Do not we then find in one and the fame fer- 
pent, the qualities of two of the Ancients ? I mean 
Jfpis, which killed fo eafy ; and Sep, which killed 
in a very Ihort time, with the like terrible fymp- 
toms, and effects as this does to this day. 
Have not the Ancients, who never gave com- 
plete defcriptions of thofe curiofities in Nature, of 
which they might have left us any account, and in 
which the name, characters, or defcriptions are ei- 
ther omitted, or made and given in fuch a manner, 
as rather to confound the Reader, than to inftruCb 
him B Have they not perhaps, I fay, given two 
names to one animal, becaufe it had two different 
qualities B Examples of this kind are not wanting* 
It is very poffible, that the Seps of Lucan is 
the fame as the Afpis of Horace ; both have in- 
formed us of their effe&s ; but neither of them has 
given us any defcription. I therefore conceive it 
is laudable to endeavour, by the informations which 
Natural Hiftory affords us, to explain their mean- 
ing, as they do not always exprefs their thoughts 
fo clearly as to be comprehended by their Readers. 
1 have the honour to fend three defcriptions of 
the ferpents I found in Egypt : the firft is the viper 
of Egypt. If this has been completely defcribed 
before, the viper of the (hops would be known ; if 
not, this famous viper has to this day been un- 
known. I have always been of the opinion that our 
common viper ( Coluber 'vulgaris Fn. fuec.) was the 
fame with the viper of the fhops-, but I changed 
my opinion, as foon as I faw how much the viper, 
from which the Venetians carry over all that is re- 
quired in the fhops, differs in number of fcutae 
and fquamae, head and tail, and appearance from 
that which is found with us. The true vipera 
officinalis, I fuppofe, is fcarcely met with in Italy* 
