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Now with respect to the vipers and the winged snakes of Arabia, if
they increased as fast as their nature would allow, impossible were it
for man to maintain himself upon the earth. Accordingly it is found
that when the male and female come together, at the very moment of
impregnation, the female seizes the male by the neck, and having once
fastened, cannot be brought to leave go till she has bit the neck
entirely through. And so the male perishes; but after a while he is
revenged upon the female by means of the young, which, while still
unborn, gnaw a passage through the womb, and then through the belly of
their mother, and so make their entrance into the world.
Contrariwise, other snakes, which are harmless, lay eggs, and hatch
a vast number of young. Vipers are found in all parts of the world,
but the winged serpents are nowhere seen except in Arabia, where they
are all congregated together. This makes them appear so numerous.
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