Reptiles. 831 



lived as though they had been at large. It was curious to observe 

 what a change took place in this peaceable assembly, when a mouse 

 was introduced into their circle ; all were up in arms in an instant, 

 from the vipers to the very lizards, hissing and snapping at the unfor- 

 tunate intruder. This antipathy seems to be mutual. I caught a 

 field-mouse one day in the forest, with the intention of bringing it 

 home for my snakes, and put it into a box in which were three lizards. 

 On reaching home, I found the lizards all killed, and that in the same 

 maner, by a bite in the neck, though which party had been the ag- 

 gressor I cannot say. Dr. Lenz, indeed, supposes that the vipers are 

 often destroyed by mice, before recovering from their winter's torpor. 

 I dropped the mouse into the pit, upon which the vipers instantly 

 commenced their attacks. The little creature seemed aware of its 

 dangerous situation, and strove to escape, but before many minutes it 

 received a bite in the thigh. It ran on a moment, stopped, turned on 

 one side, struggled a little, and died, I believe, in about a minute from 

 the time of its receiving the stroke. The viper had, in the mean time, 

 followed its prey with its head and eyes, and now advanced to seize 

 it, the others not interfering, which, strange as it may seem, never oc- 

 curred when a mouse was killed. After touching the animal in dif- 

 ferent parts, and surveying it, as if uncertain how to begin, the viper 

 drew itself up before the mouse, and opening its jaws to their full ex- 

 tent, seized the head, which it gradually, though not without hard la- 

 bour, drew in. In about six minutes the mouse had disappeared, 

 although it was easy to perceive, by the thickness, in what part of the 

 snake's body it was lying. 



I have seen it stated that the viper, if it finds any object which it 

 may bite too hard to be penetrated, will not repeat the blow ; this, 

 however, I can totally deny. On holding down a viper with my foot, 

 it made about half a dozen blows at my boot (on which the venom, 

 when dry, appeared like small drops of gum), besides several snaps at 

 the ground and in the air. It does not seem capable of calculating, 

 with great precision, the distance and position of the object, and 

 hence often misses its aim. The poison of the viper, although so fa- 

 tal to warm-blooded animals, has very little effect upon reptiles, and 

 hence the viper is occasionally overpowered and swallowed by the more 

 agile and muscular Austrian adder, an instance of which occurred in 

 the above-mentioned pit. The hedgehog also possesses the remarka- 

 ble property of being proof against its poison, and employs this fa- 

 culty to great advantage in destroying the viper. I have frequently 

 seen combats between them, which always terminated in favour of the 



