HOG-NOSE SNAKE. Hetcrodon 



BLACK VIPER. Hettrodon nlger. 



instructed. For the Serpent does not even open its mouth when it strikes, but darts its 

 closed jaws at the foe, without even inflicting the trifling wounds which might be caused 

 by its small but needle-like teeth. Even if pushed about with a stick, and handled 

 in the roughest manner, it never bites, but contents itself with its impotent personation 

 of the venomous Snakes. 



Sometimes it tries other arts, and instead of simulating envenomed rage, pretends to be 

 dead and lies motionless, hoping to escape as soon as the enemy has gone away. So 

 perfectly does it assume the semblance of death, suffering itself to be tossed about without 

 displaying the least sign of life, the muscles relaxed and the body hanging loosely and 

 heavily in the hand, that experienced naturalists have been repeatedly deceived, and only 

 discovered the deception by seeing the rsptile make its escape after they had left it lying 

 apparently dead upon the ground. 



The colour of the Hog-nose Snake is rather variable, but is generally of a darker or 

 lighter brown above, with a row of large blotches of a different shade of brown running 

 along the sides. Sometimes these blotches are so large, that they unite across the back 

 and form broad bands. There is a dark band between the eyes. The average length of this 

 reptile is about three feet. 



THE sombre BLACK VIPER belongs to the same genus as the preceding species, and is 



very similar to that reptile in many of its habits. It is a very ugly and ungraceful-looking 



Snake, with a neck of great width, and a head very narrow in front and very wide behind, 



and is by no means a pleasing object to the eye. It does not frequent the marshy 



3. 



