Echis, but it has two rows of subcaudals. C. cornutus, the "horned viper" of North Africa, from Algeria to Palestine, has a large horny spike above each eye. This, the "Efa" of the Arabs, buries itself in the sand, with only the eyes, nostrils and the horns appearing above the surface. It attains a length of 212 ft. C. vipera is hornless.
Fig. 2.—Atheris burtoni. (Length, 12 in.)
Bitis s. Echidna s. Clotho has two rows of shields on the underside of the very short tail; the thick head is much depressed, like the body. The nasal shields are separated from the rostral by small scales, otherwise much resembling the genus Vipera. B. arietans, the “puff-adder” of nearly the whole of Africa, an ugly, very dangerous brute growing to a length of 4 or 5 ft. B. nasicornis, the West African nose-horned viper, has a pair of erectile scales on the nose. Scarcely smaller and less bulky than the puff-adder and just as poisonous, it is yet very handsomely marked with a series of large pale, dark-edged spots and oblique crosses on a purplish or reddish brown ground. Especially handsome are the young, which at birth are as much as 1 ft. in length. On one occasion one of these snakes, after giving birth to twenty-one young (which bit and killed mice within five minutes of being born), became very ill-tempered, and when two adult males were placed in her cage she bit one with such violence as to break off one of her fangs, which she left, about three-quarters of an inch in length, sticking in his back. He, however, appeared not to suffer the slightest inconvenience, and was never the worse for it (see Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871, p. 638).
Fig. 3.—Bitis nasicornis. (Length, 12 in.)
Vipera.—The head is covered with small scales and a few larger shields. The eye is separated from the labials by small scales; the nasals are in contact with the rostral shield or separated by one naso-rostral. The scales of the body are strongly keeled; two rows of subcaudals on the short tail. This genus of about ten species with numerous local varieties ranges over Europe, Asia and the greater part of Africa.
V. berus, the common European viper, ranging from Wales to Saghalien Island and from Caithness to the north of Spain, from the northern boundary of Persia to beyond the Arctic circle in Scandinavia. It inhabits all sorts of situations, but prefers heaths, moors and mixed woods with sunny slopes. It ascends the Alps up to 6000 or 7000 ft. The coloration is very variable, grey, brown, reddish or entirely black specimens occurring in the same country. The much-spoken-of black zigzag line along the back is so often indistinct, that it cannot be relied upon as a safe character. The full-grown males are smaller than the females, and have usually darker markings and a lighter ground colour. A specimen which is 2 ft. long is rare, and is invariably a female. The chief food is mice which are hunted after sunset. They cannot climb and they avoid going into water. The pairing takes place from March to May and the young are born about four months later. During the pairing, and for hibernation, they often collect in considerable numbers. Whilst most snakes readily take proper food in captivity, these vipers prefer starving themselves to death, a feat which they accomplish within six to nine months according to conditions. As a rule their bite is not fatal to man, but the consequences are often serious and protracted. For treatment see Snakes.
V. aspis is the more southern and western continental European viper; it is slightly snub-nosed, and this feature is still more pronounced in V. latastei of Spain and Portugal. In V. ammodytes of south-eastern Europe the raised portion is produced into a soft, scaly appendage.
V. russelli, the "Daboia" is one of the most poisonous snakes of India, Ceylon, Java, Burma and Siam. It is pale brown with three longitudinal series of black, light-edged rings which sometimes encircle reddish spots. It grows to a length of about 5 ft.
(H. F. G.)
VIRBIUS, an old Italian divinity, associated with the worship of Diana at Aricia (see Diana). Under Greek influence, he was identified with Hippolytus (q.v.), who after he had been trampled to death by the horses of Poseidon was restored to life by Asclepius and removed by Artemis to the grove at Aricia, which horses were not allowed to enter. Virbius was the oldest priest of Diana, the first "king of the grove" (Rex Nemorensis). He is said to have established the rule that any candidate for the office should meet and slay in single combat its holder at the time, who always went about armed with a drawn sword in anticipation of the struggle. Candidates had further to be fugitives (probably slaves), and as a preliminary had to break off a bough from a specified tree. By the eponymous nymph Aricia, Virbius had a son of the same name, who fought on the side of the Rutulian Turnus against Aeneas. J. G. Frazer formerly held Virbius to be a wood and tree spirit, to whom horses, in which form tree spirits were often represented, were offered in sacrifice. His identification with Hippolytus and the manner of the latter's death would explain the exclusion of horses from his grove. This spirit might easily be confounded with the sun, whose power was supposed to be stored up in the warmth-giving tree. Sauer (in Roscher's Lexikon) also identifies
