1032 Reptiles. 



through. And this leads me to say a word or two respecting the sup- 

 posed varieties of the viper. The black viper may possibly be a per- 

 manent variety ; that is, an adult black viper possibly has a black 

 progeny. I know nothing to the contrary. I have seen but one, and 

 that was a very large one, measuring full twenty-seven inches* Its 

 skin, which, when the creature was newly killed was nearly jet black, 

 and the markings not distinguishable, has faded to even a lighter 

 shade than other skins kept with it of the common variety. The 

 black viper may be said to be scarce with us. I have heard of its oc- 

 currence only a few times. An entomological friend has not yet for- 

 gotten a fright he sustained from a black viper three or four years ago. 

 Seeing a dead stoat suspended on the branch of a tree, he rushed for- 

 ward, visions of I know not what rare Coleoptera floating before his 

 eyes, when, to his horror, he nearly set his foot on a huge black viper 

 coiled up just underneath. On another occasion, I met the same 

 friend in a high fever of excitement, returning victorious from a con- 

 flict with the same deadly reptile, which he had most magnanimously 

 pelted to death with large stones, at I know not how many yards dis- 

 tance. Another friend tells me he has seen two or three black vipers 

 during a residence in the island of many years. So much for the 

 black variety. 



The so-called red viper I believe to be nothing more than the 

 young of the common viper. I have never seen a young viper of the 

 first year that did not correspond, even to the unusual breadth of the 

 head, with Professor Bell's description of the red variety. 



In the adult state there may be said to be almost as many varieties 

 as there are individuals : for T have captured vipers with the ground- 

 colour of every shade, from nearly pure white to as nearly jet black, 

 and from bright ochreous to the dingiest brown. I killed one last 

 summer, on Pan-common, with the ground-colour even brighter than 

 yellow ochre, and the markings a rich mahogany brown. I have seen 

 others with the markings of jet black, with something of a metallic 

 lustre. I have in spirits two specimens which I found napping toge- 

 ther almost close to my house, of which the ground-colour is pale 

 brown, and the markings are mahogany brown ; while the belly of the 

 larger, which measured about twenty inches in length, is nearly pure 

 white ; and the smaller, whose length is about fifteen inches, has the 

 anterior portion of the abdominal scale light plumbeous, and the pos- 

 terior portion marked with irregular spots of mahogany brown on a 

 light brown ground. Others I have seen with the belly of an uniform 

 plumbeous tint, some darker and some lighter. Others again are 





