PUFP-ADDEES. 



sionally the spots forming the middle row are connected like the 

 beads of a necklace, whence the name Cobra nionil (literally 

 Coluber moniliger), applied to the young of this Viper by the Indo- 

 Portuguese, and now corrupted into " Cobra de Manilla," which 

 bears the reputation of being a highljr poisonous Snake of diminu- 

 tive size ; it attains, however, to a length of nearly five feet, the 

 tail then measuring about eight inches, with considerable thick- 

 ness of body. It is nocturnal, and prej^s chiefly on Mice. In Burmah 

 this formidable Viper is dreaded almost as much as the Hama- 

 dryas. It has been obtained in the Himalayas at an elevation of 

 5,500 feet, at Almorah, and elsewhere. Mr. Theobald has known 

 one to kill a Bull-terrier in twenty minutes. The I), xanthina is 

 a second species of this form inhabiting Asia Minor. 



The genus Clotlio consists of the terrible PutF-adders of Africa, 

 of which there are at least four or five species. Among the best 

 known of them are the ordinary Puff-adder (C. arietans), and the 

 Berg-adder [C. 

 atropos), of the 

 Cape colonists. 

 The Eliinoceros 

 Pufi'-adder, C. na- 

 sicornis, of Guinea, 

 has the scales over 

 the nostrils of the 

 male produced into 

 a long recurved 

 spine ; and in the 

 Horned Puff-ad- 

 der, C. cornuta, of 

 South Africa, there 

 is a group of small 

 horn - like scales 



over each eye. Fig. 21. -Ilie Homed Puff-aader(CTo«iocora!(«a). 



Examples of the 



Common and of the Rhinoceros Pufi'-adders may generally be 

 seen in the reptile house of the London Zoological Gardens. The 

 last mentioned is a huge Viper of wondrous beauty, both of 

 colouring and in the complex pattern of its markings, especially 



