CROTALID-E. 



CROTALID^E. 



210 



B. Head more or less shielded. 



c. Subcaudal plates two-rowed ; tail ending in a spine ; cheeks not 

 scaly; head- shields with some additional plates in front. Triyono- 

 crphalina. 



Trigonocephalu*. Dorsal scales keeled. 



T. Halyi; T. affinii; T. Bromhoffi ; T. rhodosloma ; T. Ifypnale ; 

 T. Azara. 



d. Subcaudal plates one-rowed ; tail ending in a spine ; cheeks not 



scaly ; head shielded. America. Catchrina. 

 Cenchris. 

 C. contortrijr ; C. atrofiucm ; C. pitcivanu. 



e. Subcaudal plates one-rowed ; tail ending in a rattle ; cheeks scaly ; 



bead more or less shielded. America. Crotalina. 



Crotalophoria. Head with nine large shields extending behind the 

 eyes. 



C. miliarit ; C. tertjeminu* ; C. Kirtlandi. 



Uroptopkut. Head with scales behind ; temporal scales and labial 

 shield moderate. 



I', dfcuitug. 



Crotaliu. Head with scales behind ; temporal scales and labial 

 shields very small, convex. 



C. horridtu. 



The last species, C. horridut, the Rattle-Snake, may be taken as a 

 type of the whole family. 



The colour of the head is brown ; eye red ; upper part of the body 

 yellowish-brown, transversely marked with irregular, broad, black 

 lists. Rattle brown, composed of several horny membranous cells, of 

 an undulated pyramidal figure, articulated one within the other, so 

 that the point of the first cell reaches as far as the basis or protuberant 

 ring of the third, and so on ; which articulation, being very loose, 

 gives liberty to the parts of the cells that are inclosed within the 

 outward rings to strike against the sides of them, and so to cause 

 the rattling noise which is heard when the snake shakes its tail. 

 (Catesby.) 



A, Rattle of twenty -four joint* ; b, section of rattle. 



It is a native of Virginia, the Carolinas, and other parts of America. 



Lawson, in his 'History' (1714), says, "The Rattle-Snakes are 

 found in all the main of America that I ever had any account of ; 

 being so called from the rattle at the end of their tails, which is a 

 connection of jointed coverings of an excrementitious matter, betwixt 

 the substance of a nail and a horn, though each tegmen is very thin. 

 Nature seems to have designed these on purpose to give warning of 

 such an approaching danger as the venomous bite of these snakes is. 

 Some of them grow to a very great bigness, as six feet in length, their 

 middle being the thickness of the small of a lusty man's leg. We 

 have an account of much larger serpents of this kind ; but I never 

 met them yet, although I have seen and killed abundance in my time. 

 They are of an orange-tawny and blackish colour on the back ; 

 differing (as all snakes do) in colour on the belly, being of an ash- 

 colour inclining to lead. The male is easily distinguished from the 

 female by a black velvet spot on his head ; and besides his head is 

 smaller shaped and long. Their bite is venomous if not speedily 

 remedied ; especially if the wound be in a vein, nerve, tendon, or 

 sinew ; when it is very difficult to cure. The Indians are the best 

 physicians for the bite of these and all other venomous creatures of 

 this country. There are four sorts of snake-roots already discovered, 

 which knowledge 'came from the Indians, who have performed several 

 great cures. The rattle-snakes are accounted the peaceablest in the 

 world ; for they never attack any one, or injure them, unless they are 

 trod upon or molested. The most danger of being bit by these 

 snakes is for those that survey land in Carolina ; yet I never heard of 

 any stnjveyor that was killed or hurt by them. I have myself gone 

 over several of this sort, and others ; yet it pleased God I never came 

 to any harm. They have the power or art (I know not which to call 

 it) to charm squirrels, hares, partridges, or any such thing, in such a 

 manner, that they run directly into their mouths. This I have seen 

 by a squirrel and one of these rattle-snakes ; and other snakes have 

 in some measure the same power. The rattle-snakes have many small 

 teeth, of which I cannot see they make any use ; for they swallow 

 everything whole ; but the teeth which poison are only four ; two on 

 each side of their upper jaws. These are bent like a sickle, and hang 

 loose as if by a joint. Towards the setting on of these, there is, in 

 each tooth, a little hole wherein you may just get in the point of a 

 small needle. And here it is that the poison comes out (which is as 

 green as gram) and follows the wound made by the point of their 

 They are much more venomous in the months of June and 



HAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. II. 



