NATURAL HISTORY OF _SERPENTS_ ---------------------------------------------------------------- PART II. _Which gives a View of most Serpents that are known in the several Parts of the World, describ’d by their various Names, different Countries, Qualities_, _&c._ ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Serpents are a numerous Tribe, and their Dominions of large Extent, lying both in Sea and Land: No part of the World but what is replenish’d with them, more or less, in some form or other. In describing them, I shall begin with, 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]. Footnote 99: _Ælian de Nat. Animal._ Footnote 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.