COLUBER, in natural history, a genus of serpents„ distinguished by having plates on the body, and scales on the under parts of the tail. The species of this ge nus are numerous. Linmeus describes, upon the testimony of various writers, above ninety ; and that number even has been considerably augmented by natura lists since his time. The species differ greatly in size and habit ; some, as the vipers, having the head large, flattish, and semi•cordated, with the body and tail of a moderate length, or rather short; while others, as the greater part of the harmless serpents, have small heads, with the bo dy and tail much longer in proportion. In some, exclusive of the usual scales under the tail, are a few scuta or undivided la mella:, either at the beginning or to wards the tip of the tail.
Linnmus considered the number of ab dominal plates and scales under the tail as a characteristic distinction of the differ ent species of this genus ; such, how ever, is the inconsistency of this criterion, that, in describing the same species, scarcely two writers agree. Characters taken from the number of those plates and scales in the serpent tribe, like those from the number of rays in the fins of fishes, are not be relied upon. The colours are liable to some variation; but the peculiar form and disposition of the spots, lines, and other markings, afford, in general, a character, by which the dif ferent species may be distinguished.
C. vipers. Somewhat ferruginous, spot ted with brown ; beneath whitish ; tail short and mucronated. Abdominal scuts 118, subcaudal scales 22. Linnaus. This is the common viper of Egypt ; it is im ported in considerable quantities every year to Venice, for the use of the apothe caries. Its size is somewhat smaller than that of the common viper ; the head not so flat on the top, but very protuberant on each side ; snout very obtuse. The body is thick towards the middle, and somewhat quadrangular, but thin and cylindric towards the head and tail, which last is short, slender, conical, and termi nated by a slightly incurved horny point or tip. The scales on the upper parts are oval and carinated. Hasselquist de scribes this species as being about two spans in length, exclusive of the tail, which measures only an inch. This is supposed by some to be the asp, by the bite of which the celebrated Cleopatra determined rather to die than submit to be carried captive to Rome, to grace the triumph of Augustus.
C. berus. On the head a bilobatg spot; bbdy above cinerous (or reddish) with a black flexuous zig-zag stripe down the back, and belly purplish. Coluber berus, _ abdominal scuts 146, subcaudal scales 39. Linnzus. 1 his is the common English viper, and which is not only frequent in this country, but appears to be generally diffused over the rest of Europe, and some parts of Asia. If the varieties, de scribed by Gmelin, are of the same spe cies, it extends also as far as India.
Though the viper varies considerably in colour, from a pale cinereous or yellow ish ferruginou', to deep or dull brown, the varieties agree in being marked with a continued series of confluent rhomboid blackish spots, extending from the head to the tail. The general length of the viper is from eighteen inches to two feet, and it is affirmed by some writers to grow even to the length of three feet. The
fangs of the viper, like those of other poisonous serpents, are situated on each side the fore part of the upper jaw, and are generally two in number, with a few smaller ones situated behind. The poi son, as usual, lies in a receptacle at the base of the fangs, and being perforated, when the animal bites, the compression of those receptacles forces out a drop of the poisonous fluid, which, passing through the aperture of the fangs, is im mediately instilled into the wound. The tongue is forked, and, being soft and flexible, is susceptible of great extension: it may be, perhaps, superfluous to add, that this tongue is altogether incapable of in flicting any wound, or injecting poison, as some ancient writers credulously af firm ; it may assist the animal in the cap ture of its insect prey. The French na turalists are inclined to believe it is in tended by nature to supply some defect of transpiration in the skin. Hitherto the viper has been considered the most poi sonous of the European serpents, and many instances are recorded of the fatal effects resulting from its bite. That the bite of this serpent is always productive of pain and temporary inflammation in the parts bitten is very evident ; some times also the symptoms may become alarming, or in a few instances, through neglect or injudicious treatment of the wound, may even prove fatal; but, upon the whole, the bite of this creature does not appear pregnant with all those dan gers which the terrors and prejudices of the vulgar lead them to suppose. In Eng land the bite of the viper is rarely attend ed with fatal consequences. Fontana seems to doubt whether any well attested instance can be adduced of the viper hay mg killed any person by its bite, even in the warm climate of Italy. The testimo nies of authors, both as to the nature of the poison itself, and its effects on the animal frame, are, however, confessedly at variance.
The viper, though so much dreaded om account of its bite, has been very highly esteemed, both by the ancients and mo derns, as a restorative and strengthening diet. The ancients used the flesh of this snake in leprous and other cases. The Greek physician Craterus cured, as Por phyrius relates, a miserable slave, whose skin in a strange manner fell off from his hones, by advising him to feed on vipers' flesh in the manner of fish. Galen says, that those afflicted with elephantiasis are wonderfully relieved by eating viper's flesh dressed like eels, and relates very remarkable cures of this disease perform ed by means of viper wine. In France and Italy, the broth, jelly, and flesh of vipers are in much esteem as a restora tive medicine. In England we have to instance the well known circumstance of Sir Kenelm Digby, who caused his wife, Lady Venetia, to feed on capons fatted with vipers, to recover her from a con sumption.
The viper abounds most in dry, stony, and chalky countries, or in the low her bage or underwood• in thickets. It casts its skin twice in the year, namely, in spring and autumn, and is said to attain its full size at the age of six or seven years, but is capable of engendering when two or three years old.