1853.] 



417 



all sides; the body beneath is yellowish, varied and blotched with dusky more 

 distinctly and closely on the hinder part and on the sides. Head very large, with 

 a black stripe from the eye to the corner of the mouth, and a transverse bar of 

 the same color across the head just in front of the eyes, and joining the former 

 stripe at the eye. Top of the head and neck with two longitudinal, black stripes, 

 and another likewise on the side of the neck, the intervening spaces being yel- 

 lowish. Rostral plate triangular, the apex sharp, pale brown or yellowish ; there 

 are two roundish yellow plates on each side of this, and two likewise between 

 them on the top of the head, which are brownish and triangular, the apices point- 

 ing forward ; behind them there is a narrow transverse bar of yellowish, and 

 another of black, which is succeeded by a third one of yellow formed'of four 

 roundish scales, those near the eyes very large, the other rather smaller ; the 

 head is otherwise covered with tolerably large scales. 



Length 4 feet 4 inches, with three rattles. Circumference of the body 8 inches. 



In the description of Crotalus durissus, both Linnaeus and Laurenti agree that 

 the rhombs on the back have their discs white ; and the former, in the Amceni- 

 tales Academicae, says, that the area between the eyes is blackish, and has a 

 broad transverse white line. We ought not to hesitate one moment in declaring 

 that this species is not the korridus. The ground color of all the specimens 

 which have been examined in Europe appears to have faded, therefore, the parts 

 of the descriptions relating to this are of little value. It may be observed of 

 reptiles in general, that parts of the body which when living weie black, fre- 

 quently change to grey or even white, when kept for any length of time in al- 

 cohol. The specimen from which the preceding description was taken, in parts 

 which were originally black or dark brown, had become cinereous by the peeling 

 off of the epidermis, and if this process had been carried on for the whole length 

 of the body, scarcely any of the distinguishing characteristics would have been 

 apparent. 



Having thus determined what the Crotalus durissus of Linnaeus is, I proceed 

 to describe the two species which we have in the Atlantic States, calling them 

 by their vulgar names, and leaving it to each naturalist to determine by what 

 names they ought to be distinguished. 



Thr pine barren rattle snake. 



Pallide rufescente fuscus ad nigrum tendens. Dorso fasciis transversis, ir- 

 regularibus, serratis, nigris. Cauda nigra. Corpore subtus albescens maculis 

 minimis nigrascentibus. 



Hub. Per totum Americam borealem, provinciis atlanticis- Crot. horridus 

 Cuvier, Regne Animale. Id. Shaw, vol. iii. p. 3J7. Id. Pennant, Arct. Zool. 

 Suppl., p. S7. Id. Bodaert, Nov. Act. Acad. Caes., vol. vii p. 16. C. atricau- 

 datus Daudin, vol. v. p. 316. Id. Latreille, vol. iii. p. 209. C. durissus Daudin, 

 1. c. p. 304. Id. Latreille, vol. iv. p. 322. Id. Holbrook, Herp. iii. p. 9. Id. 

 Dekay, Zool. N. Y. vol. ii. p. 55 and 56. C. boiquira and horridus, Palisot de 

 Beauvois, jjTrans. Am. Phil. Society, vol. iv. p. 368. Catesby, ii. tab. 41. 

 A very excellent figure, shewing the animal in its highest state of perfection. 

 Above pale reddish brown, somewhat duskyish, frtiquently with a yellowish or 

 reddish vertebral line. Body with numerous transverse, irregular, serrate fasciag 

 of dusky or black, more or less interruptedly bordered with whitish. These 

 fasciae gradually diminish in distinctness towards the tail ; as the color becomes 

 darker or more dusky the bands become entire. Tail black on all sides, barred 

 with paler. Body beneath whitish, thinly speckled with dusky. Head with a 

 broad, dark brown line extending from the eye along the cheek to the corner of 

 the mouth; often, however, it is almost entirely black ; eyes red; neck very 

 slender, most frequently with two short longitudinal black lines on the top. 

 Rostral plate triangular ; supernasals, one on each side, externally rounded; or- 

 bital and antocular plates large. Scales of the head small, resembling coarse 

 shagreen. Body beneath whitish, thinly speckled with dusky. Abdominal scuta 

 170 to 178; subcaudal 18 to 25, with two pair of scales at the base of the rattle. 

 The male is generally to be distinguished by a black spot behind the occiput. 



