often found twined together. They are most 

 frequently seen on the first fine days of spring, 

 warming themselves in the sunshine ; but when 

 the weather becomes very hot, they are rarely 

 met. They produce from twelve to twenty-five young ones at 

 each birth, which do not acquire their full size until they are six 

 or seven years old. Of all the venomous reptiles of Europe, the 

 common Viper is the most dangerous ; even in the climate of 

 France, its bite may cause the death of a man in a few hours, 

 and kill small animals in a few minutes. The quantity of poison 

 it generally pours into a wound is not sufficient to be fatal to 

 man. 



67. How are Vipers distinguished from the venomous Serpents just spoken 

 of? What arc the characters of the common Viper? What are its habits? 



