Providence has been so indulgent to us as to 



allow of but one venomous reptile of the serpent 



kind in these kingdoms, and that is the viper. As 



you propose the good of mankind to be an object 



of your publications, you will not omit to mention 



common salad-oil as a sovereign remedy against the 



bite of the viper. As to the blind worm [Anguis 



fragilis, so called because it snaps in sunder with a 



small blow\ I have found on examination that it is 



perfectly innocuous. A neighbouring yeoman (to 



whom I am indebted for some good hintsj killed 



and opened a female viper about the 27th of May ; 



he found her filled with a chain of eleven eggs, 



about the size of those of a blackbird ; but none of 



them were advanced so far towards a state of matu- 



ritv as to contain any rudiments of voung. Though 



they are oviparous, yet they are viviparous also, 



hatchino^ their voung- within their bellies, and then 



bringing them forth. Whereas snakes lav chains of 



eggs every summer in my melon-beds, in spite of all 



that my people can do to prevent them ; which eggs 



do not hatch till the spring following, as I have 



often experienced. Several intelligent folks assure 



me that thev have seen the viper open her mouth 



and admit her helpless young down her throat on 



sudden surprises, just as the female opossum does 



her brood into the pouch under her bellv, upon the 



like emergencies ; and vet the London viper-catchers 



insist on it, to Mr. Barrington, that no such thing 



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