I. The Viper, or Adder, a subtle and poisonous Creature, slender in Body, about a Foot and half long, with fiery and flaming Eyes, a long and cloven Tongue, which when irritated, it darts forth with Violence, and looks like a glowing Firebrand; has a big Head, and flattest of the serpentine kind.
It is slow in its motion, and does not leap like other Serpents, but is very nimble to bite when provok’d. The Scales under the Body resemble that of well-polish’d Steel. They appear in divers Colours, yellow, ash, green; and others of Libya, like the Inhabitants, of a blackish Hue; its Front not unlike that of a Hog.
VIPERS of other Nations, are supposed to be larger than the European, especially the Troglodite-Viper[[99]], which is said to be above fifteen Cubits long: and the Historian adds, viz. That there are no domestick Vipers. I presume, he means they are not brought up among the Children of the Family, as some Serpents are said to have been; this little venemous Reptile being of a more mischievous Nature[[100]].
[99]. Ælian de Nat. Animal.
[100]. Conrad. Gesner. Hist. p. 75.
The Viper differs from the Snake in bulk, being not so large, and their Scales more sharp, and Head more large: They also differ in this, viz. Snakes lay their Eggs, twenty, thirty, sixty, and a hundred sometimes, in one Nest, not quite so large as that of a Magpye (which are inclosed with a whitish Skin, but not with Scales) in Dunghills and other warm Situations, where they are hatch’d by adventitious Heat, commonly call’d Adders in this Country; whereas Vipers make use of their own Matrix, and bring forth live Vipers: Their young ones come forth wrapt up in thin Skins, which break on the third day, and set the little venemous Creatures at liberty, therefore rank’d among the viviparous Animals.
Their Births are much like young Snigs for Bulk; they generally bring forth about twenty young ones, but only one each day. It is observ’d of the Viper, that its Internals are not fetid, like those of some other Serpents, that are intolerable. The Eggs of Lizard-Serpents, which are so much esteem’d in the French-Islands of America, are of the same Size and Figure as those of Pigeons, and are generally used in all sorts of Sauces: When the Females lay their Eggs, they make a Hole in the Sand, and cover them with it, and the Heat of the Sun is sufficient to hatch them[[101]].
[101]. Fevillee’s Journal of the Phil. Math. and Bot. Obs.
ALBERTUS is quoted for a Battle between a Viper and a Magpye, occasioned by her creeping up into a Magpye’s Nest, and devouring her Brood in the Mother’s absence, who upon her Return made a hideous clattering, which soon brought in its Mate; whereupon both, with united Beaks, fell upon the Plunderer, and after a sharp Engagement demolish’d the Enemy.
Father Fevillee in the Woods of the Island Martinique, “being frighted by a large Serpent, which he could not well avoid, his Dog immediately fell on, and took the Serpent by the Head: The Serpent surrounded him and press’d him so violently, that the Blood came out of his Mouth; and yet the Dog never ceased till he had entirely tore it to pieces. The Dog was not sensible of his Wounds during the Fight, but soon after, his Head prick’d by the Serpent swell’d prodigiously, and he lay on the ground as dead; but his Master having found hard by a Bananier, which is a very watry Tree, he cured him with the Juice of it, and some Treacle[[102]].”