FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB. 191 



terrible fellow and I am very cross to-day, so don't come near 

 me or you'll repent it. - ' lie blusters because he is helpless. 

 .Seine time ago a very small snake with about two segments of a 

 rattle was brought to me, I put it in a box which I placed on 

 top of the large snake's cage. The tiny snakeling made a very 

 weak /almost inaudible) sound with his puny rattle. The result 

 was that the large snake at once sounded his and kept it up for 

 some minutes. I cannot, however, say that he has since then given 

 any further indication of recognition of a fellow prisoner. 

 Although it has no direct connection with the; subject I may 

 mention that when I received the Lachesis I referred to a few 

 minutes ago I had no suitable cage to put her in and conse- 

 quently I was obliged to get her to chum in with the rattle 

 snake. The latter at once gave undoubted evidences of great 

 excitement but it was very noticeable that in paying his 

 attentions to the visitor (who so far as I am aware disaproved 

 of them) he did not once use his rattle. The snake almost 

 invariably sounds his alarm when one suddenly approaches his 

 box in the dark. The sudden flash of a lamp will often 

 produce a warning note. With reference to the material 

 of which the rattle is composed it appears to me to be simply 

 thin horn very much like the material composing one's linger 

 nails. As the various pieces become detached from the end of the 

 snake's tail they are naturally cut oil' from vital sources and 

 simply become dead horny segments, attached to each other by a 

 purely mechanical arrangement, the older ones at the extremity 

 are therefore constantly wearing out and the rattle is as con- 

 stantly being renewed from the base. 



15th February, Lfi . 



Additional Note. — Since the above was written this snake 

 has lost eight segments of his rattle and has now ( having 

 added one ) only tour. The portion broken off in sloughing has 

 several turned back scales attached to it in fact seven of the 

 segments have each one, and there is a large one to the third. 

 The process of gradual disintegration by friction is well exem- 

 plified in this rattle. 



THE DIMENSIONS OF ANIMALS. 



By R. R. Mole. 



THE object of these few notes is simply to point out how 

 exceedingly unreliable are the statements which the majority 

 of people make about animals with which they are not familiar, 

 of which they only obtain a glimpse, or have seen dead. As 

 a rule no attempt is made at arriving a1 the correct dimensions 

 of a dead animal until the skin is removed and then it is 



