50 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE, 



Providence has been so indulgent to us as to allow 

 of but one venomous reptile of the serpent kind in 

 these kingdoms, and that is the viper. As you propose 

 the good of mankind to be an object of your publica- 

 tions, you will not omit to mention common salad-oil 

 as a sovereign remedy against the bite of the viper. As 

 to the blind worm (Anguis fragilis, so-called because it 

 snaps in sunder with a small blow), I have found, on exami- jHI 

 nation, that it is perfectly innocuous. A neighbouring ^' 

 yeoman (to whom I am indebted for some good hints) 

 killed and opened a female viper about the 27th May ; he 

 found her filled with a chain of eleven eggs, about the size 

 of those of a blackbird ; but none of them were advanced 

 so far towards a state of maturity as to contain any rudi- 

 ments of young. Though they are oviparous, yet they are 

 viviparous also, hatching their young within their bellies, 

 and then bringing them forth. Whereas snakes lay chains 

 of eggs every summer in my melon beds, in spite of all that 

 my people can do to prevent them ; which eggs do not 

 hatch till the spring following, as I have often experienced. 

 Several intelligent folks assure me that they have seen the 

 viper open her mouth and admit her helpless young down 

 her throat on sudden surprises, just as the female opossum 

 does her brood into the pQUch under her belly, upon the^j 

 like emergencies; and yet the London viper-catchers insist •"■ 

 on it, to Mr. Barrington, that no such thing ever happens. 

 The serpent kind eat, I believe, but once in a year; or 

 rather, but only just at one season of the year. Country 

 people talk much of a water-snake, but, I am pretty sure, 

 without any reason ; for the common snake {Coluber 

 natrix) delights much to sport in the water, perhaps with a 

 view to procure frogs and other food. 



I cannot well guess how you are to make out your twelve 



