The Horned Viper, pp.306-307.

[Three Hundred Animals Contents]

   THIS particular kind of Asp, has two small horns on its head; it is harmless and nearly domesticated in Egypt, where it enters the houses when the family are at table, picks up the crumbs from the floor and retires without doing any injury to the company. This is very likely the snake which gave origin to the fable of Æsculapius having appeared under that form in a small island of the Tyber. 

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