46 



Serpexts.- 



-REPTILES.- 



-YlPERINE SERPESTi. 



discovered in Australia, and one wliich inhabits Great 

 Britain, they are chiefly found in India and Africa, or 

 in the South of Europe. 



In some of the species belonging to this family, the 

 head is covered with acutely-keeled scales ; whilst in 

 others it is covered more or less with large scales, 

 plates, or shields. 



Genus Clotiio. 



In the first gi'oup the genus Clotho is most numerous 

 in species, all of which are natives of Africa. The 

 scales of the body are acutely keeled, the keels often 

 terminating in spines. 



THE PUFF-ADDEK— fig. 12— of the Cape of Good 

 Hope (Clot/io arktuiis) is one of the best known spe- 

 cies. This serpent is one of the most dreaded of all 



in South Africa, and is sometimes met with tln-ee and 

 even, though rarely, four feet in length. The body is 

 squat-shaped, and there are few species wliich have 

 such a heavy-looking form. The tail is thick, blunt, 

 a little compressed near the tip, and very short. The 

 head is exceedingly broad, very much flattened, quite 

 distinct from the neck, heart-shaped, and rounded 

 on the sides. The eyes are small and nearly lateral, 

 and the nostrils are placed near the e.Ktremity of the 

 muzzle. It is of a yellowish-brown colour on the 

 upper part, and is marked with three rows of large 

 brownish- black spots, edged with yellow. The under 

 surface is of a uniform yellow. It receives its name 

 from its habit of attack. It is said that it can never 

 injure a person placed in front of it, because, when it 

 bites, it does so by making a spring and moving its 

 head backwards. This is the common opinion amongst 





IJoad ofPuff-Adder (Clotlio arietans). 



the colonists of the Cape, and is particularly alluded 

 to by Dr. Burchell, who met with this serpent in the 

 interior of that colony. 



THE HORNED SNAKE [Clutho cornuta) is another 

 species found at the Cape and in various parts of the 

 colony, and is equally dreaded with the last. It is 

 called by the colonists the Hornsman, from the fact 

 that the scales over the eyes are prolonged into a clump 

 of lengthened spines, forming a sort of short horn. In 

 form this species is robust, the body being thick in the 

 middle, and the tail short, conical, and pointed. It is 

 from fourteen to eighteen inches in length, the tail 

 measuring only about one and a half. Sir Andrew 

 Smith has given a good description and figure of 

 this serpent in his " Illustrations of the Zoology of 

 South Africa." " Dry sandy districts," he saj'S, 

 " constitute the fiivourite habitats of this viper, which 

 manifests all that indolence of character so remark- 

 able among the various species of the family, and on 

 account of which they are more dreaded by the natives 

 of South Africa, than even snakes possessed of more 

 virulent poison, but disposed to action on the approach 

 of danger. According to good testimony, this species 

 will continue for days together in one position ; and as 



it never seeks to avoid danger, however imminent, its 

 presence is rarely discovered unless when trampled 

 upon, and the ofiending parts wounded by its fangs. 

 Though generall}' inactive, it is by no means so when 

 injured ; its movements are then performed with acti- 

 vity ; and when once it seizes the obnoxious object, it 

 retains its hold witli great determination, and some 

 considerable exertion is often required to detach it."* 



Genus Cerastes. 



In describing the Horned Viper of the Cape [Clotho 

 cornuta), we mentioned the circumstance of some of 

 the keeled scales of the head being prolonged so 

 as to form a kind of horn, and in our preliminary 

 remarks upon the Viperidce (p. 45) we stated the fict 

 as one peculiar to this family. This disposition and 

 structure of these scales is in none of tlie vipers so 

 remarkable as in the Cerastes or Homed Viper of 

 Egypt. Over each eye w-e see one of these scales 



* This descrijition of the liite of this viper is diflerent (vom 

 what is observed in the species of the Rattlesnake family. See 

 ■what we have said upou this subject at p. 44, and compare 

 with p. 47 in the case of the common viper, Pdias bcrus. 



