ZOOLOGY. 295 



doubt, like the ugly but useful toads, more useful than ornamental, as their food consists 

 chiefly of insects. 



As might be supposed from the locality, the specimens found in Washington Territory are 

 smaller than those from Oregon and Utah. 



I never saw nor heard of its occurrence west of the Cascade mountains. C. 



This animal was found by me at Fort Benton, on the Upper Missouri, and again on the plains 

 west of the Rocky mountains, as far as the Cascade range. 



One was caught in September near the Snake river, Oregon Territory. At Christmas, 

 although having been shut up since its capture in an empty match box, it was still quite lively. 

 When irritated it would spring in a most threatening manner at anything pointed at it, at the 

 same time opening its mouth widely, and audibly hissing, after which it would inflate its body 

 and show other evident marks of anger. It died about February 1, probably from starvation, 

 as the heat of the house prevented torpor, and there were no insects upon which to feed it. S. 



Order III. OPHIDI A , Serpents. 

 CROTALUS LUCIFER, Baird and Girard. 



The Western Rattlesnake. 



Crotalus lucifer, BAIRD & GIRARD, Proc. Acad. Sc. Phil. VI, 1852, 177. IBID. Cat. N. A. Reptiles, 1853,6. 



GIRARD, U. S. Expl. Exped. Herpetology, 187, pi. XV, figures 1 to 6. 



SP. CH. Dorsal rows of scales, twenty-five ; exterior one smooth ; second and third obsoletely carinated. Tail and poste 

 rior part of body with fifteen to twenty half rings. A series of dorsal hexagons or octagons, also two small irregular series on 

 each side. A light stripe from the supra-ocular crosses the angle of the mouth on the third and fourth series of supra-labials. 



A specimen of this rattlesnake shot in the Yakima valley agreed very well with the descrip 

 tion given by Baird and Girard in their Catalogue of Reptiles. Another, however, killed about 

 September 25, in latitude 48, on the Columbia river, was of a pure white ground color with 

 beautiful bright sea-green blotches on the back. It had probably just changed its skin and had 

 not acquired its permanent brown or yellow ground color with dark brown blotches. 



Rattlesnakes are much less numerous north of the Columbia than south, these two being all 

 I met with in two months travelling through the interior. None are found west of the Cascade 

 range, except an occasional straggler carried down the Columbia river. C. 



Specimens vary in the ground color from white to yellowish brown. The spots vary from 

 greenish to chestnut brown. In the young a light stripe crosses the vertex between the supra- 

 orbital scales, and another connects it with the ash color of the back of the head. 



One specimen was killed, from the mouth of which three young ones were said to have 

 escaped. 



Found from the Dalles up the Columbia and Snake river. At the Dalles they are so numerous 

 as to be very annoying, having been known to enter dwelling houses. Since the introduction 

 of hogs in the vicinity they seem to have diminished. The Indians use the tail of the rattle 

 snake as a medicine to produce abortion. S. 



CROTALUS CONFLUENTUS, Say. 



Prairie Rattlesnake. 



PLATE XII. 



Crotalus confluentus, SAY in Long s Exped. Rocky mountains, II, 1823, 28. 

 Crotalus confluentus, B. & G. Cat. N. A. Serpents, p. 8. 



