SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Jan. 1, 1865. 



cause it is usually taken in pursuit. As soon as 

 tbis takes place, the frog ceases to make any 

 straggle or attempt to escape. The whole 

 body and the legs are stretched out, as it 

 were, convulsively, and the snake gradually 

 draws in first the leg he has seized and after- 

 wards the rest of the animal, portion after 

 portion, by means of the peculiar mechanism 

 of the jaws, so admirably adapted for this 

 purpose. When a frog is in the process of 

 being swallowed in this manner, as soon as 

 the snake's jaws have reached the body, the 

 other hind leg becomes turned forwards ; and 

 as the body gradually disappears, the three 

 legs and the head are seen standing forwards 

 out of the snake's mouth in a very singular 

 manner. Shcnld the snake, however, have 

 taken the frog by the middle of the body, it 

 invariably turns it, until the head is directed 

 towards the throat of the snake, and it is 

 then swallowed, head foremost." The frog 

 is not only alive during the above process, 

 but often after it has reached the stomach. 

 Mr. Bell says, " I once saw a very small one, 

 which had been swallowed by a large snake 

 in my possession, leap again out of the mouth 

 of the latter, which happened to gape, as they 

 frequently do immediately after taking food." 



This species is truly oviparous. Its eggs, 

 from sixteen to twenty in number, attached 

 together by a glutinous secretion, are depo- 

 sited in some favourable locality, as a dung- 

 hill, and are hatched by the heat developed, 

 or that derived from direct exposure to the 

 sun. In this circumstance it will be seen to 

 differ from the vipex', to which we must nov/ 

 return. 



The common viper (Pelias hems) is so 

 variable in minor features, especially in 

 colouring, that its varieties have been de- 

 scribed as new species. It is more common 

 in Scotland than the snake, and is everywhere 

 abundant in heaths, dry woods, and banks. 

 In many parts of England it is called the 

 adder, for between the adder and viper there 

 is no difference. Its general colour lies 

 between an olive and a red-brown. There 

 is a mark between the ej^es, and a zigzag- 

 black line running the whole length of the 

 body, with a row of irregular triangvilar spots 

 on each side. The scales or plates on the 

 head are smaller, and those of the upper parts 

 of the body longer than in the snake. 



The great difference exists in the posses- 

 sion by the viper of poison and fangs, and 

 facility in using them. In the upper jaw, 

 instead of a double row of teeth, as in the 

 snake, this reptile possesses two or three long 

 curved fangs, with a tubular passage down 



them, communicating with the glands that 

 secrete venom at their base, and open at the 

 apex. When not in use these fangs recline 

 backwards upon the jaw, but are instantane- 

 ously erected, when required, by the aid of a 

 small muscle. The poison is a tasteless, yel- 

 lowish fluid, innocuous when swallowed, but 

 venomous when it enters the blood through a 

 wound. When the viper strikes its victim, 

 the pressure on the tooth forces a small drop 

 of the poison from the reservoir at its base, 

 along the tube into the wound. It is well 

 known that if venomous serpents of this kind 

 are irritated and caused to strike at a stick, 

 or some other object for a few times, the 

 store of venom becomes expended, and that 

 afterwards their bite is comparatively harm- 

 less, until a new supply of venom has been 

 secreted. If the snake can be regarded as 

 our miniature repi'esentative of the boa, the 

 viper deserves to be considered as a little 

 apology for the rattlesnake ; the rattle, of 

 course, being excepted. 



Like many other poisonous reptiles, the 

 young of the viper are matured in the egg 

 whilst still in the uterus of its parent, and 

 the thin membrane which enclosed them is 

 ruptured at their birth, so that the viper 

 seems to be truly viviparous, as the eggs are 

 never excluded entire. There is a firm belief 

 extant amongst country people, who make 

 no aspirations to science, that the young of 

 the viper, from twelve to twenty in number, 

 when alarmed, rush to their mother, and 

 glide one by one down her throat for security, 

 whence they emerge again when the danger 

 is past. This has been so often and so seri- 

 ously affirmed, that, however much we may 

 feel disposed to doubt, we are not in a posi- 

 tion to deny. 



As neither vipers nor snakes are to be seen 

 during the winter months, it is but reasonable 

 to expect that some explanation of this cir- 

 cumstance should be given. Reptiles do not 

 generally like cold weather, therefore they 

 proceed to winter quarters — 



Iloll'd up like a ball 

 In their nest snug and small. 

 And then they come out in the Spring, poor things. 



Vipers and snakes hybernate in company, 

 coiled up and torpid, in hollows at roots of 

 trees, without food or requiring any ; and in 

 the spring resume life and activity. Daring 

 the winter the venomous species secrete no 

 poison, and if aroused and driven to the use 

 of their fangs, appear to be powerless for 

 mischief. 



As the aim of our present chapter is to 



