of parturition. Mr. Bell has examined several in which the young appeared ready to be excluded, but has always found the investing membrane entire, though so thin and soft as to be torn by the slightest force. He gives a figure of the young Viper in this state, the membrane having been removed. It is coiled up so closely as almost to appear like a solid mass; but no sooner is it emancipated, than it assumes all the activity and virulence which belong to the species. The membrane seems to have been unobserved by White in the dissection which he thus records. “On August 4th, 1775, we surprised a large Viper, which seemed very heavy and bloated, as it lay in the grass, basking in the sun. When we came to cut it up, we found the abdomen was crowded with young, fifteen in number; the shortest of which measured full seven inches and were about the size of full-grown earthworms.
YOUNG IN EGG.
This little fry issued into the world with the true viper spirit about them, shewing great alertness as soon as disengaged from the belly of the dam: they twisted and wriggled about, and set themselves up, and gaped very wide when touched with a stick, shewing manifest tokens of menace and defiance, though as yet they had no manner of fangs that we could find, even with the help of our glasses.”[1]
- ↑ “National History Selby,” Lett. xxxi. (2nd Series.)