July, than they are in March, April, or September. The hotter the 

 weather the more poisonous. Neither may we suppose that they can 

 renew their poison as oft as they will ; for we have had a person bit 

 by one of these who never rightly recovered it, and very hardly 

 escaped with life ; a second person bit in the same place by the same 

 snake, and received no more harm than if bitten with a rat. They 

 cast their skins every year, and commonly abide near the place where 

 the old skin lies. These cast-skins are used in physic, and the rattles 

 are reckoned good to expedite the birth. The gall is made up into 

 pills with clay, and kept for use, being given in pestilential fevers and 

 the small-pox. It is accounted a noble remedy, known to few, and 

 held as a great arcanum. This snake has two nostrils on each side of 

 his nose. Their venom, I have reason to believe, effects no harm any 

 otherwise than when darted into the wound by the serpent's teeth." 



Catesby thus notices this species in 1771 : "Of these vipers," says 

 he, writing of all the American venom-snakes under that name, " the 

 rattle-snake is most formidable, being the largest and most terrible of 

 all the rest : the largest I ever saw was one about eight feet in length, 

 weighing between eight and nine pounds. This monster was gliding 

 into the house of Colonel Blake of Carolina ; and had certainly taken 

 his abode there undiscovered, had not the domestic animals alarmed 

 the family with their repeated outcries ; the hogs, dogs, and poultry 

 united in their hatred to him, showing the greatest consternation, by 

 erecting their bristles and feathers, and, expressing their wrath and 

 indignation, surrounded him, but carefully kept at a distance ; whilst 

 he, regardless of their threats, glided slowly along. 



" It is not uncommon to have them come into houses, a very extra- 

 ordinary instance of which happened to myself in the same gentleman's 

 house, in the month of February, 1723 : the servant in making the 

 bed in a ground-room (but a few minutes after I left it), on turning 

 down the clothes discovered a rattle-snake lying coiled between the 

 sheets in the middle of the bed. 



" They are the most inactive and slow-moving snake of all others, 

 and are never the aggressors except in what they prey upon ; for 

 unless they are disturbed they will not bite ; and, when provoked, 

 they give warning by shaking their rattles. These are commonly 

 believed to be the most deadly venomous serpent of any in these 

 parts of America : I believe they are so, as being generally the largest, 

 and making a deeper wound, and injecting a greater quantity of poi- 

 son ; though I know not why any of the other kinds of vipers may 

 not be as venomous as a rattle-snake, if as big, the structure of the 

 deadly fangs being alike in all. The most successful remedy the 

 Indians seem to have, is to suck the wound, which, in a slight bite, 

 has sometimes a good effect ; though the recovered person never fails 

 of having annual pains at the time they were bit. They have likewise 

 some roots which they pretend will effect the cure ; particularly a 

 kind of Asarum, commonly called Heart Snake-Roots, a kind of Chi-ys- 

 ant/temum called St. Anthony's Cross, and some others ; but that 

 which they rely on most, and which most of the Virginian and Caro- 

 lina Indians carry dry in their pockets, is a small tuberous root, which 

 they procure from the remote parts of the country ; this they chew, 

 and swallow the juice, applying some to the wound. Having, by tra- 

 velling much with Indians, had frequent opportunities of seeing the 

 direful effects of the bites of these snakes, it always seemed and was 

 apparent to me that the good effects usually attributed to these their 

 remedies is owing more to the force of nature, or the slightness of the 

 bite of a small snake in a muscular part, Ac. The person thus bit I 

 have known to survive without any assistance for many hours ; but 

 where a rattle-snake with full force penetrates with his deadly fangs, 

 and pricks a vein or artery, inevitable death ensues ; and that, as I 

 have often seen, hi less than two minutes. The Indians know their 

 destiny the minute they are bit ; and when they perceive it mortal, 

 apply no remedy, concluding all efforts in vain. If the bite happeneth 

 in a fleshy part, they immediately cut it out to stop the current of 

 the poison. I could heartily wish that oil of olives applied to the 

 wound might have as good success against the venom of these snakes 

 as it hath been found in England to have had against the poison of 

 the adder." (Catesby, ' Natural History of Carolina.') 



Lawson, it appears, was an eye-witness of the fascination, if so the 

 effect of terror on the victim is to be termed, of the Rattle-Snake ; and 

 though Catesby never saw it, he thus details the evidence of the fact 

 known to him : 



" The charming, as it is commonly called, or attractive power this 

 snake is said to have of drawing to it animals and devouring them, is 

 generally believed in America. As for my own part, I never saw the 

 action, but a great many from whom I have had it related all agree 

 in the manner of the process ; which is, that the animals, particularly 

 birds and squirrels (which principally are their prey), no sooner spy 

 the snake, than they skip from spray to spray, hovering and approach- 

 ing gradually nearer their enemy, regardless of any other danger ; but 

 with distracted gestures and outcries descend, though from the top 

 of the loftiest trees, to the mouth of the snake, who openeth his jaws, 

 takes them in, and in an instant swallows them." 



There can be little doubt that this supposed power is greatly 

 exaggerated. That a suddenly-surprised animal should be arrested 

 by terror and easily fall a victim to the serpent, is highly probable ; 

 but that it should descend to its destruction from the top of the 

 loftiest trees, in almost iucivdible. 



