Venoms: Venomous Animals and Antivenomous Serum-therapeutics. A. Calmette
Egypt.
The snakes belonging to this genus live constantly hidden in the sand, lying in wait for small birds, which alight beside them without suspicion, mistaking their horns for insects or larvæ; they also feed upon mice. Their poison-fangs are of relatively large size.
These small and exceedingly active vipers, whose colour harmonises marvellously with their surroundings, are very dangerous to the Arabs and blacks, who walk barefooted; they frequently cause fatal accidents.
They are able to exist for a very long time without drinking. They are attracted by the fires which are lighted at night round caravan encampments.
(e) Echis.
(See Asia, p. 48.)
(1) E. carinatus (Efa, Viper of the Pyramids).—The same as met with in Persia, Arabia, and India. Very common in the environs of Cairo, and throughout Egypt and Abyssinia. It often makes its way into towns and villages. Brehm records that he more than once found an Efa in his house at Khartoum, and that on one occasion he discovered one of these vipers coiled up beneath the covering of his bed. At another time, getting up in the night, he put his foot on one of these animals and was not bitten, the reptile being very fortunately just at that moment in the act of devouring a tame bird which it had seized.
It hardly ever happens that a native of Egypt can bring himself to destroy an Efa, of which he has the greatest dread. If, as often occurs, he finds one of these reptiles in his house, he addresses himself to the Hani or juggler, in order that, by his magic art, he may expel the dangerous visitor. From this custom the juggler evidently derives no small advantage, for, as is only right, he does not ply his craft for nothing. In many cases, indeed, the juggler releases a snake in a house, and then goes and informs the owner that he knows that a reptile is concealed in his dwelling, and that, in consideration of a stipulated reward, he will rid him of it (Brehm).
Fig. 41.—Echis coloratus. (After G. A. Boulenger, op. cit.)
(2) E. coloratus (fig. 41).—Scales on the snout and vertex convex, smooth or bluntly keeled, 13–15 from eye to eye; no supraocular shield; 17–22 scales round the eye; 12–15 supralabials; scales on the body in 31–35 rows; 174–205 ventrals; 42–52 subcaudals. No cruciform mark on the head.
Total length, 750 millimetres; tail 80.
Habitat: Palestine, Arabia, Socotra.
(f) Atheris.
Head very distinct from neck, covered with imbricate scales; eyes large, with vertical pupils, usually separated from the labial shields by small scales; nostrils lateral. Body slightly compressed; scales keeled, with apical pits. Tail moderate, prehensile; subcaudal scales in a single row.
(1) A. chlorechis.—No supraciliary horn-like scales; 9–11 scales from eye to eye; 25–36 rows of scales in the middle of the body, strongly keeled; 154–165 ventrals; 53–62 subcaudals.
Colour green, uniform or with small yellow spots; end of tail yellowish or blackish.
Total length, 520 millimetres; tail 85.
Habitat: West Africa, from Liberia to the Ogowai.
(2) A. squamiger.—No supraciliary horn-like scales; 7–8 scales from eye to eye; 15–25 rows of scales in the middle of the body, strongly keeled; 153–173 ventrals; 51–95 subcaudals.
Colour olive, uniform or with more or less regular, narrow yellow cross-bands, or yellow with green spots; belly pale olive, marbled with black or yellow, or uniform yellow.
Total length, 550 millimetres; tail 100.
Habitat: West Africa, from the Cameroons to Angola.
(3) A. ceratophorus.—Several erect, supraciliary horn-like scales; 9–10 scales from eye to eye; 25 rows of scales in the middle of the body, strongly keeled; 142 ventrals; 55 subcaudals.
Colour dark olive, with black spots forming cross-bands; belly pale olive, speckled with black.
Total length, 210 millimetres; tail 65.
Habitat: East Africa.
(g) Atractaspis.
(Fig. 42.)
This genus is characterised by enormous poison-fangs, a few teeth on the palatines, and none on the pterygoids. The mandible, which is edentulous in front, has only two or three small teeth in the middle of the dentary bone. Head small, not distinct from the neck, covered with large symmetrical shields; nostril between two nasal shields; eyes minute, with round pupils; postfrontal bone absent. Body cylindrical; scales smooth, in 17–37 rows; ventrals rounded. Tail short; subcaudals in 1 or 2 rows.
(1) A. hildebrandtii.—Six supralabials; no præocular shields; frontal shorter than the parietals; scales on the body in 17 rows; ventrals 167–174.
Colour uniform dark brown.
Total length, 450 millimetres; tail 53.
Habitat: East Africa.
(2) A. congica.—Five supralabials, of which the fourth is the larger; postocular in contact with a large temporal; one præocular; frontal as long as or slightly shorter than the parietals. Scales on the body in 19–21 rows; 209–230 ventrals; 19–23 subcaudals.
Fig. 42.—Skull of Atractaspis aterrima (African Viperine). (After G. A. Boulenger, op. cit.)
Colour uniform dark brown or black.
Total length, 450 millimetres; tail 35.
Habitat: Congo, Angola.
(3) A. irregularis.—Characters as before, but scales on the body in 25–27 rows; 220–257 ventrals, subcaudals 22–28 pairs.
Colour uniform black or dark brown.
Total length, 560 millimetres; tail 35.
Habitat: West Africa, from the Gold Coast to the Congo; Central Africa.
(4) A. corpulenta.—Postocular shield in contact with a large temporal; second lower labial very large, fused with the chin-shields. Scales on the body in 23–27 rows; 178–193 ventrals; 23–27 subcaudals.
Colour uniform blackish-brown; tail sometimes white.
Total length, 345 millimetres; tail 33.
Habitat: West Africa, from Liberia to the Gaboon.
(5) A. rostrata.—Snout very prominent, cuneiform. Third lower labial very large; first lower labial in contact with its fellow, behind the symphysial. Scales on the body in 19–23 rows; ventrals 227–248.
Colour uniform dark brown, or blackish.
Total length, 600 millimetres; tail 37.
Habitat: East and Central Africa.
(6) A. bibronii.—Characters as before. Snout prominent, subcuneiform. Ventral scales, 221–260.
Colour dark purplish-brown above, dull yellow or pale brown on the belly.
Total length, 600 millimetres; tail 25.
Habitat: Eastern districts of Cape Colony, Natal, Namaqualand, Angola.
(7) A. aterrima.—Characters as before. Snout rounded; 251–300 ventral scales.
Colour uniform dark brown or black.
Total length,