And now for our old friend the Pilgrim Purchas. ‘Of snakes that have Poison, _Iararaca_ is a Name that comprehendeth foure kinds. The first is the greatest _J_. There are other smaller _Jararacas_, about half a Yard long. They have certaine Veines in their Head like the Vipers.’ Have those ‘prominent veins anything to do with its name _Craspedocephalus_’? But how about its being only eighteen inches? This was the pursuit of snakes under difficulties, the clearing away of which was accomplished only by slow degrees, as one book after another offered new contradictions with still other varieties of spelling. Without doubt this perplexing reptile was viperine, rough, angular-headed, crotaline, and probably hideous; but as for colouring there were many doubts about that. After several years’ familiarity with the _name_ of this puzzling ‘Jararaca,’ and curiosity increasing at a corresponding ratio, the reader can imagine the effect produced by unexpectedly seeing at the London Zoological Gardens one day in September 1880 a new label to one of the cages in the Ophidarium thus inscribed, ‘CRASPEDOCEPHALUS BRAZILIENSIS. THE JARRARACCA. Presented by Dr. Stradling.’ A live Jararaca at last! Now we shall know all about it. But how is this? The serpent before me was not a viper, not rough-headed, not a _Bothrops_, because it had only one pair of nostrils. It had smooth, polished scales, large, beautiful, round eyes, with no ‘red spots’ and not a spice of venom or of viperishness about it. And I stood staring and wondering, and—I must confess—_disappointed_ at this meek-looking, smallish snake being a representative of the terrible, ‘formidable’ picture that had been conjured up. ‘I don’t believe that’s a _Jararaca_!’ were my inward conclusions. ‘I am _sure_ it isn’t! It _can’t_ be. It does not agree in any way.’ Then came the keeper to the cage, to tell me of this new and valuable addition; but I only repeated aloud my already firm convictions.