THE LANCE-HEADED VIPER. 361 



The Crotalus horridus is of a yellowish-brown colour, varied with 

 patches of a deeper hue, and from the head to some distance down 

 the neck run two or three longitudinal stripes of the same. Its 

 habits are sluggish ; it moves slowly, and only bites when angered, 

 or for the purpose of killing its prey. It is provided with two kinds 

 of teeth viz., the smaller, which, planted in each jaw, serve to 

 catch and retain the food ; and secondly, the fangs or poisonous 

 teeth, which kill the prey, and are placed outside the upper jaw. 

 It feeds principally upon the smaller mammals and upon birds, which 

 it seems certain it possesses a peculiar power of fascinating the effect, 

 it may be, of intense fear. " When the piercing eye of the rattle- 

 snake is fixed on them," says Mr. Murray, " terror and amazement 

 render them incapable of escaping ; and, while involuntarily keeping 

 their eyes fixed on those of the reptile, birds have been seen to drop 

 into its mouth, as if paralyzed, squirrels descend from their trees, and 

 leverets run into the jaws of the expecting devourer." Hogs and 

 peccaries, however, are unaffected by this panic, and feed greedily 

 upon the reptile which causes it, whose venomous fangs cannot 

 penetrate their formidable hide. Its poison, once imbibed, is very 

 fatal, acting upon man and the larger mammals, such as the horse or 

 ass, in a few hours. 



The lance-headed Viper r or Trigonocephalus (Bothrops lanceolatus), 

 is most common in the West Indian Islands, where it is justly dreaded. 

 It has been computed that, at Martinique, fifty persons out of a 

 population of 125,000 souls die annually from the bite of these 

 odious reptiles. Their fecundity is frightful. Every female bears 

 sixty young, which on their very advent into the world are completely 

 formed and able to wound. This viper, moreover, carries no warning 

 rattle ; nothing indicates its presence ; and in the countries which 

 it inhabits, the wayfarer, if prudent, will beat the herbs and bushes 

 as he advances with a switch. Then the Trigonocephalus, if there be 

 one in the way, will take flight and reveal itself, for it is too large 

 to glide away unseen. Therefore, the negroes of Martinique, who, of 

 necessity, are assiduous reptile hunters, state as an incontrovertible 



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