VJPERINE GROUP. 
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Africa as well as in Europe. It is noteworthy that in the borderland of the 
distributional areas of the two forms, such as Northern Spain and Italy, it is 
difficult to say to which of the two any specimen may belong. 
More numerous in Scotland than the ringed snake, but, like it, unknown in 
Ireland, the common viper generally frequents heaths, dry woods, and sandy banks. 
Although its bite produces severe effects, it is seldom, unless the sufferer be very 
young or in ill-health, that death ensues. During the winter months, vipers 
generally hibernate in small parties for the sake of mutual warmth, several being 
often found twined together in a torpid condition. 
LONG-NOSED, OK SAND-VIPER (£ nat. size). 
Long-Nosed Another well-known poisonous European snake is the long- 
Viper. nosed, or sand-viper (H ammodytes), easily recognised by the 
presence of a soft horny appendage at the end of the nose, covered with scales, 
and not unlike a conical wart in appearance. It is also distinguished from the 
common viper by the absence of any large shield, except the supraoculars, on the 
top of the head; although in coloration the two species are very similar. In size 
it is the largest European representative of the group, attaining a length in some 
rare instances of just over a yard. The sand-viper ranges from Italy to Armenia. 
In Carinthia it is the commonest of snakes, while in the Tyrol it is. local, but 
abundant in the south of Hungary and Dalmatia. Mainly nocturnal, it is much 
more commonly found in hilly than in level districts, ascending in the mountains 
