380 REPORT OF NATIONAL kUSEUM, 1893. 



si)<)t. The educated public which h;is seeu so many 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 tlie country, and whi(;h is no 

 doubt correct in every particular: 



l*rot'. Hrewer, of Vale, ruceutly told a good snako story. Vears ago be was in Cali- 

 fornia and bad bis tripod and other surveyor's instruments in tbe lield. Stepping 

 along in tbe busbes bo felt a niov^emeut under bis feet, and found that he was stand- 

 ing on a 4i-foot Rattlesnake— a large, vicious and fighting fellow. i'>nt tlie snake 

 was so pinioned that be could not strike tbe tbit-k boot that held him fast. Prof. 

 Brewer held the rattler's head down with his tripod and cut it ott'. Then he 

 cut off his rattles. Stepping aside, lie saw tbe body of the siuike, partly coiled, 

 lying very still. Taking out bis rule to measure its length, the professor took hold 

 of tbe serpent to straighten him out. 



"Quick as an electric shock," said Prof Brewer, "that headless snake brought the 

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

 "1 knew that his bead was off and that he could iu)t poison me, but that quick and 

 bard blow of the rattler made my hair stand on end.'' 



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

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

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

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

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

 seen to strike and hit him in the breast, w^here 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 tind 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 off. 



Hwe 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 directly 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 the Indians" (New York; Appleton & Co., 1867), 

 pp. 247-249. 



