708 REPTILIA—HORNED VIPER. 
speed, but also the fertility, of this dangerous creature. They couple in 
May, and are supposed to be about three months before they bring forth, and 
have seldom above eleven eggs ata time. These are of the size of a black 
bird’s egg, and chained together in the womb like a string of beads. Each 
egg contains from one to four young ones; so that the whole of a brood may 
amount to about twenty or thirty. They continue in the womb till they 
come to such perfection as to be able to burst from the shell; and they are 
said to creep from their confinement by their own efforts into the open air, 
where they continue for several days without taking any food whatsoever. 
When they are in danger, they retreat into the mouth of the mother. 
The viper is capable of supporting very long abstinence, it being known 
that some have been kept in a box six months without food; yet during the 
whole time they did not abate of their vivacity. They feed only a small 
part of the year, but never during their confinement; for if mice, their fa- 
vorite diet, should at that time be thrown into their box, though they will kill, 
yet they will never eat them. When at liberty, they remain torpid through- 
out the winter; yet, when confined, have never been observed to take their 
annual repose. 
Vipers crawl slowly at all times, and in general only attack such smaller 
animals as are their usual food. They never willingly assail man or the 
larger animals, except when wounded, trampled on, or irritated, when they 
become furious, and are apt to bite severely. From the firmer manner in 
which their spine is articulated, they are unable to twist themselves round 
so much as most other serpents. It is only the head that they can turn with 
any considerable degree of agility; owing to this circumstance, they are 
easily taken. For this purpose, some persons use a forked stick, to fix the 
viper by the neck; and then, seizing it by the tail, throw it into a bag. 
Others, holding down its head with the end of a stick, take it fast in the 
left hand by the neck; and while the animal makes ineffectual efforts to 
defend itself, with its mouth wide open, cut out its poisonous fangs with a 
pair of scissors or a knife; the viper, after this, is incapable of doing injury, 
and may be handled with perfect safety. The English viper-catchers have 
the boldness to seize them suddenly by the neck, or even by the tail, with 
their hands ; and holding them with a firm grasp, the animal is altogether 
meapable of turning itself sufficiently to bite the hand that holds it fast. 
THE HORN DO: Vire ho 
Tue cerastes, or horned viper, which commonly grows to the length of 
about a foot or fifteen inches, but sometimes more than two feet, is distin« 
guished by a pair of horns or curved processes, situated above the eyes, and 
1Vipera cerastes, Cuv. 
