30 2 SNAKES. 



the rattling of a dry bean-pod, they would exclaim, * Lord, 

 have mercy upon us ! ' the sound so strongly resembling 

 that of the dreaded Crotalus. 



Another American naturalist records a snake with forty- 

 four links to its rattle, but adds that this occurrence is rare 

 and *a great curiosity.' So one would imagine, and that 

 the fortunate possessor of such an ensign must have flourished 

 in smooth places. More favoured still was a snake mentioned 

 in the vol. of the Philosophical Transactions just now quoted, 

 and in which Paul Dudley had ' heard it attested by a Man of 

 Credit that he had killed a Rattlesnake that had between 70 

 and 80 Rattles {i.e. links), and with a sprinkling of grey 

 Hairs, like Bristles, all over its Body.' As this venerable 

 Crotalus must have rusticated nearly two hundred years ago, 

 we must accept the tale or tail with caution. 



The family of the Crotalidce, it will be borne in mind, 

 embraces a large number of serpents with only a rudimentary 

 rattle ; a number with only the horny spine (see 

 p. 176) ; and a few with a rattle so small even when 

 fully developed, that they are received into the family 

 by courtesy rather than by their * sounding tail.' 



A small snake with this pretence of a rattle is 

 dangerous because it is so indistinctly heard. 



This is also the case with Ci^otalns viiliaiHus, 

 whose rattle is so feeble as to be scarcely audible 

 a few feet off. 



So much for the size of rattles. Now for the 

 development of them. 



The theory that the rattle Is the remains of cast-off cuticle, 

 as some herpetologists have supposed, may be dismissed at 



