RATTLESNAKE HISTORY. 279 



these names * iie designent qiiune settle et meme viph^e! To 

 these various titles of * one and the same viper,' we shall 

 refer again in chap, xxiii. To the list he adds that the 

 English call it 'rattlesnake;' the French, 'serpent a sonnettes ; ' 

 and Latin authors, Angiiis crotalopJiorus (or the rattle-bearing 

 snake). He also gives us another Mexican name, ' Ecacoatl, 

 q?ii signijie le Vent, parceqn' clle rampe avec nne extreme vitesse 

 snr les rockers! 



This extreme activity in the rattlesnake is not in accordance 

 with our alien experience. Still we hear of it from more 

 than one writer and in widely separated habitats. The 

 Mexican and Brazilian words may have alluded to the rapidity 

 of motion in striking its prey, and which in its swiftness can 

 scarcely be followed. Or it is possible that the reptile which as 

 a captive in our chilling climate is so slow and sluggish, may, 

 when stimulated by a tropical sun and under peculiar excite- 

 ment, occasionally exhibit a vivacity incredible to us who see 

 it only in menageries. Regarding other species of viperine 

 snakes, we have sometimes similar evidence ; and there is 

 nothing in the structure of the Crotalus to contradict it. 



One more of the unpronounceable Mexican names we 

 must inflict on the reader, to show how this serpent was 

 distinguished among all others even in length of title. F. 

 Fernandez, or Hernandez, in his Aninialiuni Mcxicamun, p. 63, 

 A.D. 162S, calls it Tcuchlacotzauhqui, because it surpasses all 

 others in ' IJior'rible bruit de sa sonnette' 



As may be supposed, anybody who could see this remark- 

 able snake on its native soil was ready to tell something 

 about it ; and from the time that Dr. Tyson dissected his 

 specimen and made it better known to the ' Curious,' many 



