Like the Grass Snake this species emits an objectionable odour when captured, and at first attempts to bite, but this unfriendly phase passes quickly, and it becomes perfectly tame and exhibits a considerable amount of intelligence. It may be as well to add that, if we count the rows of small scales on the back and sides of either of our non-venomous Snakes, we shall find there are nineteen of them. In the Viper there are twenty-one rows--rarely nineteen or twenty-three. Each one of these scales is marked with a tiny pit which appears to coincide with the end of a nerve fibre, so that one may say the sense of touch resides in every separate scale. The head is less distinct from the body than is the case in the Grass Snake; and the slender tail is one-fourth of the entire length in the male and one-sixth in the female. The Smooth Snake is found throughout the greater part of Europe. *Viper or Adder* (_Vipera berus_, Linn.). At a superficial glance the Viper is quite distinct from our other Snakes. Instead of the long, gracefully tapered body of these, the Viper is short and thick in the body with a short tail. So far as the length is concerned, the average Viper is less than two feet. A few exceptionally large females have been recorded measuring two feet eleven inches; but the female is always slightly longer than the male--usually about an inch more. Two feet three inches may be regarded as the ordinary maximum for a female. The head is flatter above, and it broadens behind the eyes, so that it is very distinct from the body; further, the shields on the head are very much smaller than the corresponding plates of the Grass Snake. The iris of the eye is coppery-red, and the pupil is vertical--which usually denotes nocturnal habits, but the Viper is active by day as well as by night, and is fond of basking in the sunshine. Respecting colour, there is a considerable range of variation, much of it sexual; but, generally speaking, it may be said to be some tint of brown, olive, or grey, and this ground colour may be so dark that the darker markings are scarcely perceptible on a cursory view. Along the sides there are whitish spots, sometimes reduced to mere dots. The brown, red-brown, or olive males have black markings; the grey or whitish males are marked with brown or black, and have the underside black. The throat is black, or whitish with scales spotted or edged with black. The females if brown or brick-red have dark brown or red markings; olive females have brick-red bands or spots. The yellowish-white chin and throat are sometimes tinged with red. The eyes of the female are smaller than those of the male.