the Alleghany mountains, where horridus is fairly 

 abundant. The rattle, which this, in common with 

 other members of the genera CrotaUis and Sistrur- 

 uSt possesses, is unique among snakes. It consists 

 of a number of light, horny segments loosely at- 

 tached to each other by a "ball and socket" arrange- 

 ment. Its use is not known, but to state that it is 

 used to warn the prey is absurd, as Nature would 

 not be likely to provide the snake with an appar- 

 atus for driving away its means of subsistence. 

 The age of a Rattlesnake cannot be told, contrary 

 to the popular belief, by counting the segments of 

 of the rattle, as one of these is added every time 

 the snake sheds its skin, which is a process of ir- 

 regular occurence. Futhermore, m.any segments 

 are lost by accident, and rattles with more than 12 

 or 13 segments are rare, although ones of 100 or 

 more segments may easily be manufactured from 

 a number of appendages from different snakes. 

 SYNAPSIDA (Subclass) TESTUDINATA (Order) 

 The turtles form a very distinct group, easily 

 recognizable by the bony shell or carapace which 

 forms the covering of most of the species. The 

 group is a small one as to number of species, con- 

 taining about 200 forms. The shell of the Teslu- 

 dinata consists of two portions, joined by an osse- 

 ous bridge or cartilaginous suture. The upper is 

 more or less convex, and is called the carapace. 

 The lower is smaller and flattened and is known 

 as the plastron. In the majority of existing turtles 

 the carapace is covered with horny or bony plates, 



