Fig. 38.—Bitis cornuta.
(After Duméril and Bibron.)
Habitat: Cape Colony, Namaqualand, Damaraland.
(6) B. caudalis.—Nostrils opening upwards and outwards. 12-16 scales from one eye to the other across the head; above each eye a single, erect, horn-like scale; 10-16 scales round the eye; 10-13 supralabials; 2-3 infralabials. Scales on the body in 22-29 rows, strongly keeled; 112-153 ventrals; 18-33 subcaudals.
Colour reddish or sandy-grey, with 2 series of brown spots with light centres, and frequently a vertebral series of narrow spots; belly dull yellow, uniform, or with small black spots on the sides.
Total length, 360 millimetres; tail 25.
Habitat: South-west Africa, from Angola to Namaqualand.
(7) B. gabonica (Gaboon Viper, or River Jack Viper).—Nostrils directed upwards and outwards. Head covered with small, moderately keeled scales, smallest on the vertex, 13-16 from eye to eye; 15-19 scales round the eye; a pair of erectile, triangular, nasal “horns,” consisting of sometimes tricuspid shields, between the supranasals; 13-16 supralabials; 4-5 infralabials. Scales on the body in 33-41 rows, strongly keeled; lateral scales slightly oblique; 125-140 ventrals; 17-33 subcaudals.
This viper, which often attains a length of 1,200 millimetres, is brown, with a vertebral series of quadrangular, yellowish, or light brown spots connected by black markings; the belly is dull yellow, with small brown or blackish spots.
Habitat: Tropical Africa (West Africa, from Liberia to Damaraland; Zanzibar, Mozambique).