414 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



it was made, yet at the present day oue may search long and often in 

 the same phice and not hnd one. Dr. Hay says that it is yet abundant 

 in some localities in Indiana, but he has not been able to confirm its 

 occurrence south of Indianapolis. He also states that on the prairies 

 of Illinois, before the country became thickly populated, they were 

 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, while now, in that 

 same region, not one is seen in years. H. Garman states that it occurs 

 on the prairies throughout Illinois, but I can find no reliable records 

 for the southern part. The only place where Hurter has found it there 

 is the ''Wet Prairie," near Edwardsville, Madison County, where they 

 seem to be common, however. The massasauga also occurs in suitable 

 localities in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. Taylor quotes it as com- 

 mon in eastern and middle ]S^ebraska, and the record for Kansas is 

 similar. Farther in the Southwest it is replaced by 8. edwardsii. In 

 the Northeast the Massasauga extends into Canada, where it occurs in 

 various localities in the peninsula of Ontario. The National JNEuseum 

 has a specimen from Lucknow, by Dr. (iarnier (No. 127.-)2), and Mr. 

 James M. Macoun informs me that he knows of specimens from 

 Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, and Pelee Point, Lake Erie. 



Habits. — The Massasauga is emphatically a species of the prairies 

 and their swamps and marshes. Its life history offers as yet some 

 unsolved or disputed questions, but thanks to Dr. O. P. Hay's inter- 

 esting studies of this species, much light has of late been thrown upon 

 it, and to those who want a more detailed biography I would recom- 

 mend his article, " The Massasauga and its Habits," in the American 

 Naturalist (Vol. xxi, 1887, pp. 211-218), which also contains some 

 interesting observations ou two specimens which brought forth living 

 young — one five, the other six — in captivity. 



Being a comparatively small species, the maximum length probably 

 not exceeding 40 inches, its bite is correspondingly less dangerous 

 than the larger Eattlesnakes. There seems to be great diversity of 

 opinion, however, as to the extent of its poisonous j)ower, for while 

 Dr. Kirtlaud asserts that the bite is scarcely more than the sting of a 

 hornet, the farmers fear it very much, and Dr. Hay thinks that one 

 Massasauga would probably be equivalent in virulence to a whole 

 colony of hornets, which I think is more nearly correct. 



Dr. Hay also characterizes the statement that the sound of the rat- 

 tle of the Massasauga is so feeble that it is scarcely audible, as cer- 

 tainly incorrect, asserting from experience that it can be heard at a 

 distance of several feet. Dr. Morris Gibbs, who has examined a great 

 many specimens, found the largest number of rings in the rattle to be 

 10. The largest number in any specimen in the National Museum is 1> 

 (No. 12752). 



Dr. Taylor, writing of the Massasauga in Nebraska, states that an 

 examination of the contents of the stomachs of this species shows that 



