436 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUJM, 1^93. 



to eat in confinement, while others again claim that it takes food with- 

 out trouble. Equally defective is our knowledge in regard to its 

 breeding iiabits. 



The Diamond Battler is our largest species, and in fact one of the 

 largest of the whole family. The largest specimen in the National 

 Museum collection (Xo. 10047) is only C feet 5;^ inches long, but much 

 larger specimens are on record. Dr. C. S. Allen has recorded 1 speci- 

 men 8 feet 5 inches, with a circumference of 15 inches, which was shot 

 near Oak Lodge, P^la., by Chas. F. Latham, in jSovember, 1890, while 

 Mr. Frank M. Chapman mentions one 8 feet inches long, and killed 

 by J. H. Norton, of Jacksonville.* 



We often enough hear of Florida Rattlers 1) feet or more long, but in 

 all cases I have investigated it was found that the measurements were 

 taken from skins, or mounted specimens, which of course may be 

 stretched almost to any desired length. 



With a supply of venom proportionate to its size the dangerous 

 nature of a stroke of one of these large brutes, if well delivered, may 

 well be imagined. Nevertheless, fatalities are comparatively rare, and 

 even cases of bites are not heard of nearly as often as one might be 

 led to sui^pose from the number of specimens which are still found in 

 many places. 



The Texas Rattlesnake. 



Crotalus atrox,\ Baird aud Girard. 



Plate 11. 



18.53.— Cro/«7 MS atrox, Baird and Gieard, N. Am. Serp., pp. 5, 156. — DuiMeril et 

 BiBRON, Erp^t, Gen^r., vii, ii, p. 1482 (1854).— Hallowell, Proc. Phila. 

 Acad., 1856, p. 307.— Baird, Pac. R. R. Rep., x, AVhipple's Route, p. 39 

 (1859).— Baird, Mex. Bound. Surv. ii, Rept. p. 14 (1859). — Cope, Proc. 

 Pbila. Acad., 1859, p. 337.— Cope, in Wheeler's Surv. W. 100 Mer., v, 

 p. 534 (1875).— Cooper, Proc. Calif. Acad. Nat. Sc, iv, p. 66(1870).— 

 Caudisona atrox, Cope, in Mitchell's Res. Ven. Rattlesn. (p. 121) (1861).' — 

 Cope, Proc. Phila. Acad. 1866, p. 309. 



1859. — Crotalus adamanteus, var. atrox, Jax, Rev. Mag. Zool., 1859, Extr. p. 28. — 

 Jan, Elenc. Sist. Ofid., p. 123 (1863).— Cope, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 

 1, p. 33 (1875).— Cope, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 17, p. 24 (1880).— Cope, 

 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xi, 1888, p. 398.— Cope, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 XIV, 1891, p. 690 (1892).— Cope, Proc. Phila. Acad., 1892, p. 336.— Yar- 

 row, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 24, pp. 12, 76 (1883).— Garman, Rept. 

 Batr. N. Am., i, Ophid., pp. 113, 172 (1883). — Candisona adamantea atrox, 

 COCES, in Wheeler's Surv. W. 100 Mer., v, p. 607 (1875). 



1861.— Caudisona atrox, var. so)wraen8i8, Kenxicott, Proc. Phila. Acad., xiii, 1861, 

 p. 206.— Cope, Proc. Phila. Acad., xiii, 1861, p. 292. 



1S61.— Caudisona scutulata, Kennicott, Proc. Phila. Acad., xiii, 1861, p. 207.— 

 Cope, Proc. Phila. Acad., 1866, p. m9.— Crotalus scutulatus Cope, in 

 Wheeler's Surv. W. 100 Mer., v, p. 533 (1875;. 



1863. — Crotalus adamanteus, var. sonoriensis, Jan, Elenc. Sist. Otid., p. 124. 



*Abstr. Proc. Linn. Soc. New York, year end. Mch. 2, 1892, p. 4. 

 t From the Latin atrox, terrible, cruel. 



