ORDER OPHIDIA. 27^ 



which have been named the black viper. {Colub, 

 Pr ester, Lin.) Laurenti, pi. iv. fig. 1.* 



Next in order come the vipers which have the 

 head furnished with plates almost like the adders. 



In this number there are some, distinguished by 

 nothing excepting these plates from the most com- 

 mon viper s.f 



Such is, 



Col. Hcemachates, L. (Seb. II. Iviii. 1. 3), 



A serpent of the Cape, of a red-brown marbled with 

 white, with the muzzle cut obliquely underneath. 



The Naia, 



Are such of these vipers with the head furnished 

 with plates, whose anterior ribs have a power of 

 being raised and drawn forward so as to dilate this 

 part of the trunk into a dish of greater or less width. 

 The most celebrated species is, 



• Prester, 'rrpia-Qhf, the Greek name of a serpent, which many authors 

 pronounce to be the same as the Dipsas, from Trp'Sfiv, to burn. 



•j- Of this subdivision Merrem has formed his genus Sepedon. Add, 

 Col. V. Nigrum, Scheuz. Phys. Sac. IV. dccxvii. 



N.B. The Ophis, Spix, Serp. xvii., would seem to be a venomous serpent 

 like to these Sepedon, but in which the poisonous tooth is preceded by 

 some small, simple teeth. Not having seen the species, I fear it may be 

 one of those adders with the larger hinder maxillary teeth of which we 

 have already spoken, and many of which appear to us to be at least liable 

 to the suspicion of being poisonous. 



VOL. IX. T 



