380 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



spot. The educated public which has seen so luany wonderful tales 

 concerning- snakes disproved have in turn become skeptical about almost 

 everything told about them not of the most commonplace character. 

 Hence, the somewhat ironical introduction to the following story, which 

 made its round through the daily press of the country, and which is no 

 doubt correct in every particular : 



Prof. Brewer, of Yale, recently told a good snake story. Years ago be was in Cali- 

 fornia and bad bis tripod and otber surveyor's instruments in tbe field. Stepping 

 along in tbe bnsbes be felt a movement under bis feet, and found tbat be was stand- 

 ing on a 4i-foot Rattlesnake — a large, vicious and figbtiug fellow. But tbe snake 

 was so pinioned tbat be could not strike tbe tbick boot tbat beld bim fast. Prof. 

 Brewer beld tbe rattler's bead down witb bis tripod and cut it off. Tben be 

 cut off bis rattles. Stepping aside, be saw tbe body of tbe snake, partly coiled, 

 lying very still. Taking out bis rule to measure its lengtb, tbe professor took bold 

 of tbe serpent to straigbteu bim out. 



"Quick as an electric sliock,'' said Prof. Brewer, "tbat beadless snake broiigbt tbe 

 bloody stump over and struck a bard blow upon tbe back of my band." He added: 

 "I knew tbat bis bead was off and tbat be could not poison me, but tbat quick and 

 bard blow of tbe rattler made my bair stand on end." 



However, the most dramatic incident of this kind is undoubtedly Mr. 

 George Catlin's adventure on the Kio Trombute, one of the tributaries 

 of the Amazon River in South America. The story as told by Mr. 

 Catlin's comjjanlon * is to the effect that Mr. Catlin having shot at the 

 head of a huge Rattlesnake had apparently missed it, as the snake was 

 seen to strike and hit him in the breast, where it left a bloody spot on 

 the shirt. The dress was torn open and one of his half-breed compan- 

 ions prepared to suck the poision out of the supposed wound; but 

 looking a moment for the puncture, he got up, and with a smile of 

 exultation he said, "There's no harm; you'll find the snake without a 

 head." In the weeds near-by the snake was found, closely coiled up, 

 where he had fallen, with his headless trunk erect and ready for another 

 spring, the head having been shot oft'. 



If we make some allowance for the necessarily high coloring of the 

 narrative and the exaggeration almost inseparable from an account of 

 an occurrence so strange and exciting, there seems to be no good rea- 

 son to doubt that it took place in the main as related. 



Beyond the "pit" there is but little to distinguish the Pit Vipers as 

 a whole from the other vipers, and, beyond the poison apparatus and 

 the changes in the various organs of the head <lirectly or indirectly 

 connected with this apparatus, they differ not materially from the bulk 

 of the snakes. One group of the pit vipers possesses, however, an 

 organ quite unique, not only among the vipers, but among all the snakes 

 as well, so that it seems the better plan to treat of it in the present con- 

 nection instead of later on under the head of that particular group. I 

 refer to the "rattle" of the Rattlesnakes. 



*See Catlin's, "Life amongst tbe Indians" (New York; Appleton &, Co., 1867), 

 pp. 247-249. 



