335 



WOOD RATTLE-SNAKE. 



Crotalus Dryinas. C. griseus, subluleo variatus. 

 Greyish Rattle-Snake, with yellowish variegations. 

 Crotalus Dryinas. Lin. Syst. Nat. p. 3/2. 

 Vipera caudisona Ceilanica. Seb. 2. t. 95. f. 3. 

 Vipcra Orientalis maxima caudisona. Seb. 2. t. $6.f. 1. 

 Abdominal scuta l6'5, subcaudal 30. 



A GENUINE description of the particular colour 

 of this species, in a living state, seems yet want- 

 ing ; authors having described it from specimens 

 preserved in spirits, in which, after a certain pe- 

 riod, the colours of most serpents are greatly 

 changed and faded. It is said, however, to be of 

 a paler or lighter tinge than the two former spe- 

 cies, and to be variegated with yellowish marks 

 on the back : some individuals figured by Seba, 

 and which are generally referred to this animal, 

 are of a rufous or ferruginous tinge, with a cast 

 of yellow accompanied by a few dusky variega- 

 tions on the upper parts : the rattle is, in these 

 specimens, of much greater length than is usually 

 seen in the preceding kinds, the number in one of 

 them amounting to no less than forty. Seba ima- 

 gined his specimens to have been natives of Cey- 

 lon, and therefore distinguishes them by the title 

 of Oriental Rattle-Snakes; but it is generally sup- 

 posed that this is a mistaken idea, and that the 

 whole genus is confined to the American conti- 

 nent. 



