1026 Reptiles. 



to discover, I believe this is the first specimen obtained in Kent. — J. Pemberton 

 Bartlett. 



On the Austrian Adder, Coluber Austriacus (Thuringiacus). This elegant serpent 

 is often confounded with the viper, but attains generally a larger size. Its ground 

 colour is a reddish grey, with two dark brown longitudinal bands on the back, alter- 

 nately interrupted. The two unite on the head, leaving a lancet-headed space between 

 them. Lower down they occasionally become confluent, so as to form a series of trans- 

 verse bands. There is also a narrow lateral band, commencing before the eye, and 

 becoming generally indistinct towards the tail. The grey space between the two dor- 

 sal stripes, sometimes takes a zigzag form near the head, and such specimens are fre- 

 quently mistaken for vipers, which have, however, always a dark zigzag upon a light 

 ground. It is rarely, if ever, found in swampy localities, and shows no partiality for 

 wild rosemary. Rocky places and dry upland woods are its favourite haunt, where it 

 burrows under heaps of stones, brambles, &c. More agile than the viper, it is capable 

 of climbing trees, although I have never noticed it at any great height. It is bold 

 and pugnacious, yet perfectly innocent, as may at once be seen from an inspection of 

 its jaws, which contain merely common solid teeth, without the moveable poison-fangs. 

 The head is also narrower than that of the viper, from absence of the poison-glands. 

 It kills its prey, consisting of mice, frogs and young birds, by biting and constriction. 

 When approached it testifies its displeasure by loud hissing, and does not take to flight 

 so readily as the viper. In our reptile-den this species maintained a decided mastery 

 over the other snakes, which the vipers rarely attempted to dispute. A young viper 

 once resisting, a battle ensued. The poison of the viper had no effect upon his an- 

 tagonist, whose bites and gripings soon began to tell. The viper soon lay in a state 

 of exhaustion, dead, or nearly so, when the adder, seizing it by the head, swallowed it 

 in the usual manner. A mouse thrown into the pit was seized by the back of the head, 

 and enveloped in the folds of the serpent. When strangled, it was swallowed. Here 

 it strikes me that the usual accounts of serpents lubricating their prey with mucus, are 

 greatly overcharged. When they have killed an animal, indeed, they examine it all 

 over, touching it repeatedly with their tongue, but I have never observed any appear- 

 ance of moisture left upon the skin. Now the tongue of serpents is a most unsuitable 

 instrument for such a purpose ; narrow, forked and weak, it is no more adapted for 

 painting and plastering than for stinging. The amount of saliva requisite for lubri- 

 cating an animal, would be also enormous, whilst the secretion of that fluid in the vi- 

 per and Austrian adder, always seemed to me but very moderate in quantity. There 

 would be likewise considerable risk that one part of the victim would dry before ano- 

 ther was perfectly moistened ; and whatever lubrication is necessary, could certainly 

 be better performed in the mouth, as the morsel is passing. But there is no great 

 need of lubrication, so well are the jaws, teeth and throat of serpents fitted for their 

 duty. Moreover, as far as I have observed, they always seize their prey by the head, 

 and are thus assisted by the hair and limbs, which afford, in this position, no resist- 

 ance to swallowing, but prevent the animal from slipping back. They find also little 

 difficulty in ejecting a half-digested prey from the stomach, as, by the process of de- 

 composition, it is sufficiently lubricated, and can move in any direction with great fa- 

 cility. Why snakes are endowed with this faculty, and why they exercise it so fre- 



