Page:Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Volume 12.djvu/402

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350
The Rev. T. Rackett's Observations on a Viper, &c.

I received the viper from the Rev. John Tregonwell Napier, Rector of Chettle in Dorsetshire, who killed it in Cranborne Chace. It is extremely rare, but known to the gamekeepers under the name of "The Red Viper." A mutilated specimen sent to me last year, was when recent of a bright red colour inclining to orange. The bite is much more venomous than that of the common viper; as I have been assured that a dog which had been bitten by a red viper, expired before he had reached the extremity of a down in his way home.

XXII. De-