298 SNAKES, 



portion at least to be lost ; or in being drawn among roots 

 and entangled vegetation, a rattle might easily get damaged : 

 the number of links can never, therefore, be an infallible clue 

 to the age of the reptile. 



Like hair, horns, nails, it is also subject to a caprice in 

 growth, or to the vigour of the individual ; at one time 

 comparatively at a stand-still, at another growing rapidly ; 

 in one season gaining perhaps several links, in another 

 season none. 



Neither does the number of joints bear any relation to the 

 casting of the skin, any more than the growth of hair or nails 

 depends on the healing of a scar. The slough, cast more or 

 less frequently, may leave the rattle intact, or a new link 

 may appear at such a time. Dr. Cotton, of Tennessee, 

 had a rattlesnake which shed its skin on an average twice 

 a year, and he observed a new link to the rattle on each 

 shedding. On the contrary, a rattlesnake at the London 

 Zoological Gardens, and in the collection for about ten years, 

 had never a rattle worth mentioning. Quite a young snake 

 of only 1 5 inches when brought, it grew into a fine healthy 

 specimen, fully five feet long, and yet had never more than 

 what Americans call the button — not quite even that, but 

 merely an abortive pretence of unhealthy growth, as if one 

 or two links were consolidated. I watched that rattle for 

 several years with much interest. Thus it was when my 

 attention was first drawn towards it ; and 

 though it sometimes gave promise of growing, 

 and once did indeed gain another link, it soon 

 got broken off, and never attained more than 



All there was of it ! 



three misshapen joints. From Ufe. 



