This Serpent resembles the Ash in Colour, inclining to the white. It traverses the _Lybian_ Provinces, where it makes travelling dangerous: It is also found in the Island of _Rhodes_; an Island on which, the Poets tell us, _Golden Showers are rain’d_, and where the Air is never so clouded, as to hinder the Light of the Sun. It appears also in _Norway_, according to _Olaus Magnus_. One tells us, that he was inform’d by one _John Vitus_, a learned _Hungarian_, that there were in that Country _little Serpents_ about six Inches long, and without a Tail, therefore called by the Vulgar, the _curtail’d Serpent_, the whole Body is much of an equal Thickness; and these, upon View of their Prey, leap upon it with the Swiftness of an Arrow[172]. Footnote 172: _Conrad. Gesner. in Verbum._ XVI. The _Druina Serpent_ from δρυς, an Oak, by _Scaliger_ called _Querculus_; it takes its Name from the Oak, in whose hollow places it seems to reside; and to which, it retires for Refuge, when assaulted by Hornets.——Some credulous Authors have said, that these Serpents take up their hybernal Lodgings about the Roots of the _Beach-trees_, and by Virtue of the Warmth, which those Roots derive from them, that Tree, so enhappy’d, flourishes all Winter. This Serpent is of the amphibious kind, and a most venemous Creature, therefore rang’d with the first Order of the serpentine Race. ’Tis of monstrous bulk[173], guarded by a rough squammatick Armour, in the Cavities of which, ’tis said, little Flies build their Nests. Whether it appears in white or blue Habit, is not material, nor do I see what Honour it gets by wearing a Coronet on its Head. Footnote 173: It is a Load for a Porter. In the Language of Tradition, to tread upon it, will cause an Excoriation in the Foot, (tho’ no Wound be given) and a Tumor in the Leg; yea, adds the Traditionist, the Hands that attend the Patient, will be in danger of losing their Skin: But he who believes all the Fables of Antiquity, is in more danger of losing his Reason. The Druinical Serpent goes under various Denominations. ’Tis said to follow the _Acontia_ in Authors, because its Figure exactly quadrates with _Bellonius_’s dart Serpent; and _Scaliger_ was in the same Sentiment[174]. Footnote 174: _Jonstonus_, Articul. xiii. p. 21. But I shall only mention that of _Chersydrus_, from _Nicander_ in _Jonstonus_, p. 28. or _Chelydrus_, called by some a _Sea-Snail_; which the learned Sir _Hans Sloane_ describes thus—— “That it is more flat than most of the cochlean Marines, consisting only of Circumvolutions, round the Axis of the Shell; of a fine purple Colour.” He calls it _Cochlea Marina_[175], and not without reason, because of their difference in Magnitude. Footnote 175: His Voyage to _Jamaica_, vol. i. p. 34.