1148 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



specimen iu the U. S. ^National Museum has uiue joints and a button. 



Measurements. — The entire snake measures 777 mm. in lens'tli, of 

 which the rattle is 39 mm. (Cat. No. 12752), from Lucknow, Ontario. 



As the largest sj)ecies of the genus, the Slsfrurus catenatus is the 

 most dangerous. According to Prof. O. P. Hay,' this species is abun- 

 dant in some parts of Indiana, but he does not confirm its occurrence 

 south of Indianapolis. In this connection he remarks : 



U. C. Ridgley reports it from AVabash CoTinty. I have seen specimens from 

 Lajjorte, Hendricks, Hamilton, and Montgomery counties. They appear to be 

 abundant iu the swampy grounds iu the neighborhood of Lake Maxinkuckee, in 

 Marshall County. The black specimens are frequently found in Indiana. They 

 were once described as a distinct s[>ecies, l»ut their dark coloration is probably 

 nothing more than an individual variation. We have a very similar case in the 

 differently colored forms of J leicrodon pJalyrhinus, Colnher obsolctus, and Xutri.r sipcdon. 



This species is, on an average, considerably smaller than the banded rattlesnake, 

 Crotalus liorridns. It is, on that account, less to be feared than that serpent, since 

 the fangs would naturally penetrate less deeply, and the amount of poison that is 

 injected into the wound would be less. Indeed, Dr. Kirtland, of Ohio, is quoted as 

 saying that its bite is scarcely worse than the sting of a hornet. But having had a 

 good deal of experience with and knowledge of these snakes, I think they are not 

 to be tampered with. Animals that have been bitten by them, such as dogs and 

 cows, suffer much and have troublesome swellings. Tlie rattle is less powerful 

 than that of its larger relative, but may 1)6 heard at a sufficient distance. The 

 snalies appear to prefer low, wet grounds as their habitation, but they are not 

 aquatic. Yet they may often be found far away from water, in dry fields. On the 

 prairies of Illinois, before the country became thickly populated, tliese reptiles Avere 

 extremely abundant, and the; killing of two or three dozen of them in a season was 

 not an unusual thing for any farmer's boy. Now, in that same region not one is seen 

 in years. This disappearance of these snakes has been supposed to be due to the 

 destruction wrought among them by hogs. Vet on those prairies in those days 

 there were no roaming hogs. The extinction of the snakes maybe due to the break- 

 ing up of the soil, the draining of the ponds, and the clearing away of the rank 

 vegetation, which furnishes them protection. At tlic present day it is only in 

 swamjis and marshes that they are found. 



It appears that these snakes shed their skins at least twice a year; and since, fur- 

 ther, Garman has shown that the segments of the rattle represent a retained por- 

 tion of the sloughed epidermal covering, it seems quite probable that two or more 

 joints of the rattle are produced each year. In any case, the ago can not be deter- 

 mined by the number of segments, since the terminal ones .are continually being 

 worn off and lost. 



The young of this species .are brought into the world alive. Tliey are .about six 

 in number at each brood, and when born are about six inches long. They appc^ar 

 about the 1st of September. This species has been included by Goode in his list of 

 those Avhose females allow the young a place of safety in the stomach. Tiie writer 

 has published .an account of the observations made on two females of this snake by 

 a man of credibility, who had captured them and kept tliem until they had iiro- 

 duced young." According to these observations, the young passed freely into and 

 out of the mother's mouth until they were a month old. After this time the motlier 

 was very attentive to the young, as I saw myself. 



' The Batrachians and Reptiles of the State of Indiana, Indianapolis, 1893. 

 2 American Naturalist, XXI, 1887, p. 216. 



