38 VIPER SERPENT. Class III. 



the young of the opossum retire into the ventral 

 pouch of the old one. From this some have 

 imagined that the viper is so unnatural as to 

 devour its own young ; we disbelieve the fact, it 

 Food, being well known that the food of these serpents 

 consists of frogs, toads, lizards, mice, and, accord- 

 ing to Doctor Mead, even an animal as large as 

 a mole. These they swallow entire ; which, if 

 we consider the narrowness of their neck, 

 shews it is capable of a distension hardly cre- 

 dible, had we not ocular proofs of the fact. 

 It is also said, from good authority, that they 

 will prey on young birds ; whether on such as 

 nestle on the ground, or whether they ascend 

 trees for them as the Indian serpents do, we 

 are quite uncertain ; but we are well assured 

 that this discovery is far from a recent one : 



Tit assidens implumibus pullis avis 

 Serpentium allapsus timet.* 



Thus, for its young the anxious bird 

 The gliding serpent fears. 



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 did 

 not abate of their vivacity. They feed only a 

 small part of the year, but never during their 



* Hor. Epod. I. 



