SNAKEBITE FATALITIES IN EUROPE (That sounds like an album by `The Residents`)

I just received the following e-mail:

Hello to all,

please remember my www subsite on fatal snake bites in Europe

http://www.vipersgarden.at/bite.php

I would like to ask you to check the site and if you have new or missing
data to mail those to me (also links to sites are welcome).

Thanks for your attention!

mit freundlichen Grüßen/with kind regards

Mario Schweiger

So, despite not having heard of the chap, I did just that. Basically, being the first day of the Weird Weekend, I have lots to do, and so I got up at about 6:30 to do the bloggo. I also had indigestion after having necked back too much brandy last night, and so didn't sleep too well. Biggles isnt very well at the moment either, so I came downstairs to check on him. He went out for a pee and then bumbled into the office with me. The two of us sat down and looked at Mario's site.

I had never actually thought aboput snakebite fatalities in Europe, and was surprised to find that there had not been one in the UK since 1975...

Fascinating stuff

MUIRHEAD'S MYSTERIES: White starlings and a cure for vipers

Richard Muirhead is an old friend of the CFZ. I have been friends with him for 40 years now, since we were kids together in Hong Kong. He is undoubtedly one of the two best researchers I have ever met; he and Nigel Wright both have what Charlie Fort would have no doubt called a wild talent; a talent for going into a library, unearthing a stack of old newspapers, and coming back with some hitherto overlooked gem of arcane knowledge. Twice a week he wanders into the Macclesfield Public Library and comes out with enough material for a blog post..

Now that Easter is over I`m returning with Fortean zoology from the Macclesfield Courier.

Now we`re up to January 1814:

"RARA AVIS-On Tuesday se`enight a person of Boston (1) shot a white starling, which was one of a flock of birds of the ordinary colour,flying in the pastures round that town. Being only slightly wounded, it is yet alive. The gunner observed another white starling in the flock."

(1) Boston is, by the way, the town in Lincolnshire

Macclesfield Courier. January 22nd 1814.p.2

"Prof. Mangeli (?) has published in the Milan Journal, a long report upon the action of the venom of vipers. He states, as the result of his experience, the ammonite is the only sovereign remedy for the bite of those reptiles, and that opium and musk, which have been hitherto prescribed, have no certain effect".

A STUDY IN SCARLET

I doubt whether there is a single reader of this bloggo who doesn`t know the answer to the next question. How many species of British snakes are there? “C`mon Jon there are Three!” I can hear you shouting from your homes around the country and you are right. Except that a hundred and fifty years ago, many people believed that there was a fourth species – Vipera rubra – The Scarlet Viper. Across areas of southern Dorset, especially those surrounding Lulworth Cove and Corfe Castle there were sightings of adders quite unlike their cousins recorded elsewhere in the country – they were bright red.

These animals were quite well known to scientists of the time and were mentioned in all the natural history listings. They were described as being slightly smaller than other adders but were seen as being a distinct and very beautiful species. In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries the taxonomy of British wildlife underwent a massive shakedown period and quite a few previously distinct species lost their taxonomic status and were relegated to being mere colour morphs or regional races of well known creatures. However it is the geographical location of the creature that has always puzzled me.

Relict populations of two mainland European species of reptile actually do live in that area of southern Dorset. The Sand Lizard and The Smooth Snake live here and if a rare and hitherto unknown species of British viper were to be living anywhere in the UK it would probably be here. With the recent advances in DNA fingerprinting it would seem to be a relatively easy task to find out whether the Victorial Naturalists were right all along and the semi legendary Scarlet Viper of Lulworth Cove is indeed a distinct species after all. However, the problem is that we can`t actually find a specimen….

Ironically, although the creature was a well known one, and many specimens must have been taken for various collections we haven`t, to date at least, been able to find a specimen in any of the natural history collections. So friends. Do YOU fancy securing a little piece of zoological immortality for yourself? If you have the time or the energy pester your local museum or natural history society. Examine their records. Someone, somewhere must have a specimen of the elusive Scarlet Viper pickled in a bottle in their basement. All we need are a few tissue samples for DNA analysis and we can lay this enduring and fascinating zoological mystery to rest once and for all. For more details e-mail me on jon@eclipse.co.uk