VlPERS.- 



-REPTILES.- 



-C0J1310N Viper. 



47 



developed much more than any of the others, elongating 

 themselves into a point, and presenting exactly the 

 appearance of a horn on each eyebrow. As Schlegel 

 remarks, this anomaly in the organization of this ser- 

 pent, more curious than of any real scientific value, has 

 not failed to excite in the highest degi-ee the admi- 

 ration of mankind, and to occupy their imagination 

 from the earliest periods of time to our own days. The 

 Kgyptians, of whose country this viper is a native, and 

 who were fond of the marvellous, have accordingly 

 frequently figiired it in their hieroglyphical writings on 

 their ancient monuments. It was pointed out by them 

 to strangers as one of the most redoubtable of beings, 

 and it was related of this formidable reptile, that in 

 some remote period of antiquity an invasion of a host 

 of them had actually depopulated a part of their countiy. 

 The name of the genus, Cei-asUs, has been given to it 

 from these horns, being derived from the Greek word 

 L-eras (xe^ag), a horn. Those appendages, however, 

 do not exist in all individuals, and perhaps are peculiar 

 to the males ; though the want of them has induced 

 some naturalists to describe those in which they wei'e 

 absent as constituting a distinct species. 



THE CERASTES {Cerastes Hasse!qiiislii)—Vhte 4, 

 fig. 4 — resembles in general form our common viper, 

 but its body is much thicker in the centre and less 

 compressed. The back is somewhat keeled, and the 

 tail is slender, very short (only about a tenth of the 

 whole length) and terminates in a very fine point. 

 The head is very large, distinct from the .body, and 

 covered with scales of an irregular form, smaller than 

 those of the trunk, and all keeled. In the males, one 

 of these scales developes itself into a lengthened point 

 two or three lines long, which rises immediately over 

 the eyes on each side, and gives a resemblance Jo a 

 small horn. They are furrowed throughout their whole 

 length, and are very movable. Their uses, if they can 

 be at all of use to the animal, are entirely unknown, 

 but numerous conjectures and assertions have been 

 made about their nature. The eyes have a yellowisb- 

 gi'een iris, and their pupil is narrow and vertical. The 

 Cerastes is generally of a very pale brown colour, or a 

 pale yellow shading into grayish-brown, on the upper 

 part of the body, with five or six rows of deeper spots of 

 rather irregular shape and unequal size, but generally 

 pretty regularly disposed. The under part of the body 

 and throat are usuall}- white. The tail is often black 

 at the tip. The usual length of this species of serpent 

 is about two feet, though Bnice says, it is only thirteen 

 or fourteen inches. We are indebted to this traveller 

 for many interesting particulars with regard to the 

 Cerastes. It inhabits the vast, burning deserts of 

 Northern Africa. Shunning humid and marshy situa- 

 tions, it is found only in the hot, arid sands of Egypt, 

 Syria, and Arabia. It lies all day in holes in the sand, 

 and is found in close contiguity to the Jerboa, which 

 lives in similar habitations, and which forms part of 

 this reptile's food. 



Genus Viper a. 



In the second group of the tnie Vipers, or those in 

 which the head is more or less covered with large scales, 



plates, or shields, the genus V/pera is pre-eminent. 

 There are three species natives of Europe, and all 

 resembling each other in general appearance. They 

 difler, however, in the arrangement of the plates, and 

 in the shape of the head ; and according to some of the 

 latest writers, have even been divided into two distinct 

 genera. In form they are rather less squatly- shaped 

 than the species which we have just been describing, 

 and they are more slender at the two extremities. The 

 head is not so large as in many of the other viperine 

 snakes, and is more elongated. It is flat on the crown 

 and scaly, high on tlie sides, and shielded in front. 

 The muzzle is rounded. The eyes are always shaded 

 by a plate over the eyebrows, and the pupil is oblong 

 and erect. 



THE COMMON VIPER or Adder {Vipera or Pelias 

 bents, represented Plate 4, fig. 3) is the most abundant 

 and the widest-spread of the three species. It seldom 

 exceeds two feet and a half in length, and in this 

 country perhaps never reaches that extent. The cir- 

 cumference of the body is generally that of a man's 

 tinmib. The head is somewhat depressed, almost oval, 

 slightly widening behind the eyes, and terminated by a 

 somewhat conical muzzle bluntly rounded at the tip. 

 In general it is of an olive or brown colour, with a series 

 of confluent, rhomboidal, black spots along the back, 

 and a row of small, irregular, triangular spots on each 

 side. The colours, however, vary considerably accord- 

 ing to sex, age, climate, &c., and in the female the body 

 is somewhat thicker than in the male, while the tail 

 is shorter and more slender. This species is spread 

 over the greater part of Northern and Central Europe, 

 extending probably to some parts of Asiatic Russia. 

 It is common in Great Britain, and is happily the sole 

 representative of the poisonous serpents in these isles. 

 It is abundant in many parts of Scotland, England, and 

 Wales, but has never been met with in Ireland. It 

 frequents heaths, dry woods, and banks; preferring 

 districts exposed to tlie rays of the sun, where there 

 exists a plentiful supply of food, and which contain 

 numerous holes which may serve it as places of retreat. 

 Its food consists in gi'eat part of field-mice, and thus 

 we find the Adder always most abundant in such places 

 as these little mammalia are in the habit of frequenting, 

 and it is such holes as they dig that these reptiles 

 choose as their place of abode. On the continent of 

 Europe it appears to shun places covered with large 

 trees, and forests where the rays of tlie sun do not 

 penetrate, preferring on the contrary rocky places, or 

 situations covered with small brushwood. Wherever 

 it is found it is universally dreaded. In this country 

 its bite is seldom or never attended with fatal results ; 

 but at the same time the symptoms produced by the 

 venom are distressing in the extreme, and in warm 

 countries, and during the height of summer, may even 

 terminate in death. The manner in which the Viper 

 inflicts a blow is thus described by Professor Bel) :— 

 " The animal generally throws itself in the first place 

 into a coil more or less close, and the anterior part of 

 the body is raised. The neck is bent somewhat 

 abruptly backwards, and the head fixed almost hori- 

 zontally. In an instant the head is, as it were, 

 launched by a sudden eflbrt toward the object of its 



