COLUBER. 
(lender; the head oblong and fmooth ; a white longitudi¬ 
nal furrow riles below the neck, and extends to the anus ; 
the upper part is brown, with dulky Ipots; the un¬ 
der much lighter : it is quite harmlefs and inoitenfive. 
The abdominal lcuta are 126, the fub-caudal fquamse 
43 ; in all 171 : but thefe are found to differ in l'everal 
individuals ; that defcribed by Catefby has more lcuta, 
and lefs fub-caudal fquamse,. than the one defcribed by 
Linnaeus. 
14. Coluber ammodytes, the fand-coioured viper; a 
native of the eaftern and mountainous parts of Illyria, 
efpecially in the country round Caltel del Duino ; and is 
fold in the (hops of Germany promifcuoully with the be- 
rus, for medical and pharmaceutical ufes. Dr. Gmelin 
feems to doubt whether it be fufficiently diftinCt from the 
berus, to conftitute a feparate lpecies. It is found fqme- 
times brown, fomes pale blue, and olten decorated with a 
broad indented black band or fillet on the back. The r.ofe 
is terminated by a large rough wart. Lik,e the berus it is 
armed with fangs, but not fatal to man. It has 142 ab¬ 
dominal fcuta, and 32 lub-caudal fquamae; in all 174. 
15. Coluber ceraltes, the horned viper ; a molt venom¬ 
ous ferpent, native of the Ealt Indies, South America, and 
Africa; but moll abundant in Egypt, where it has been 
made celebrious as the inftrument of charms and incan¬ 
tations. The molt fatisfaftory account we have of this 
viper, is that communicated by John Ellis, efq. to the Royal 
Society of London, and publilhed in the 56th volume of 
their TranfaCtions; wherein it is Hated, that “the an¬ 
cient Eyptians moll certainly elteemed it a hieroglyphic 
of lbme importance ; for when we examine their monu¬ 
ments of thegreafelt antiquity, fuch as their obelilks, tem¬ 
ples, Itatues, palaces, and even their mummies, we are 
almolt fure to find many reprefentations of it on them. 
Thofe two immeni'ely large ftones, brought from Alexan¬ 
dria in Egypt, now in the court-yard of the Britilh mu- 
feum, which appear to be part of the grand cornice of 
feme magnificent palace, have many figures of the ceraltes 
curioully engraved upon them.” 
Dr. Haffelquilt, a pupil of the celebrated Linnaeus, who 
was in Egypt in 1750, has given a particular delcription 
of this curious animal; but neither he nor the former 
writers on Egypt, that mention the ceraltes, fay any thing 
about the venom of its bite. This however we are ap- 
prifed of by Dr. Turnbull, wholived many years in Egypt, 
both at Alexandria and Cairo, and who faw many inllances 
of it's fatal effects. His delcription of it is illultrated by 
the annexed engraving, and is as follows: The head, 
between the horns, is much deprefled; the cheeks are fwell- 
ed out, lo that the hinder part of the head is confiderably 
thicker than the neck ; the iiiout is fhort and blunt; the 
outward front of'the upper and under jaws have a fmall 
cavity or deprellion in both ; the nollrils project like thofe 
of a pug dog. The eyes have a perpendicular narrow and 
black pupil; the iris is of a yellowiih grey colour; the 
orbits of the eyes are neatly fet round with fmall, Itror.g, 
hemifpherical feales. The tongue is forked or divided at 
the extremity into two parts. In the upper jaw there 
are no teeth, but two bones placed lengthways in the pa¬ 
late ; in them are fixed feveral fmall teeth, generally 
about ten : they are lharp, of an equal length, and bend 
a little towards the throat. On the fides-of the under 
jaw, near the fnout, are placed three or four remarkable 
teeth ; but none quite in the fore part or hinder part, 
juft above the eyes, near the upper part of their orbit, 
are two tentacula, called horns, about a quarter of an 
Inch long; they are not ftraight, but bend a little out¬ 
wards; they are channelled lengthways, lharp-pointed, 
but not very hard ; their bafis is furrounded with a cir¬ 
cle of fmall eredt feales. The body is narrow towards 
the neck ; the diameter of the thickeft part of the middle 
about one inch ; the tail grows fuddenly taper, and 
ends in a lharp point. The top of the head, the back, 
and upper part of the tail, are variegated with dark irre¬ 
gular chefnut-coloured Ihining Ipots, on a bright ocliry 
or orange-coloured ground ; the throat, belly, and under 
part ol the tail, are whitilh. The length of this fpecitnen 
was as follows : from the nofe to the anus twenty-two 
inches and a half, the tail three inches and a half, fo that 
the whole ferpent was twenty-fix inches long. The belly 
was covered with 145 fcuta, and the tail with 43 pair of 
lquamse. The number, however, differs in different fub- 
jedts. Dr. Gmelin Hates them to have 150 abdominal 
lcuta, and 25 fub-caudal fquamae; in all 175. 
