816 
NOTES ON SNAKES IN EAST AFRICA 
the associations that show it in this rosy light. It is interesting 
to note that all the three genera of British snakes ( Tropidonotus , 
Coronella, Viper a) are represented out here by two species 
of each. 
The two typical vipers are both very local, one indeed 
having only been discovered in the Aberdare Mountains, 
British East Africa, during the last decade. The distribution 
of the other is confined to Delgado Bay as far as German East 
Africa is concerned. The writer has not been fortunate to 
visit either of these places. 
The commonest viper is undoubtedly the Puff Adder 
(Bitis arietans). In length it is usually about 89 inches, but 
in girth it is as thick as a man’s arm ; a female in young is a 
still more unwieldy creature, and in view of their prolific 
nature it is strange that the creature is not more commonly 
met with. One such specimen which I chloroformed to 
death at Morogoro, and afterwards dissected, had 16 young 
in the left oviduct and 18 in the right, making a total of 84 
young averaging 7J inches in length (November 16, 1917). 
This was quite eclipsed by another puff adder killed on 
November 28, which had no less than 71 eggs in the oviducts. 
Another female, caught on the western slopes of Mount Kenia in 
November 1915, had 12 and 18 eggs in the respective oviducts. 
The snake-catcher can hold in contempt this snake, with 
its enormous fangs often J inch long. It is so loath to move 
that it is easy to capture with a forked stick ; this same slug- 
gishness also constitutes a danger, as it is overfond of lying 
immovable across paths or in little clearings. A fine male 
the writer met with a fortnight ago did not even move when 
its neck was pressed to the ground with the forked stick, and 
remained quiet until picked up, when it commenced to squirm 
and struggle. This same snake on being placed in a wire- 
netted cage escaped about 4 p.m. and was killed two hours later 
500 yards further up the hill. 
Another closely-related creature is the handsome Nose- 
horned Yiper ( Bitis nasicornis), which owes its name to a pair 
of horn-like points formed by erected scales. One would 
naturally suppose from the carpet-like, multi-coloured skins 
of these big snakes that they must be very conspicuous objects 
