81 



CROTALUS DURISSUS.— Kalm. 

 Plate XVII. 



Characters. Head large, flattened above, triangular; rounded anteriorly, 

 covered with plates only in front, and with minute scales on the vertex and 

 occiput. There is a deep pit between the nostril and eye; upper jaw armed with 

 poisonous fangs; body elongated and robust; tail short, thick, and furnished with 

 rattles. 



Synontmes. Crotalus durissus, Kalm, Act. Stockh., ann. 1752, p. 310. 

 Rattlesnake, Catesb., Carol., &c, vol. ii. pi. xli. 

 Crotalus durissus, Lin., Syst. Nat. Lin., vol. i. p. 352. 

 Crotalus durissus, Gmel., Syst. Nat. Lin., vol. i. part iii. p. 181. 

 Le durissus, Lacep., Hist, des Serp., torn. ii. p. 423. 

 Crotalus durissus, Latr., Hist. Nat. des Rept., torn. v. p. 304. 

 Crotalus atricaudatus, Latr., Hist. Nat. des Rept, torn. iii. p. 209. 

 Le Crotale a queue noire, Bosc, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., torn. vi. p. 555. 

 Crotalus durissus, Baud., Hist. Nat. des Rept, torn. v. p. 304, pi. lxvii. 

 Crotalus atricaudatus, Baud., Hist. Nat. des Rept., torn. v. p. 307. 

 Crotalus horridus, Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. iii. p. 317, pi. lxxxviii. 

 Crotalus durissus, Harl., Med. and Phys. Res., p. 132. 



Description. The head is enormously large, triangular, but broad and truncate 

 anteriorly, covered with plates only in front, and with minute scales on the vertex 

 and occiput; the rostral plate is large and triangular, with its basis downwards 

 and its apex upwards and truncate; the frontal plates are also triangular, with 

 their bases directed backwards. There are two nasal plates; the anterior is 

 Vol. II.— 11 



