Honied Cenibtes i^Cenistes Uastelquintii).
SERPENT
579
SERPENT
naturalists : " Sijfon, serpentis genus Icve, punctls macu- liscjue distinctum" — "a small kind of serpent mari^ed with dots and spots" (Golius, A rub. Lex. s. v.). " The cerastes (Cerastes H asselquistii) is brownish white, with pale -brown, irregular unequal, spots" (Catalogue of Snakes in Brit. Mus. i, 29 ). It is not pretended that the mere fact of these two animals being spotted affords sufficient ground, when tal<en alone, for asserting that they are identical, for many serpents have this char- acter in common; but when taken in connection with what has been adduced above, coupled with the fact that this spotted character belongs only to a very few kinds common in the localities in question, it does at least form strong presumptive evidence in favor of the identity of the shepldphon with the cerastes. The name of cerastes is derived from a curious horn-like process above each eye in the male (and occasionally, it would seem, in the female likewise), which gives it a formidable appearance. Bruce, in his Travels in Abt/s- sinia, has given a verj' accurate and detailed account of these animals. He observes that he found them in great numbers in those parts which were frequented by the jerboa, and that in the stomach of a cerastes he discovered the remains of a jerboa. He kept two of these snakes in a glass vessel for two years without any food. Another circumstance mentioned by Bruce throws some light on the assertions of ancient authors as to the movement of this snake. jElian [De Anim. XV, 13), Isidorus, ^'Etius, have all recorded of the ce- 1-astes that, whereas other serpents creep along in a straight direction, this one and the hmmorrhous (no doubt the same animal under another name) move side- ways, stumbling, as it were, on either siile (and comp. Bochart). Let this be compared with what Bruce says, "The cerastes moves with great rapidity and iu all directions, forwards, backwards, sideways; when he inclines to surprise any one who is too far from him, he creeps with his side ioivards the person,'^ etc. The words of Ibn-Sina, or Avicenna, are to the same effect. It is right, however, to state that nothing unusual has been observed in the mode of progression of the ce- rastes in the gardens of tlie Zoological Society ; but, of course, negative evidence in the instance of a specimen not in a state of nature does not invalidate the state- ment of so accurate an observer as Bruce. The cele- brated John Ellis seems to have been the first English- man who gave an accurate description of the cerastes (see Philosoph. Transact. 1760). Hasselquist minutely describes it (Ttin. p. 241, 365). The cei-astes is ex- tremely venomous ; Bruce compelled one to scratch eighteen pigeons upon the thigh as quickly as possible, and they all died nearly in the same interval of time. It averages from twelve to fifteen inches in length, but is occasionally found larger. It belongs to the fam- ily Viperidce, order Ophidia. This is a dangerous spe- cies, usually burrowing in sand near the holes of jer- boas, and occasionally in the cattle-paths; for there are now few or no ruts of cart-wheels, where it is pretend- ed they used to conceal themselves to assault unwarj' passers. It is still common in Egypt and Arabia.
Another kind of horned serpent is the Eryx cerastes of Daudin, also small, having no movable poison-fangs, but remarkalde for two very long back teeth in the lower jaw, which pass through the upper jaw, and ap- pear in the shape of two white horns above its surface. It is known to the Egyptian Arabs by the name of harbayi, which may be a distortion of ovfSatoc in Horapollo, and is classed by Hasselquist among slow- worms, because in form the tail does not taper to a point. Its colors are black and white marblings, and the eyes are lateral and very near the snout. See Asp.
8. Tsimmaon ("|"1XB^, Deut, viii, 15) appears to be a serpent, though rendered bj' "drought" in the A. V. and others, so called because of the intolerable thirst occasioned bv its bite. If this translation be correct.
it will form in modern nomenclature one of the genus fJurria, and subgenus llipsas or Bongarus. But no species of this division of snakes has yet been found in Western Asia, albeit there are several in India; and Avicenna locates the Torrida dipsas in Egypt and Syria; whereupon Cuvier remarks that Gesner's figure of iJipsas belongs preciseh' to the subgenus here point- ed out. As one of the colubrine family, it should not be venomous; but the last-mentioned writer remarks that several of these are regarded in their native lo- calities with great dread; and on examination it is found that, although they have no erectile tubercular fangs, with a poison-bag at the roots, there is on the long back teeth a groove, and a large gland at the base of the maxilla, which it is not unlikely contains, in some at least, a highly venomous poison. See Drought.
9. Zochel (bniT, literally a craivler) occasionally stands (Deut. xxxii, 24, " serpent ;" Mic. vii, 7, " worm") as a general term for the serpent tribe. See Worm.
10. Tannin ("piri, "serpent," Exod. vii, 9, 10, 12; elsewhere usually " dragon") seems in the above in- stances to denote a venomous reptile (Deut. xxxii, 33) ; but of a vague character. See Sea-monster.