330 REPTILES OF THE WORLD 



among a considerably greater number of the commoner 

 snake. All of the horned specimens were placed in a 

 cage by themselves; the examples of C. vipera were 

 placed in an adjoining cage. Upon looking over the 

 former lot the author was surprised to find specimens 

 with the horns springing from a position behind the eye 

 in place of directly above it, while the entire scalation 

 of such specimens looked suspiciously like that of the 

 Common Viper. A closer inspection showed an inter- 

 esting condition. The clever Arab fakirs had pushed a 

 couple of quills of the desert hedgehog, Erinaceus auri- 

 ttis, up from the roof of the mouth and through the top 

 of the head. When these specimens were examined it 

 was not surprising to find their mouths in a state of 

 great inflanmiation. The false horns were withdrawn, 

 the reptiles' mouths washed with an antiseptic solution, 

 and they were soon none the worse for their protracted 

 torture. 



The habitat of C. cornutus embraces the northern bor- 

 der of the Sahara Desert from Algeria to Egypt and 

 Nubia; it also occurs in Arabia and southern Palestine. 

 C. vipera is restricted to northern Africa from Algeria 

 to Egypt. Illustrations of both species are given. 



The Pit Vipers; subfamily CrotaUnw: Four genera 

 and about seventy species form this subfamily. Every 

 member is immediately recognizable by the presence of 

 a deep pit between the eye and the nostril on each side 

 of the head. The object of this pit is not known. It 

 has been alleged to constitute an organ of a sixth sense, 

 but as man himself does not possess this sense, the func- 

 tion of the pit is beyond the power of his imagination. 

 That the pit is of some importance is evident by the 

 extensive cavity in the maxillary bone for its reception, 

 the lining of the pit itself with a membranous skin, its 



