Asp

2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Asp. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

or Haje, a venomous serpent of Egypt akin to the cobra of India. It is three to five feet long. Like the cobra, it dilates the loose folds of the neck into a hood. The jugglers of Cairo extract its fangs and teach it to dance for the amusement of the people. Both the asp and the cobra are fond of music. It is said that these jugglers of today can throw the asp into a rod-like rigor by pressing the nape of its neck, and it has been suggested that a similar trick was performed before Pharoah. Exodus vii: 9-12. Despite its venom, the asp was regarded as the sacred guardian of temples. It is supposed to have been another kind of asp, really a viper, which was smuggled in to Queen Cleopatra in a basket of fruit. The story is that she plunged her bare arm into the basket, preferring to die by the bite of a serpent, rather than walk the streets of Rome in chains to grace the triumph of Augustus. See Cobra ; Cleopatra 2026 Editor's Note: The asp owes its fame to Cleopatra , who legend says died by clasping one to her breast in 30 B.C. — though historians now doubt the story, suspecting poison, and argue about which snake, if any, was used. Egypt's snake charmers still work its cobra cousins much as this entry describes. (Ed: BR 2026-06-23)

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

or ASPIC, the kind of serpent peculiar to Egypt and Libya, which has obtained great celebrity from having been chosen by Cleopatra to give her an easy death. Its poison is so quick and deadly in its operation that it kills without a possibility of applying any remedy. It is believed to have been the naia haje. It is the same genus as the cobra capello, but differs in having the neck less wide, and having the color greenish, bordered with brown. It is probably the asp (aspis) of the New Testament (Rom iii: 13). The common asp or chersæa (vipera aspis) is olive above, with four rows of black spots. Its poison is severe. It is common in southern Europe, the Alpine region, and is found as far north as Sweden.