THE SERPENT KIND. 137 



them to survive a little longer, are usually carried off by a 

 mortification, which rapidly diffuses itself through the whole 

 system. 



Of the serpent kind there are a great number and variety of 

 species, which it would at this time be tedious to describe, and 

 useless to enumerate. The only species of the venomous kind 

 which is with certainty known to exist in Great Britain, is the 

 viper. The common snake, the largest of the British serpents, 

 is perfectly innoxious. It feeds on insects, worms, and mice, 

 and deposits its eggs very frequently in dunghills, where the 

 natural heat promotes the exclusion of the young; or in dry 

 sandy banks, where the heat of the sun answers the same pur- 

 pose. 



The slow, or blind worm, is the smallest of the serpent race 

 that is found in England, and, like the snake, is perfectly harm- 

 less. To distinguish the venomous viper from these inoffensive 

 tribes, is a matter of no small importance ; and this may easily 

 be done, by observing these characteristic marks. 



The head of the viper is thicker than its body: its usual 

 length is about two feet : the ground colour of the male is a 

 dull yellow, but that of the female somewhat more lively. The 

 whole length of the back is marked with a series of rhomboidal 

 black spots, touching one another at the points, the sides with 

 triangular spots of the same colour, and the belly is entirely 

 black. The common black snake is more beautifully mottled, 

 and its sides are variegated with spots and lines of a palish blue. 

 But the tail of the viper furnishes the most obvious distinction ; 

 for although it terminates in a point, it does not run tapering to 

 so great a length as that of the other species. 



If these marks of discrimination be strictly attended to, the 

 poisonous viper may at one glance be distinguished from the 

 harmless snake. In those who are not well acquainted with these 

 distinctions, it is the most prudent to approach none of the ser- 

 pent tribe. The bite of the viper, however, although exceed- 

 ingly painful, seldom endangers life ; and its bad effects may 

 easily be removed, by the free use of sallad oil, both applied to 

 the wound and taken inwardly. The viper differs from most 

 others of the serpent kind, in bringing forth its young alive; al- 

 most all the other species being oviparous. 



We cannot conclude this article, without some general remarks 

 on certain properties which are perhaps peculiar to the serpent 

 tribe. From the width of their mouths, the conformation of their 

 jaws, and the yielding texture of their whole bodies, serpents are 

 capable of swallowing animals much more bulky than them 

 selves. It is, however, not a little remarkable, that although they 



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