THE VIPER, OR ADDER. 83 



of proof spirit, shaking them together when it was fit for 

 use. I kept it in a box, secluded from light, and before 

 administering it, shook it well up ; one drop constituted a 

 dose. * 



In concluding our account of this reptile, it 

 may not be out of place to indicate the chief 

 features by which the Viper may be distinguished 

 from the Snake. 



It is the Snake that is harmless, and the Viper 

 that is venomous ; the latter being probably less 

 so in winter, and most dangerous in the hottest 

 weather, because then the secretion is more 

 rapid, induced by the greater activity of the 

 reptile. The Snake is commonly the largest of 

 the two, and is found in the dampest situations, 

 generally in near proximity to water, in which it 

 delights to bask. The Snake has large plates, 

 or scales, upon its head, few in number ; in the 

 Viper they are numerous and small. The Snake 

 has no continuous line of a darker colour running 

 along its body, but is spotted all over ; the Viper 

 has a continuous line, zigzag and blotched, 

 running down its entire length. The head in 

 the Snake is more depressed and acutely pointed 

 in front than in the Viper, which latter has a 

 characteristic blotch something like the " death's 



* Dr. Honinberger's " Thirty-five Years in the East," 

 vol. ii. p. 230. 



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