POISONOUS SNARES OP NORTH AMERICA. 421 



paratively little daiij»er, a ]»eis()ii bitten would net very foolishly were he 

 to neglect to pay i)roj>ei' attention to the wound and to apply as soon 

 as possible proper remedies, as otherwise he might i)ay dearly enough 

 for his carelessness. 



Although, as a rule, not fatal to man, the Ground liattler is not harm- 

 less enough to secure it against destruction wherever it may be found. 

 It is undoubtedly useful in destroying a great quantity of small rodents, 

 but the i)rotectiou of the other innocuous snakes will compensate for 

 the killing of any number of (Iround liattlers. 



Genus CROTALUS " Linn. 



The Rattlesnakes. 



1758.— Cro/rtiHs, Linn.eus. Syst. Nat., 10 eel., i, p. 214 (type C. hon-hJitH). 



1764. — Crotalophoriis, Houttuyn, Linn. Natnnrl. Hi.st., vi, ]>. 290 (emend.). 



1768. — CamU^ona, Lauke.mt, Syn. Rept., p. 92 (same ty])e). 



1818. — Crotalinus, Rafinesque, Am. Month. Mag., iii (p. 446), iv, p. 41 (emend.). 



1830. — Uropsophus, Wagler, Syst. Ampli., p. 176 (type C. triseriatus). 



1843. — Urocrotalon, Fitzinger, Syst. Rept., p. 29 (type C. (hirissus Linn.). 



lS6l.—J2)loaspis, Cope, Proc. Pbila. Acad., 1861, p. 206 (type C. lepida). 



1S75. —JEchmophrys, Coues, Wheeler's Snrv. W. 100 Mer., v, p. 609 (type C. 



cerastes). 

 1883. — Haploaspis, CovR, Proc. Pbila. Acad., 1883, p. 13 (emend.). 



There has, at various times, been some confusion in the application 

 of the generic terms of this and the following genus. From 1861 to 

 1875 Prof. Cope used Laurenti's Caudisona for tlie present group, 

 restricting Crotalus to the Grrouud Battlers, following Fleming's example 

 of 1822. In 1875, however, he suddenly reversed the two names, 

 employing Caudisona for the Ground Eattlers. This latter has later 

 been exchanged for Grotalopliorus^ as will be shown under the follow- 

 ing genus. 



The case is very simple. When Linnaeus, in 1758, first applied the 

 binominal nomenclature he did not know or name auy of the ground 

 rattlers, consequently the name Crotalus can only be used as done 

 here. Houttuyn's Crotalophoriis is identical Avith Linuiiei Crotalus of 

 the tenth edition of his Systema Natura", being, in fact, simply an 

 emendation and, therefore, nothing but a synonym. The status of 

 Laurenti's Caudisona is exactly similar. 



The geographical distribution of the geiuis CroUdvs is highly inter- 

 esting. 



Jointly with the other genus, SistruruSj the Rattlesnakes are peculiar 

 to the New World. Their center of distribution appears to l)e the table- 

 land of JMexico with its extension northward into the southwestern 

 United States, at least 8 out of a total of the 17 s])ecies constituting 

 the genus Crotalus occurring at, or near, the boundary between the 

 United States and the Mexican Republic. 



* From the Greek KpbraXov (Kro talon), a rattle. 



