68 OUR REPTILES. 



nine hours. From a considerable number of 

 observations, Dr. Guyon concludes that the in- 

 tensity or power of the venom is less owing to 

 difference of season than to the length of time 

 it has been accumulating in the reservoir of the 

 reptile ; and the greatest accumulation neces- 

 sarily occurs during winter, because the animal 

 is in a torpid state and does not take any food 

 during that season. So it was in the case of 

 Drake, and so Dr. Guyon found it in that of a 

 horned viper which had been given to him at 

 the caravanserai of Sidi-Makhlouf, Algeria. This 

 reptile had been put into a bottle, which had 

 since remained hermetically closed. It had been 

 in there for six weeks, without food and without 

 air, and looked quite dead, since it could not stir 

 in the bottle, which it filled entirely. And yet, 

 on opening the bottle, the doctor found the 

 reptile perfectly sound, and saw it kill a large 

 fowl instantaneously with its sting. Our author 

 quotes another case, that of a scorpion, that had 

 been kept in a bottle for a long time, and on 

 being released killed two sparrows in less than 

 a minute, and a pigeon in three hours. 



A circumstance has come to our knowledge 

 which occurred in Warwickshire, of a boy that 

 was bitten by a viper during the winter : 



The 19th of January, 1864, was an unusually warm and 

 sunny day for the time of year. A boy, aged 11 years, 



