Zoological Society. 131 



to the common Rattle-snake of America, and is the more dangerous 

 from its being unprovided with the means of warning its victims. 



The Rat-tail appears to be ovoviviparous ; and it is said that after 

 producing her young she leaves them for a short time, and that she 

 devours those among them which she finds in the same spot on her 

 return. This seems to be a most improbable construction to place 

 upon the fact of their being sometimes found in the belly of the 

 mother, which to my idea rather tends to corroborate statements 

 which have been already made of the female's opening her mouth in 

 cases of danger, and the young rushing down her throat for protec- 

 tion. The scales of the Rat-tail are large in proportion, and cari- 

 nated ; the number of abdominal scuta is 213, and there are 69 pairs 

 of subcaudal squamae. The head is heart-shaped, very large at the 

 back, and flat, and is covered with small scales ; the eye resembles 

 in some measure that of the cat, though, as in all the serpent-tribe, 

 it is without outer lids, and therefore apparently always on the watch, 

 which appearance is kept up even after death. The shape of this 

 serpent differs from that of the others hereafter mentioned, in being 

 more broad, or lying more flatly on the ground ; and the tail, instead 

 of tapering gently from the body, becomes suddenly sraall, and, as 

 the name implies, is much like that of a rat. When not in motion, 

 the Rat-tail is almost invariably coiled up in a circle, with its head 

 on the top. Its movements are fortunately not so rapid as those of 

 the other serpents of the island, and to this circumstance may be at- 

 tributed the advantage always gained over it by its deadly enemy the 

 Clibro, which will be presently refeiTed to. The Rat-tail is armed with 

 two fangs, or hollow teeth, placed one at each side of the extremity of 

 the upper jaw, frequently seven-eighths of an inch in length, with a 

 small slit at the point and towards the front, through which the poi- 

 sonous liquid, a yellow viscid matter, is ejected ; and it has two rows 

 of teeth down the centre of the mouth for purposes of deglutition. 



An important point in the history of this serpent is the method of 

 treating its venomous bites. If the wounds caused by these be not 

 at once attended to, the most fatal consequences ensue, and within a 

 short space of time. Should the fang penetrate any large blood-vessel, 

 and inject therein any of the poisonous matter, I suppose that no 

 remedy would be of avail : but under ordinary circumstances, if the 

 wound can be at once laid open, a ligature tied between it and the 

 heart, and sucked, then rubbed with a mixture of lime-juice, rum and 

 salt, and intoxication and sleep produced by administering rum-punch 

 with plenty of lime-juice in it to the patient, there is little danger of 

 loss of life ; as is proved by the fact, that out of thirty soldiers treated 

 in this way some time since in this island, only one died. 



The person sucking the wound has nothing to fear if he has no 

 ^ore in his mouth. 



There are native "panseurs''' who pretend to the knowledge of 

 certain herbs, which they mix with rum, gunpowder, salt and lime- 

 juice, and place upon the wound in the shaj)e of a poultice, after well- 

 cutting, sucking and squeezing it, and concoctions of which they 

 cause the inifortnnate patient to drink ; but they ap[>ear to produce 



