So2 COLUBER. 
So. Coluber varius, the (freaked viper; of a bright 
fliining black, the fides Ilreaked with black and white. 
The abdominal fcuta 160, i'ub-caudal fquamae 70; total 
3 . 3 °- 
8r. Coluber Tyrolenfis, the viper of Tyrol; a native 
of the Tyrolefe, or Upper Aultria, depofiting amongft the 
rocks fourteen eggs, of a white colour, of the fubftance of 
leather, joined together, and the yolk on the fide. Abdo¬ 
minal fcuta 17S, lub-caudal fquamae 68; total 238. 
8a. Coluber Arabicus, the Arabian viper; with a uni¬ 
colour back, the abdomen inclining to black. Seba alfo 
defcribes one as plain brown; a native of Arabia, with 
174. abdominal fcuta, and 60 fub-caudal fquamae 5 total 
* 34 - 
83. Coluber agilis, the nimble viper; a native of Cey¬ 
lon, variegated with ftripes, alternately white and brown, 
fpeckled with black; the head fmooth, and refembling 
that of the plicatilis. It has 184 abdominal fcuta, and 50 
fub-caudal fquamae; in all 234. 
84. Coluber lafteus, the milky vipera native of South 
America and India; white, with double black fpots ; the 
top of the head black, with a longitndinal white line. It 
is furnilhed with 203 abdominal icuta, and 32 lub-caudal 
fquamae; making 235. 
85. Coluber jaculatrix, the darting viper; of a cine¬ 
reous blue, with black longitudinal lines; it is found at 
Surinam, and in all parts of South America, and is very 
much like the coluber lineatus. It has 163 abdominal 
fcijta, and 77 fub-caudal fquamae, amounting to 240; or 
173, and 78, making 251. 
86. Coluber fcutatus, the helmeted viper; found in the 
river Ural by Dr. Pallas. It is, like the natrix, moltly an 
aquatic ferpent, though often found upon land. The face 
is like that of the natrix ; black on the back, and the ab¬ 
dominal fcuta black likewife, the alternate ones alike at 
either end. The head is defended by a broad plate ; the 
teeth like needles, projecting ; the roof of the palate dou¬ 
ble ; the iris brown ; the tail of a very uncommon trian¬ 
gular form, with one or two of the fcales white. Abdo¬ 
minal fcuta 190, fub-caudal fquamae 50; in all 240. 
87. Coluber fubalbidus, the half-white viper; the 
ground colour is chefnut, with thirty equidiftant white 
hands, and twenty on the tail, divided by a line. It is a 
native of America; the nofe is obtufe; the face has two 
upright white Itripes. It is furnilhed with 165 abdomi¬ 
nal Icuta, and 75 fub-caudal fquamae; total 240. 
88. Coluber atratus, the black-lined viper; a native of 
America. It is a brown ferpent, filleted w'ith black; hav¬ 
ing 163 abdominal fcuta, and 72 fub-caudal fquamae; in 
ail 240. 
89. Coluber .unicolor, the one-coloured viper; a fpecies 
having only one uniform colour; and the fides lineated 
or fringed down to the anus; the nofe pointed. It has 176 
abdominal fcuta, 66 fub-caudal fquamae ; total 242. 
90. Coluber aulicus, the courtly viper; a native of 
America. It is grey on the back, with numerous lineal 
white itripes forked at the fides ; on each fide the back of 
the head a white triangular ipot, meeting at the nape of 
the neck: abdominal Icuta 184, fub-caudal fquamae 60; 
total 244. 
