OF SELBORNE. 229 



LETTER XXXI. 



TO TIIE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON. 



SELHORNE, April 29, 1770. 

 August the 4th, 1775, we surprised a large 

 viper, which seemed very heavy and bloated, 

 as it lay in the grass basking in the sun. 

 When we came to cut it up, we found that 

 the abdomen was crowded with young, fif- 

 teen in number; 1 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 de- 

 fiance, though as yet they had no manner of fangs that wo 

 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 the 

 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 lamb will push with its head before its 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 off with the point of our scissars. 



1 Bearing in mind the much vexed question, whether vipers, in time 

 of danger, swallow their young, it may be here observed, that the ex- 

 pression " abdomen," as used by Gilbert White, must not be regarded 

 a,s synonymous with the true stomach, but only as implying that larger 

 cavity in which both stomach and uterus are contained. The young, of 

 course, were in the latter and most natural receptacle. ED. 



