NATURAL HJSTORY OF SELBOBNE. 201 



LETTER XXXI. 



Selbornb, April 29^^, 1776. 



On August 4th, 1775, we surprised a large viper, which 

 seemed very heavy and bloated, as it lay in the grass bask- 

 ing in the sun. When we came to cut it up, we found that 

 the abdomen was crowded with young, fifteen in number; 

 the shortest of which measured full seven inches, and were 

 about the size of full-grown earthworms. This little fry 

 issued into the world with the true viper-spirit about them, 

 showing great alertness as soon as disengaged from the 

 belly of the dam : they twisted and wriggled about, and set 

 themselves up, and gaped very wide when touched with a 

 stick, showing manifest tokens of menace and defiance, 

 though as yet they had no manner of fangs that we could 

 find, even with the help of our glasses. 



To a thinking mind nothing is more wonderful than that 

 early instinct which impresses young animals with a notion 

 of the situation of their natural weapons, and of using them 

 properly in their own defence, even before those weapons 

 subsist or are formed. Thus a young cock will spar at his 

 adversary before his spurs are grown ; and a calf or a lamb 

 will push with their heads before their horns are sprouted. 

 In the same manner did these young adders attempt to bite 

 before their fangs were in being. The dam however was 

 furnished with very formidable ones, which we lifted up 

 (for they fold down when not used) and cut them ofi" with 

 the point of our scissors. 



There was little room to suppose that this brood had ever 

 been in the open air before ; and that they were taken in 



