66 VIFEUA BERUS. 



XII. 



VIPERA BERUS. 



Common Viper, or Adder 



Gen. Char. — Scales on the head rough or granulated ; 

 plates under the tail divided ; neck narrow ; poisonous 

 fangs in the upper jaw. 



Spec. Char. — Body brown, with a black zigzag line 

 along the back, and a row of black spots on each side ; 

 belly slate-coloured ; length two feet. 



E^<J ; Arist. Hist. An. lib. iii. c. 1. Vipera; Virg. Georg. iii. 417 •, Plin. 



Hist. lib. x. c. 42; Gesner, Scrp. 71; Raii, Syn. Quadr. 285. Coluber 



Berus; Lin. Syst. i. 337 ; Shaw, Zool.n\.t.\0\. Viper; Pennant, lir. Zool. 



iii. p. 36, t. 5. Bents subrufus; Laurenti, 97, t. 2, f. 1. La Vipre Commune ; 



La Cepede, Hist, des Serp. ii. t. 1. 

 Le Vipre,Vr.; La Vibora, Sp.; Die Europdische Natter, Otter, Gcr. ; Smeu ; 



Echidna, Russ. ; Otterjluuge ; Hugg-orm,Dau.; Hugg-orm, Sued. 



So celebrated for poison have the bites of some serpents been, that 

 in the earlier ages they were held sacred as the ministers of divine 

 wrath ; and in more enlightened times the figure of a viper was 

 cidded to the busts of eminent physicians, as an acknowledgment 

 of that skill which could avert the dangers apprehended from the 

 wounds inflicted by these reptiles. Fortunately for the inhabi- 

 tants of this country we possess but few venomous animals ; and 

 these even. but rarely occasion serious injury, and still seldomer 

 those fatal consequences which so often succeed similar accidents 

 in hot climates. 



The Viper is found in all the woody, mountainous, and stony 

 districts of the temperate parts of Europe. It is common on the 

 borders of dry coppices, on heaths, and in dry sandy situations 

 exposed to the sun, and occurs throughout the whole of France, 



