COLUBER. 
indeed of opinion, that it is possible (could 
we overcome our reluctance to it), that 
viper’s liesh might prove nutritious food, 
but that to ascribe any medical virtues to it 
is a vulgar error. 
The viper is viviparous, producing its 
young towards the close of summer. “ On 
the 4th of August, 1755,” says Mr. White, 
“ we surprised a large female viper, which 
seemed very heavy and bloated, as it lay on 
the grass, basking in the sun. When we 
came to cut it up, we found that the abdo- 
men w as crow'ded with young, fifteen in num- 
ber; the shortest of which measured full 
seven inches, anil were about the size of full- 
grown earthworms. This little fry issued 
into the world with the true viper-spirit about 
them, shewing great alertness as soon as dis- 
engaged from the belly of the dam: they 
twisted and wriggled about, and set them- 
selves up, and gaped very wide when touched 
with a stick, shewing manifest tokens of 
menace and defiance ; though as yet they 
had no manner of fangs that we could find, 
even with the help of our glasses.” Mr. 
White, in another part of his work, informs 
us, that in the month of May a female viper 
was opened, which had in it a chain of eleven 
eggs, about the size of tnose of a blackbird ; 
but not so far advanced as to shew the rudi- 
ments of the young. 
“ Several intelligent persons,” adds Mr. 
White, “ assure me that they have seen the 
viper open her mouth, and admit her helpless 
young down her throat on sudden surprises, 
just as the opossum does her brood into the 
pouch under her belly upon the like emer- 
gencies ; and yet the London viper-catchers 
insist on it to Mr. Barrington that no such 
thing ever happens. 
Sir Thomas Brown, however, seems in- 
clined to believe this circumstance. The 
young, says he, supposed to break through 
the belly of the dam, will upon any fright, 
for protection, run into it; for then the old 
one receives them in at her mouth : the 
fright being past, they will return again, 
which is a peculiar w j ay of refuge, and al- 
though it seem strange, it is avowed by fre- 
quent experience and undeniable testimony. 
There is a variety of this species entirely 
black. 
c 2. The cerastes or homed viper, which 
commonly' grows to the length of about a 
foot or fifteen inches, and sometimes to a 
larger size, is distinguished by a pair of horns 
or curved processes, situated above the eyes, 
and pointing forwards: these horns have 
nothing analogous in their structure to the 
horns of quadrupeds, and are by no means 
to be considered in the light of either offen- 
sive or defensive weapons: they increase, 
however, the natural antipathy so generally 
felt against the serpent tribe, and give the 
animal a more than ordinary appearance of 
malignity. The cerastes is a native of many 
parts of Africa, and is principally found in 
sandy deserts and dry places, its usual co- 
lour is a pale yellowish or reddish brown, 
with a few rather large, distant, round, or 
transversely oblong spots of a deeper colour, 
dispersed along the upper parts ot the body, 
the belly or under part being of a pale lead- 
colour. In Syria and Arabia the cerastes is 
particularly frequent, and is also found in 
many parts of Egypt, &c. It bears a very 
great affinity' to the common viper, and its 
VoL. 1. 
bite is perhaps still more to he dreaded ; 
since, exclusive of the general danger ot 
treading accidentally on this reptile, and thus 
irritating it unawares, it is said to possess a 
propensity of springing with great suddenness 
to a .considerable distance, and assailing 
w ithout provocation those who happen to 
approach it. 
The celebrated Abyssinian traveller, Mr. 
Bruce, is of opinion that this was the aspic 
employed by Cleopatra to procure her 
death. He adds some incredible stories re- 
specting the power of certain persons in 
Africa to charm these and other serpents so 
as to prevent their biting them. If these 
narratives have any foundation, the animals 
must in some way have been previously dis- 
armed of their fangs, as the cobra de capello 
is by the Indian jugglers. 
