Class III. VIPER. 29 



certain; but we are well afTured that this difco- 

 very is far from a recent one ; 



Ut ajjldens implumibus pullis a^vis 

 Ser Pentium allapfus timet * . 



Thus, for its young the anxious bird 

 The gliding ferpent fears. 



The viper is capable of fupporting very long 

 abftinence, it being known that fome have been 

 kept in a box fix months without food, yet did 

 not abate of their vivacity. They feed only a 

 fmall part of the year, but never during their con- 

 finement ; for if mice, their favorite diet, fhould 

 at that time be thrown into their box, tho' they 

 will kill, yet they never will eat them. 



The poifon decreafes in viol-ence in proportion 

 to the length of their confinement : it mull be alfo 

 added, the virtues of its flefh (whatfoever they be) 

 are at the fame time confiderably lefiTened. 



Thefe animals, when at liberty, remain torpid 

 throughout the winter ; yet when confined have 

 never been obferved to take their annual repofe. 



The method of catching them is by putting a 

 cleft flick on or near their head ; after which they 

 are feized by the tail, and put indantly into a bag. 



The viper-catchers are very frequently bit by 

 them in the purfuit of their bufinefs, yet we vtx'f 



^ Hor. Epod. I. 



rarely 



