498 



Reptiles.^ 



THE RATTLE-SNAKE, (Crotalus Jiorridus,) 



Is a native of the New World, and grows to five or six, 

 and sometimes to eight feet in length, and is nearly as 

 thick as a man's leg. It is not unlike the viper, having 

 a large head and small neck, and inflicting a very dan- 

 gerous wound. Over each eye is a large pendulous 

 scale, the use of which has not yet been ascertained ; the 

 body is scaly and hard, variegated with several different 

 colours. The principal characteristic of this justly 

 dreaded serpent is the rattle, a kind of instrument re- 

 sembling the curb-chain of a bridle, at the extremity of the 

 tail; it is formed of thin, hard, hollow bones, linkfed 

 together, and rattling on the least motion. When dis- 

 turbed, the creature shakes this rattle with considerable 

 noise and rapidity, striking terror into all the smaller 

 animals, which are afraid of the destructive venom that 

 this serpent communicates to the wounded limb with his 

 bite. The wound the Rattle-snake inflicts, through the 

 uncommon sharpness and rapid fluency of the poison, 

 generally terminates the torment and life of the unhappy 

 victim in the course of six or seven hours. 



A snake of this kind exhibited in London at a mena- 

 gerie of foreign animals, in the year 1810, wounded a 

 carpenter's hand, who was repairing its cage, and seeking 

 for his rule. The man suffered the most excruciating 

 pain, and his life could not be saved, although medical 

 assistance was immediately applied, and every effort 



