THE PUFF ADDER. 105 
Its general color is brown ; there are two dark brown spots on each side of the back of the 
head, and a yellow streak runs between them. Upon the body are three rows of oblong brown 
spots, edged with white. 
TIC-POLONGA, OK KATUKA .—Daboia elegans. 
The terrible Puff Adder is closely allied to the preceding species. 
This reptile is a native of Southern Africa, and is one of the commonest, as well as one of 
the most deadly, of poisonous Snakes. It is slow and apparently torpid in all its movements, 
except when it is going to strike, and the colonists say that it is able to leap backwards so 
as to bite a person who is standing by its tail. Captain Drayson, who has seen much of 
this reptile and its habits, has kindly forwarded to me the following short account of this 
creature 
“This formidable looking reptile is more dreaded than any other of the numerous poison- 
ous Snakes in Africa, a fact which mainly results from its indolent nature. Whilst other and 
more active Snakes will move rapidly away upon the approach of man, the Puff Adder will 
frequently lie still, either too lazy to move, or dozing beneath the warm sun of the south. 
This reptile attains a length of four feet, or four feet six inches, and, some specimens may be 
found even longer; its circumference is as much as that of a man’s arm. Its whole appear- 
ance is decidedly indicative of venom. Its broad ace-of-clubs-shaped head, its thick body, 
and suddenly tapered tail, and its chequered back, are all evidences of its poisonous nature. 
It derives its popular name from its practice of puffing out or swelling the body when 
irritated. 
vol. 
