THE RATTLE. 



297 



terminal link or 'button' may be compared to the nail of 

 a young child, the intermediate links gradually increasing 

 with the growth of the snake to the nails of older children, 

 and the largest link to that of a full-grown person. From 

 the form of this rattle — an accurate copy of the original — 

 we may infer that it grew rapidly at first, and that the 

 snake was large during the development of the later links. 



The next, reduced in size, is the rattle of a snake which 

 had attained full growth, but from which the younger or 

 earlier links wnth the terminal ' button ' are gone. 



Portion of a long rattle, much reduced in size. 



Extending this specimen by imaginary converging lines, 

 we form an idea of what its length might have been if 

 perfect, probably about twenty joints, which is a not unusual 

 number ; but we perceive at once that a rattle, as we happen 

 to see it, is no criterion of its age or its original form. 

 Rarely is a snake seen with a long rattle perfect and entire. 

 But whenever it gradually tapers and ends wdth the pointed 

 terminal link, we may decide that that rattle has escaped 

 injury from its earliest development. 



In form it is not unsymmetrical, and in substance it is 

 horny, like hair, nails, quills, and hardened skin, a sort of 

 dense and corneous integument, yet less solid than horns and 

 claws. The links, being only interlocked and yet elastic, can 

 be easily separated, and are consequently easily injured. An 

 animal treading on the rattle of a snake would cause a 



