54 



The Museum Gazette 



We have named the characters which are most easily seen 

 when the animal is gliding about on the sward or path, there 

 are others which are available when the animal is dead or 

 in captivity. Under such conditions it will be seen that the 

 scales which clothe the Viper are much smaller in size than 

 those of the Snake, more especially on the head, and further, 

 that the head of the Viper is marked with black, somewhat 

 in the form of the letter V. 



Snakes, as well as Vipers, have sharp teeth, but they use 

 them only for seizing their prey, and they have no poison 

 fangs. 



The venom apparatus of the Viper consists of a gland 

 which secretes the poison, a receptacle which stores it, and 

 a long, sharp fang, which can be extruded and through 

 a groove in which the poison is conveyed. The animal 

 darts open-mouthed at its enemy rather than bites. Its fang 

 being in its upper jaw it becomes well exposed when the 

 mouth is agape. As there is a fang on each side there 

 will usually be two punctures in the skin about a third of 

 an inch apart. 



No doubt there occur every year in England a good many 

 instances of viper-bites in men and boys. There are, how- 

 ever, exceedingly few deaths, and many persons of consider- 

 able experience have doubted whether the bite is ever actually 

 fatal. A very urgent and severe illness is almost invariably 

 the result ; but the patient just pulls through. 



In a case in which the writer was, in boyhood, a particeps 

 two fine vipers were captured in mistake. They were put 

 into a botanical box and were repeatedly inspected, and their 

 tongues freely touched. It was only when on arrival at 

 home that one of them, during an attempt to transfer it to 

 a cage, made a dart and struck the finger of a boy of fourteen. 

 The accident was concealed until, about a quarter of an hour 

 later in attempting to cross the floor, the victim fell down in 

 a deadly faint. He became very sick and having been got 

 to bed remained in collapse, apparently near death for several 

 hours. Brandy was of course freely given. 



