78 SCYTALE DIZONATA. 



person liable to fall in with it. Unlike the generality of snakes, 

 which make a spring or dart forwards when irritated, the Puff 

 Adder, it is said, throws itself backwards ; so that those who should 

 be ignorant of this fact would place themselves in the very direction 

 of death, while imagining that by so doing they were escaping the 

 danger. The natives, by keeping always in front, are enabled to 

 destroy it without much risk." 



VIPERA ATROPOS.— Deadly Viper. 



Spec. Char. — Body whitish, with four rows of reddish- 

 brown spots, white in their margins ; four black spots 

 on the head. Length fifteen inches. 



Coluber Atropos ; Lin. Syst, Nat. p. 275. 



This is a small species, seldom exceeding fifteen inches in length, 

 and inhabits South America, where its bite is much dreaded. The 

 head is large and covered with small scales ; the body is whitish 

 or cinereous above, and is marked with a quadruple series of very 

 large alternate round brown spots, by which character this species 

 r ery easily distinguished. 



is v 



SCYTALE BIZONATA. 

 Pl. XIII.- 



Gen. Char. — Body and tail below with a row of trans- 

 verse plates ; poisonous fangs in the upper jaw ; no 

 hollows behind the nostrils ; tail destitute of rattles. 



Spec. Char. — Body dark brown, with a waving yellow 

 band on each side, and a row of yellowish dorsal spots 

 edged with black ; head with four dark spots. Length 

 fifteen inches. 



