Page:Natural History, Reptiles.djvu/229

Rh Potent medicinal qualities were by our forefathers attributed to the Adder-egg, or Adder-stone; the ovum anguinum of Pliny, the glein neidr of the ancient British. The Druids connected its production with the convoluted assemblages of Snakes which have already been noticed, and Mason, in his “Caractacus,” has embodied the tradition in the following spirited lines:—

From the grot of charms and spells, Where our matron sister dwells, Brennus, has thy holy hand Safely brought the Druid wand, And the potent Adder-stone, 'Gendered 'fore the autumnal moon? When, in undulating twine, The foaming snakes prolific join, When they hiss, and when they bear Their wond'rous egg aloof in air; Thence, before to earth it fall, The Druid, in his hallow'd pall Receives the prize; And instant flies. Followed by the envenom'd brood. Till he cross the crystal flood.”

Divested of poetry and superstition, these “Adder-stones,” however, are nothing more than perforated beads of blue glass of great antiquity.

It has been often asserted, and the same thing is reported of the Rattle-snake, and other Serpents of this Family, that the young when alarmed, retreat into the mouth and gullet of the parent, and there remain until the danger is past. Some viper-catchers deny that this ever takes place, while others as strenuously affirm it. “There is no physiological reason against it. The young might live in