91. Coluber monilis, the monil viper, called in the 
Eaft Indies, cobra de monil. It is a very fmall ferpent, 
but its bite is laid to occafion inftant death. The head 
Is black, with white lines or dots on the head and round 
the eyes : the body, from head to tail, beautifully annu- 
lated with black and white rings. It has 164 abdominal 
fcuta, and 82 fub-caudal fquamae ; in all 246. It is a na¬ 
tive of South America, and of India. Though Dr. Ruf- 
fell employed fome viper-catchers in Coromandel to pro¬ 
cure him a fpecinren of this diminutive reptile, yet he 
was never able to lucceed, though great pains were taken 
in the fearch. He has, however, furnilhed us with the 
following melancholy inltances of the fatality of its poi- 
fon. “ Tiie porter of Mr. Bourchier, governor of Bom¬ 
ba)', a very (lout Arab, was bitten by a fmall ferpent, 
f .. to. be the cobra monil, and expired almoft 
inftantaneoufiy, after exclaiming that a fnake had bit 
him. The governor’s fon, Mr. James Bourchier, added, 
that the fnake, to which the man’s death was imputed, 
was, by the Portuguefe, called cobra de morte ; that in the 
courfe of twenty years in India, he had only feen two of 
them, one on the illand of Bombay, the other in his own 
houfe at St. Thomas’s Mount, near Madras. That the 
length of the fnake was from fix to nine inches ; its thick- 
nefs that of a common tobacco pipe. The head black, 
with white marks, bearing fome reiemblance to a Ikull, 
and two crofs bones. The body alternately black and 
white, in joints, the whole length ; and that its venom 
is of all others the moll pernicious. A Gentoo boy in 
the fervice of an Englilh officer of the army, had been 
forbid by his mailer to fmoke tobacco. The gentleman 
returning one morning from fliooting at an earlier hour 
than was expefted, alarmed the boy, who happened at 
the time to be fmoking a chirroot (fegar). In eagernefs 
toextinguilh the chirroot, and conceal his offence, the boy 
run to an old wall behind the houle, and thrulling the 
burning chirroot into a hole in the wall, was bitten in the 
hand. He exclaimed loudly; and his mailer with a fer- 
vant, running to know what had happened, found the 
boy hardly able to give an account of what had- befallen 
him: in a very Ihort time after, the boy expired. The 
gentleman did not pretend to be precifely exaft as to 
time, but was pretty confident that from the time of the 
boy’s exclamation till his death, not more than ten mi¬ 
nutes could have elapfed. 
Mr. Ives, in his account of Hindooftan, defcribes the 
cobra de monil to be about a foot long, and to kill by 
its bite in a quarter of an hour. Mr. Pennant gives a 
(Ironger inllance of the fatal rapidity of its bite : he fays, 
a gentleman relident in India lent his fervant to fetch 
fomething from a clofet, when the man haltily cried out 
that fomething had pricked his linger; but before his 
mailer could reach him, he fell down dead on the floor ! 
Similar events unhappily occur much oftener than are 
recorded. 
92. Coluber hydrus, the fea-viper; a native of the 
Calpian fea ; never known to go on Ihore. The head is 
fmall, the cheeks not diftended, the palate armed with a 
double row of lharp teeth bending inwards; the tongue 
of an immenfe length, and black; the eyes fmall, with a 
yellow iris ; the back of a cinereous olive colour, varie¬ 
gated with black orbicular fpots in four rows, arranged 
into a quincunx; a ftripe on the neck, forming an angle 
on each fide the back Of the head, interfered by two 
bright black oblong fpots ; the abdomen is teffelated 
with yellow and black ; the tail almoll entirely black, 
terminated by two of the fmallell imaginable points, one 
over the other. It has 180 abdominal fcuta, 66 fub-cau¬ 
dal fquamae ; total 246. 
93. Coluber fulvus, the yellovv-fpotted viper; a native 
of Carolina. It has twenty-two plain black belts, and 
the fame number alternately fpotted with bright yellow 
and brown, white before and behind. It is furnilhed with 
218 abdominal fcuta, 31 fub-caudal fquamae, making 249. 
94. Coluber pallidus, the pale coloured viper; a native 
of South America, and India; of a dull white colour, 
with grey and brown promilcuoas fpots and fpecks, and 
two fmall bright black imperfecl lines at the fides ; the 
length about a foot and a half; having 156 abdominal 
fcuta, 96 fub-caudal fquamae ; total 252. 
95. Coluber lineatus, the lineated viper; a native of 
Alia, lately defcribed by Dr. Rufiell among his Indian 
ferpents. It has 176 abdominal fcuta, and 88 lub-caudal 
fquamae, making 264. It is called by the Indians conda- 
naroufe. The head is broader than the neck, oblong, ovate, 
deprefied above; comprefied towards the roftrum ; covered 
with nine laminae : the firlt pair between the noltrils, lub- 
triangular; the next roundilh ; the middle laminae of 
the three between the eyes, lancet-form ; the lateral pyra¬ 
midal; the lad pair oblong-Iemi-cordate. The mouth 
middle fize; the lower jaw longer than the upper. The 
teeth below, and in the two palatal rows of the upper jaw 
numerous. 
