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VIPER

Online Encyclopedia

Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 108 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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VIPER . The vipers constitute a See also:

FAMILY

family of Old-See also:

WORLD

World poisonous See also:

SNAKES

snakes, with a pair of poisonous fangs in the maxillary bones, which are See also:

SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short and movable. The See also:

main anatomical features are described in the See also:

ARTICLE (from Lat. articulus, a joint)

article SNAKES. In the See also:

PRESENT

present article only the Viperinae, namely those without an See also:

EXTERNAL

external See also:

PIT (O. E. pytt, cognate with Du. put, Ger. Pfutze, &c., all ultimately adaptations of Lat. puteus, well, formed from root pu-, to cleanse, whence gurus, clean, pure)

pit between the See also:

eye and the See also:

NOSE (O.Eng. nosu, cf. Dutch neus, Swed. nos, snout; the Aix in Provence. Both at Aix and at Lyons he acquired great connexion with O.Eng. nasu is obscure, cf. Ger. Nase, Lat. pares, distinction by his labours during outbreaks of the plague. In nostrils,

nose, are described. Pit vipers, or Crotalinae, are treated under SNAKES, and those which are possessed of a rattle under See also:

RATTLESNAKE

RATTLESNAKE. The true vipers comprise about nine genera with some See also:

FORTY

forty See also:

SPECIES

species, which can be distinguished as follows: Causus in See also:

Africa, and Azemiophis feae in See also:

BURMA

Burma, are the only vipers which have the See also:

head covered with large symmetrical See also:

SHIELDS, JAMES (181b-1879)

shields, while in the other genera the head shields are broken up into small shields, or into still more numerous scales. C. rhombeatus, See also:

COMMON

common from the See also:

GAMBIA

Gambia to the Cape. Atractaspis, small burrowing snakes in Africa, without See also:

POST

post-frontal bones. Echis and Atheris have only one See also:

ROW, JOHN (c. 1525—1580)

row of subcaudal shields. E. carinata, scarcely exceeding 20 in. in length, is very poisonous and easily overlooked on See also:

account of its See also:

LIGHT

light See also:

brown coloration, with See also:

PALE (through Fr. pal, from Lat. palms, a stake, for paglus, from the stem pag- of pangere, to fix; " pole " is from the same original source)

pale spots and delicate markings on the keels of the scales of the back.

End of Article: VIPER

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