1894. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 335 



not bite unless it is very much provoked. If not handled too roughly 

 an Elaps may be allowed to crawl on one's hands from one to the other. 

 I have allowed it myself once, but I hardly think I would do it over 

 again, and would not advise anybody else to try it. 



I have found Elaps J'uIvIuh under logs and digging in the ground as 

 well as crawling about on the surface, but I think it prefers dryland. 



The largest specimen I have seen was from Oakland, Orange County, 

 and measured exactly 1 meter from the tip of the nose to the anus, and 

 the tail was 90 mm. This big specimen had 14 black rings on the body 

 and 3 on the tail. Other specimens have but 12 black rings on the body 

 and 3 on the tail, but one of these has 4 on the tail. The yellow rings 

 cover from one to two rows of scales. 



SISTKUEUS MILIARIUS (Linutwus). 



The ground rattlesnake is not rare in south Florida. Ihave obtained 

 specimens from ditterent places in Orange and Hillsboro counties. The 

 specimens from the latter place, near the Gulf coast, are darker and have 

 no reddish brown between the black dorsal spots. The latteral spots, 

 too, are larger and more distinctly black. Even tlie rattle is darker and 

 larger, and the tip of the tail is not yellowish as in the others. The 

 ground rattlesnake likes dry ground. 



CROTALUS ADAMANTEUS, Bean vols. 



In the interior of the country the diamond-backed rattlesnake is 

 scarce, but not so along the coast and on some of the Florida keys. 

 In the neighborhood of Ozona, in Hillsboro County, I heard of the 

 killing of nine rattlesnakes within two weeks in October, 1892. It 

 evidently prefers the neighborhood of the water, and is a good swim- 

 mer, not afraid to cross over from ''key" to "key." If not too often 

 disturbed this species is slow and does not rattle unless offended. I 

 saw one in the latter part of October in the pine woods near Toronto, 

 Orange County, coiled up under a palmetto bush. A dog following us 

 went up and snifted at him, with his nose hardly a foot from the snake. 

 We called the dog back and a man ran forward with a whip and struck 

 the snake several times. After the second blow the snake began to 

 rattle and made himself ready to strike. This shows plainly the slow 

 nature of the snake. In other cases they are more easily offended. 

 Those kept in boxes and cages often begin to rattle as soon as they see 

 anybody approaching. They are easy to keep alive and take food with- 

 out trouble. I saw one that was kept in a small box and was fed with 

 toads; it did so well there that it changed its skin twice in a summer. 

 They are often kept in the shops of taxidermists and in "curiosity 

 stores," where Northern tourists buy them, paying good prices. The 

 skin is often used for ornamentsor for the manufacture of pocketbooks 

 and similar objects. 



People are very seldom bitten by rattlesnakes in Florida. The 

 rattling, the strong odor, and the slowness of the snake are protective. 