Mr. Bruce, in his Travels into Abyffmia, makes the 
following obfervations on the incantation of this lerpent 
by the Indians. “ I forbear to fatigue the reader by 
longer infilling upon this fubjedt. A long differtation 
would remain upon the incantation of lerpents. There 
is no doubt of its reality. The lcriptures are full of it- 
All that have been in Egypt have feen as many different 
inllances as they chofe. -Some have doubted that it was 
a trick, and that the animals fo handled had been firlt 
trained, and then difarmed of their power of hurting; 
and, fond of the difeovery, they have relied themfelves 
upon it, without experiment, in the face of all antiquity. 
But I will not hefitate to aver, that I have feen at Cairo 
(and this may be feen daily without trouble or expence) 
a man who came from above the catacombs, where the 
pits of the mummy birds are kept, who has taken a ce¬ 
raltes with his naked hand from a number of others lying 
at the bottom of the tub, has put it upon his bare head, 
covered it with the common red cap he wears, then taken 
it out, put it in his bread, and tied it about his neck like 
a necklace; after which it has been applied to a hen, arid 
bit it, which has died in a few minutes ; and, to com¬ 
plete the experiment, the man has taken it by the neck, 
and beginning at his tail, has ate it as one would do a 
carrot or a dock of celery, without any feeming repug¬ 
nance. We know from hiltory, that where any country 
has been remarkably infelted with ferpents, there 'the 
people have been fereened by this lecret. The Pfylli and 
Marmarides of old undoubtedly were defended in this 
manner. Ad quorum cautus mites jacuere ceraJLz. —Sil. 
Ital. lib. iii. 
“ To leave ancient liiftory, I can myfelf vouch, that 
all the black people in the kingdom of Sennaar, whether 
Funge or Nuba, are perfectly armed againft the bite of 
either fcorpion or viper. They take the ceraltes in their 
hands at all times, put them in their bofoms, and throw 
them to .one another as children do apples or balls, with¬ 
out having irritated them, by this ufage, fo much as to 
bite. The Arabs have not this lecret naturally, but from 
their infancy they acquire an exemption from the mortal 
confequences attending the bite of thefe animals, by 
chewing a certain root, and walhing themfelves (it is not 
anointing) with an infulion of certain plants in water. 
“ One day w'hen I was with the brother of Shekh Ade- 
lan, prime minifter of Sennaar, a Have of his brought a 
ceraltes which he had juft taken out of a hole, and was 
ufing it with every fort of familiarity. I told him my 
fufpicion that the teeth had been drawn ; but he allured 
me they were not, as did his matter Kittou, who took it 
from him, wound it round his arm, and at my delire or¬ 
dered the fervant to carry it home with me. I took a 
chicken by the neck, and made it flutter before the mouth 
of the ceraltes ; his feeming indifference left him, and he 
bit it with great figns of anger, .the chicken died aimoft 
immediately ; I fay his feeming indifference, for I con- 
ftantly obferved, that however lively the viper was be¬ 
fore, upon being feized by any of thefe barbarians, he 
feemed as if taken with licknefsand feeblenefs, frequently 
fhut his eyes, and never turned his mouth towards the 
arm of the perfon that held him. I alked Kittou how 
they came to be exempted from this rnifehief ? He faid, 
they were born fo, and fo laid the grave and refpeftable 
men among them. Many of the lighter and lower fort 
talked of enchantments by words and by writing, but 
they all knew how to prepare any perlon by medicine, 
which were decoctions of herbs and roots. I have feen 
many 