3. Coluber nasicornis, or born-nose snake, 
adds to the number of those malignant rep- 
tiles whose bite, in the hotter regions of the 
globe, proves the dreadful forerunner of a 
speedy anil painful death. If at the first 
glance of most of the serpent tribe an invo- 
luntary sort of horror and alarm is so often 
felt by those who are unaccustomed to the ex- 
amination of these animals, how much greater 
dread must the unexpected view of the 
species here exhibited be supposed to inflict ! 
when to the general form ot the creature are 
superadded the peculiar fierceness and for- 
bidding torvify with which nature has marked 
its countenance; distinguished 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 in- 
cline slightly back-wards and a little outwards 
on eacli side, and are of a substance not ab- 
solutely horny, but in some degree flexible : 
their shape is somew'hat 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 ex- 
tremely 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 tiian 
the others. The length of this animal is 
about thirty-five inches. Its colour is a yel- 
lowish olive-brown, very thickly sprinkled all 
over with minute blackish 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 eacli side of the body, from head to tail, 
runs an acutely-flexuous or zigzag line or 
narrow band of an ochre-colour : the iioru- 
nose snake is supposed to be a native of the 
interior parts of Africa. 
4. The coluber naja, or cobra de capello, 
(See Plate Nat. Hist. fig. 138.) is a native 
of India, where it appears to be one of the 
most common, as well as most noxious, of 
the serpent tribe ; very frequently proving- 
fatal, in the space of a tew' minutes, to those 
who unfortunately experience its bite. Its 
remarkable form and colours are such as to 
distinguish it with great ease from almost 
every other snake. Its general length seems 
to be three or four feet, and the diameter of 
303 
the body afiout an inch and a quarter. It 
has obtained its Portuguese title of cobra de 
capello, or hooded snake, from the appearance 
w hich it presents when viewed in Iront in an 
irritated state, or when preparing to bite ; 
at w hich time it bends the head rather down- 
wards, and seems hooded in some degree 
by the expanded skin of the neck. In India 
it is every where exhibited publicly as a show, 
and is, ot course, more universally known in 
that country than almost any oilier of the 
race of reptiles. It is carried about in a 
covered basket, and so managed by its pro- 
prietors as to assume, when exhibited, a kind 
of dancing motion; raising itself up on its 
lower part, and alternately moving its head 
and body from side to side for some minutes, 
to the sound of some musical instrument 
which is played during the time. The In- 
dian jugglers, who thus exhibit the animal, 
first deprive it of its fangs, by which means 
they are secured from the danger of its bite. 
Dr. Russel, in his account of experiments 
made in India with this serpent, observes, 
that, as a general standard for a comparison 
of the effect of its bite with that ot other 
poisonous serpents, he never knew it prove 
mortal to a dog in less than twenty-seven 
minutes, and to a chicken in less than half 
a minute. Thus, fatal as it is, its poison 
seems not so speedy in operation as that of 
the rattle-snake, which lias been known to 
kill a dog in the space of two minutes. 
5. The coluber aquaticus, or water viper, 
is called in Carolina the water rattle-snake ; 
not that it has a rattle ; biff is a large snake, 
and coloured not much unlike the rattle- 
snake, and the bite is said to be as mortal. 
This snake frequents the water, anil is never 
seen at any great distance from it: the back 
and head are brown; the belly transversely 
marked with black and yellow alternately, 
as are the sides of the neck* the neck is 
small, the head large, and armed with the 
like destructive weapons as the rattle-snake : 
it is very nimble, and particularly dextrous 
in catching fish. In summer great numbers 
are seen lying on the branches of trees hang- 
ing over rivers, from which at the approach 
of a boat they drop down into the water, and 
often into the boat on the men’s heads: they 
lie in this manner to surprise either birds or 
fish, after which last they plunge, and pursue 
them with great swiftness, and catch some of 
a large size, which they carry on shore and 
swallow whole. The tail is small towards 
the end, and terminates in a blunt horny 
point about half an inch in length, and which, 
though harmless, is considered as of dreadful 
efficacy by the credulous vulgar, who be- 
lieve that the animal is able, with this wea- 
pon, not only to kill men and other animals, 
but even to destroy a tree by wounding it 
with it; the tree withering, turning black, 
and dying. 
6. Coluber argus, or argus snake, (See 
Plate Nat. Hist, fig. 133.) is a large anil ele- 
gant species, measuring, according to Seba, 
above five feet in length, and being of a mo- 
derate thickness in proportion: the head is 
large, flatfish, covered in front with small 
scales, and so very protuberant on each side 
at the hind part as to appear heart-shaped, or 
rather bilohate : the teeth large and strong : 
the whole upper surface of the animal is of 
a dusky chesnut colour, the scales being 
small, ovate, aud each marked by a wink* 
