364 OBSERVATIONS ON SUNDRY PLATES 



The Rattle-Snake, plate II. fhews the peculiar parts of this rep- 

 tile, feparated and diftindl. 



The head. At the extremity are the noflrils (A) ; between them and 

 the eyes are (B) two orifices fufpefled to be the organs of hearing, but 

 V7hich lead into a bone, hollow, but not peforated C, fhews the teeth 

 of this ferpent featcd in each jaw. D, the fangs through which the poi- 

 fon paflfes, placed forward in the mouth: only the firft (which is the largeft) 

 fixed to the bone, the others to tendons j their mechanifm has been 

 defcribed. E, the fituation of the bladders of poifon. F, the larynx, 

 not with a variety of cartilages, but formed fo as to make a flit for the 

 admiffion of air ; whence the hillings of ferpents. G, the forked tongue, 

 compofcd of two round bodies, joined two thirds of its length ; the part 

 outfide the fheath is black, that within it red : the under jaw is here di« 

 vided (as at I) for its readier pafTage, and the teeth in this jaw (H) are 

 on each fide this divifion, that they may not injure the tongue. 



The Rattle . The formation of the firft rattle, a, the latter vertebra 

 of the tail : by the mufcle on which the rattle is fattened ; c, a fingle 

 rattle, (hewing its rifings whereby it is held by following rattles, being 

 inferted into their hollows ; alfo its hollows whereby it holds the rifings 

 of the following rattles ; dy five rattles joined together, viewed as they 

 appear externally. 



The foijonous fangs are given at large,'that their orifices, form, and 

 conftruftion may appear more plainly. 



The SwoRD-FisH frequents our coafls, but is more abundant in the 

 Mediterranean, where its fifhery is a confiderable objccl, efpecially on 

 the coaft of Sicily, near Italy. . It is much efleemed by the Sicilians. 

 The feafon is in fummer. They are ftruck with a fpear; are faid to be very 

 voracious, and great enemies to the tunny, who are affirmed to be 

 terrified at the fight of them, probably for the fame reafon as the whale 

 is at the faw-filb. It grows very large : the head and pccloral fins of 

 one weighing fevcnty pounds; the fnout three feet long, rough and 

 hard, but not enough to penetrate fhips. The fnout is the upper jaw 

 greatly prolonged j it is comprefled at top and bottom, fliarp at the 

 point: the under jaw is (harp but fhortj no teeth : the ikin is rough 

 but \t^y thin : colour of the back dufky ; the belly filvery. 



PINNA 



