352 CROTALINE BOA. 



longitudinal black stripes : this species is said to 

 feed principally on rats, and to be found in South 

 America, 



CROTALINE BOA. 



Boa maculis nigris rh&mbeatis dorstilibus, cawla siibtus sciie qua- 

 drupUci sqvamarvm terminata. 



Boa with black rhomboid dorsal spots, and tail terminated be- 

 neath by four rows of scales. 



Crotalus mutus. Lin. Syst. Nat. p. 373. 



THIS snake Linnaeus was induced to place in 

 the genus Crotalus, from its habit, and from a 

 certain peculiar disposition of the scales at the 

 tip of the tail, which are distributed into four 

 series, seeming as it were to supply the place of 

 the rattle in the genuine Crotali ; but since the 

 particular organ itself, which so strikingly distin- 

 guishes those serpents, is wanting, it, of course, 

 cannot properly belong to the same genus : it is a 

 native of Surinam, and is a large species, marked 

 on the back by a chain of black rhomboid spots, 

 and is furnished with very large and strong fangs. 



