THE LIZARDS, SNAKES, AND OTHER REPTILES. 191 



but are small in the asps or hooded snakes (Naja). The 

 bite of the rattlesnake is intensely painful ; it is best cured 

 by sucking, freely lancing, and by cauterizing the wound, 

 and drinking large quantities (at least a pint) of whiskey or 

 brandy, sufficient ordinarily to produce insensibility. 

 Deaths from the bite of rattlesnakes are not common, while 

 in India it is estimated that several thousand persons an- 

 nually die from the bite of the cobra #0,000 dying each 

 year from the bites of snakes and the attacks 01 wild beasts. 

 The "rattle" of the rattlesnake is a horny appendage 



FIG. 198. Head of the Rattlesnake. a a, poison-gland and its excretory duct; e, 

 anterior temporal muscle; /, posterior temporal muscle; </, digastricus; li, ex- 

 ternal pterygoid muscle; ;, middle temporal muscle; 7, articulo-maxillary liga- 

 ment which joins the aponeurotic capsule of the poison-gland: r. the cervical 

 angular muscle; t, vertebro-mandibular muscle; u, costo-mandibular muscle. 



formed of button-like compartments ; the sound made by 

 the rattle, which has been compared by some to the stridu- 

 lation of a Carolina locust or of the Cicada, is an alarm- 

 note, warning the intruder ; the rattle is sprung before the 

 snake strikes. 



The poisonous snakes stand lowest in the series ; they are 

 succeeded by the striped snake, milk-adder, and by the 

 boas, which attain a length of five metres ; while the ana- 

 conda grows eight metres long. 



The Turtle*. Eetracing our steps in the path ending in 

 the snakes, we return to the point where were reptiles with 



