292 SNAKES. 



species with all their perplexing names, if indeed a true list 

 of all the now known species even exist. They are dis- 

 tinguished by the shields or plates on the head, and by the 

 varying tails. Some have rattles so small as barely to 

 entitle them to the name of Crotalus. 



Then, again, a new name is frequently adopted by the 

 discoverer of a new feature ; and a number of American 

 genera, minus a rattle altogether, are included among the 

 CrotalidcEy an anomaly which will be presently explained. 

 Here we have to do with only the rattlesnake proper, viz. the 

 ' Viper with the Bell,' Vipera caitdisona of Tyson, and the 

 Crotahis of Linnaeus. 



This word Crotahis, simply a rattle, from the Greek word 

 crotalo7t, and the Latin crotalia and C7'otalurn, a kind of 

 castanets, is as suitable as any that could possibly have 

 been assigned to the snake ; and most of the generic names 

 are compounds of it : Crotalophoriis, rattle-bearing ; Crotaliiia, 

 little rattle; Crotaloidce ; Urocrotalon, rattling tail; or 

 simply Crotahcs. Then the specific name more especially 

 describes the snake in colour, size, character, locality, etc., as 

 Oregomts, from Oregon ; Kii'tlaiidii, from Dr. Kirtland of 

 Ohio, who first described that species ; Jiorridtis, from the 

 hideous, terrible character of this large snake ; miliarius, a 

 very small one ; caudisona, sounding tail ; and so on. 



Their geographical range is from about 45° north, to the 

 Gulf of Mexico, Texas, and southward; and in South America 

 to about the same degree of climate and temperature as in 

 the northern latitudes. They are most virulent in the 

 hottest seasons, the tropical regions, and according to their 

 size ; though, as is the case with other venomous snakes, a 



