The snakes of this genus, like the rattlesnakes and the Old World vipers and puff-adders, possess long poison-fangs which strike through clothes or any other human garment except stout leather.

[Footnote 1: In the name of Allah, and Allah is greatest!] Together, crawling on their bellies like dusty puff-adders of the Sahara itself, the three companions in armsAmerican, French, Arabslid out of the shallow trench, and in the gloom were lost to sight of the beleaguered Flying Legion.

At any moment, one might lay a hand on a sleeping puff-adder or a scorpion.