Class III. VIPER SERPENT. 37 



distinguishes it from the common snake ; the 

 tongue forked ; the teeth small ; the four canine Teeth. 

 teeth are placed two on each side the upper 

 jaw : these instruments of poison are long, 

 crooked, and moveable, and can be raised and 

 depressed at pleasure; they are hollow from 

 near the point to their base, near which is a 

 gland that secretes, prepares, and lodges the 

 poison, and the same action that gives the 

 wounds, forces from this gland, through the 

 tooth, the fatal juice into it. 



These islands may be particularly thankful 

 for the blessing they enjoy, in being possessed 

 of only one venomous animal, and that of a 

 kind which increases so little. They copulate 

 in May, and are supposed to be about three 

 months before they bring forth. They are said 

 not to arrive at their full growth in less than six 

 or seven years ; but to be capable of engen- 

 dering at two or three. 



We have been often assured by intelligent 

 people of the truth of a fact mentioned by Sir 

 Thomas Brown*' who was far from a credulous 

 writer, that the young of the viper, when terri- 

 fied, will run down the throat of a parent, and 

 seek shelter in its belly in the same manner as 



* Vulgar errors, 114. 



