598 HORN-NOSE SNAKE. 



by the very uncommon appearance of two large 

 and sharp-pointed horns, situated, not as in the 

 Cerastes, above the eyes, but on the top of the 

 nose or anterior part of the upper jaw. These 

 horns stand nearly upright, but incline slightly 

 backwards and a little outwards on each side, and 

 are of a substance not absolutely horny, but in some 

 degree flexible : their shape is somewhat triangular 

 or three-sided : they are about half an inch in 

 length, and at the fore part of the base of each 

 stands an upright strong scale, of nearly the same 

 shape with the horn itself, and thus giving the 

 appearance of a much smaller pair of horns*. The 

 mouth is furnished with extremely large and long 

 fangs or tubular teeth, situated as in other poisonous 

 serpents, and capable of inflicting the most severe 

 wounds : two of these fangs appear on each side of 

 the mouth; the hinder pair being smaller than the 

 others. The length of this animal is about thirty- 

 five inches. Its colour is a yellowish olive-brown, 

 very thickly sprinkled all over with minute black- 

 ish specks : along the whole length of the back is 

 placed a series of yellowish-brown oblong spots or 

 marks, each of which is imbedded in a patch of 

 black ; and on each side of the body, from head 

 to tail, runs an acutely-flexuous or zigzag line or 



* It is remarkable that some of the older writers f speak of a 

 kind of Cerastes with four horns, or even more : it is, therefore, 

 not improbable that this species might have been seen by those 

 authors. 



f Solinus, Albertui, Sec, 



