Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1889-03-26
ALPINE REPTILES.
vonomous Snakes to Re Found In tAs
Southern Part Of b witserIsnd.

Southern Part Of Switzerland.
The commonest and worst form o
venomous snakes in the southern Alpi
Il one OF two forms OF the viper. Both
are frequent in many districts. but
generally one predominates. The vi.
per is not q pleasant companion.
though he does not seem to be inten-
tionally vicious. He Is fond OF lying
on banks Of sand and shingle that face
the south. There ne suns himself
luxuriously. and. If you do not disturb
him, he will not disturb you. Now
and then, however. be wanders into
the woods and over the meadows, In
search OF lizards, fiold-mfce, and .'such
small deer" 1t Is then that he be-
comes dangerous, not out OF pure
w.ckedness, but because the worm
that Is trodden upon will turn. Cows
and sheep browsing on the grass will
put one OF their feet quite uncon-
sciously, on viper, or disturb him
with their muzzles when he Is only GO
ing about his regular and lawful BUSH
ness, and as they have no language in
which to beg his pardon. o sharp bite
follows either on the logs or the lips,
which involves a long and painful III
ness, sometimes death. The country
people. who go about barefooted or in
low wooden shoes, are sometimes the
victims OF similar accident.
The other snakes which are common,
particularly the long black adder, arc
perfectly harmless and pleasing in
their movements. both on the earth
and In the water, II you are content TO
watch instead OF numbering them,
A lizard IL not snake; but, in
spite OF the naturalists, popu-
lar fancy confounds them with
each other A herdcr will toll you that
four-footed scrpents are to be found
there or there and he keeps his cattle
as far as possible from such places.
The large green lizard which abounds
In certain places. though II Is not gen.
orally distributed. has che worst char
acter--why, 1t il hard 70 say. It
would be difficult to Imagine more
lovely creature. and It has neither the
will nor the power to hurt any large
animal. When basking on the stones
or darling over them it seems living
jewel Yet IL Is pitilcssly slain by the
peasants whenever an opportunity
offers.
Az certain compensation for tho
bad character they generally bear, and
the ill-treatmont to which they are ex.
posed. popular imagination has invest
ed snakes with number OF supernatu-
raj qualities Some OF these are mere
errors In natural history. which In the
last century were common oven among
tho learned. Thus almost all game
keepers believe that the viper, II sud
denly disturbed, will swallow Its own
young In order to protect them. and
some will even declare that they have
seen this done, and describe the whole
process with the utmost detail. The
viper utters sharp sound, between
hiss and a whistle, and then
open her jaws TO the widest xtent. the
children creep In, head foremost. and
then she glides rapidly away. Such
vipers. Of course. belong to the same
mythical region as tho swallows which
Wind themselves by swift flying into a
ball, and then sink to the bottom Of a
lake, in the way described by DR.
johnson In "Boswell's Life" This
error IL easily explained. Several
snakes are vlvipsrous. and IL rough
dissection Of u female by an Unparalleled
hand might easily lead to the belief
that the young had sought refsge In
their mothers stomach. On the other
hand. though serpents are not gener-
ally aifoctionate parents. II may very
we'll be that for the first few days the
mother may take her brood to sun
themselves on the shingle. In such a
case she would not venture far from a
safe refuge, Her cry may really be
one OF warning. and her open jaws n
threat TO her enemy. Her offspring
would under such circumstances find
u easy 10 conceal themselves among
the stouos. This 10 mere theory;
but DIR. johnson did not coadescend TO
explain how his swallows managed to
wind themselves into tell, and it In
difficult TO imagine any means by
which they could have done it--Lon-
don Saturday Review.