[ 2fi 7 ] 
XXXV. A Letter from John Ellis, EJij; 
F. R. S. to the Prefident , on the Coluber 
Ceraftes, or Horned Viper of Egypt. 
My Lord, 
Read Dec. n. f g ^HE Coluber ceraftes, or horned 
J[ viper of Egypt, which I have, 
the honour to prefent a fpecimen of to this illuftrious 
Society, I am informed, is very rare, and fcarce to be 
found in any of the cabinets of natural curioftties in 
Europe. Beftdes, the authors who have treated on the 
Ceraftes, as Alpinus and Bellonius, have given fucli 
unfatisfadlory defcriptions of it, and inaccurate figures, 
that I thought an exatft drawing from nature, toge- 
ther with the beft and lateft fyftematical account of it, 
would be agreeable, as well to the lovers of antiquity 
as natural hiftory. 
The ancient Egyptians moft certainly efteemed it 
a hieroglyphic ol fome importance ; for when we 
examine their monuments of the greateft antiquity, 
fuch as their obelifks, temples, ftatues, palaces, and 
even their mummies, we are almoft lure to find many 
reprefentations of it on them. Thofe two immenfely 
large ftones, lately brought from Alexandria, in 
Egypt, now in the court-yard of the Britifh Mufeum, 
which appear to be part of the grand cornice of fome 
magnificent palace, have many figures of the Ceraftes 
curiouftv engraved upon them. 
Dr. 
