672 REPTILES—CROTALID&. 
CROTALUS DuRissUs Linnzus. 
Banded Rattlesnake. — 
Uropsophus durissus, GRAY. 
Urocrotalon durissus, FITZUINGER. 
Uropsophus triserialus, WAGLER. 
Crotalus durissus, HOLBROOK, DUMERIL and BLIBRON, Baird and GIRARD, STORER, DEKAY 
Crotalus horridus, COPE. 
General color sulphur-brown and darker brown, arranged in 
blotches or transverse bands; head very triangular, abruptly 
separable from the neck; saperciliary plates small and numer- 
ous; upper labials 12-14, lower 13-15; rostral large, triangular, 
rounded above, anteorbitals two, elongated longitudinally ; dor- 
sals in 23 to 25 rows; gastrosteges 170 to 180; urosteges 23 to 28. 
Length, 34 feet ; head, 1% inches; tail, 5 inches; transverse diam- 
eter of head, 1 inch ; transverse diameter of neck, § inch; cir- 
cumference of body, 34 inches. 
Habitat, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, ‘ 
West Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabams, Kansas, f 
and Arkansas. 
(| 
<;% 
The Banded Rattlesnake inhabits rocky mountains 
and hills, its venom is very virulent, but to its favor 
may be said that it rarely or never strikes unless 
stepped upon_or interfered with in a serious manner, | y 
and then apparently acts only in self-defence. It * Fre. 1.—Crotalus du- 
Z : . rissus, head covered 
also usually, though not always, gives warning and apove with scales. 
thus enables a person to get out of its way. 
They are at times gregarious, being occasionally found collected together, 
especialiy in winter, but more usually they are alone. They are inactive, 
sluggish animals of slow locomotion, and in this respect contrast strangely 
with the rapidity of the vibrations of their tail, and the instantaneous 
quickness with which they strike an enemy. They have been known 
to live a year without food, but need water especially at the time of 
shedding their skin. The fangs are, in somes cases at least, shed at the 
same time as the integument, and reproduced in afew days. They are 
believed to be most virulent at this time, which may be true, and may be 
* The plates which accompany this catalogue have been drawn from the specimens by 
Miss Lilly E Chase, of Ann Arbor, Michigan. 
It has not been my aim to insert a large number of illustrations, as this has already 
been done in the writings of Holbrook, DeKay, Agassiz, and the various United States 
Reports; and yet it is believed that the few given on the mouths of Salamanders and 
head of Crotalus and Crotalophorus will be very serviceable in the identification of 
genera. 
