62 OPHIDIANS. 
States of North America, abounding particularly at or near 
the Bigbone Lick in Kentucky. 
It is very much feared on account of the activity of its 
poison, and its bite is universally considered fatal. 
Length generally 1 metre, but this varies from 75 to 125 centimetres. 
Head elliptical, ovoidal, short, somewhat flattened, black, and skin dark 
chocolate color, darker in the female than in the male. Belly of a cop- 
pery white; eyes small and reddish. The upper surface of the head is 
of the same color and lustre as a plate of polished copper tarnished. 
The dorsal region of the female is marked with longitudinal stripes, of a 
darker and a lighter shade alternated; one series of the stripes of the 
same color and shade as that of the male, and the other of a darker 
shade. These stripes are from 2 to 3 centimetres wide in their widest part, 
and diminish to 4 centimetre in width at the anus; towards the neck they 
disappear by graduation of shades into a dark brown band, which encir- 
cles the throat. The male is smaller and shorter, of a uniform color of 
the light stripes in the female, and for this reason has been considered 
as belonging to a different species. 
This variety has fangs; the general disposition of the buccal 
parts being identical with those of the Crotalus. 
This species is always found in marshy districts and near 
places frequented by wild animals for drinking. It almost 
invariably bites low, in contradistinction to the Crotalus, in- 
flicting a wound in the region of the ankle-joint both in man 
and in animals. An ox bitten by this serpent makes two or 
more paces in advance, and then faces right about as if to 
make a reconnoissance of his enemy, who has in the mean- 
while coiled his tail about the roots of a shrub or stump, and 
commenced a slow undulatory movement from side to side (like 
that described of the Rattlesnake), accompanied by a slow 
buzzing sound, similar to that produced by the locust; very 
faint at first, it grows louder by degrees, until in a few 
moments the victim begins the same motion of the head from 
side to side in unison with that of the reptile. The body 
