REPTILIA 



161 



While a properly directed bite of a large copperhead might prove 

 fatal, the author, as noted above, has never heard an authentic report 

 of a death from the bite of this species. 



In many thickly settled parts of the country the copperhead has 

 been practically exterminated, but in other regions it is uncomfortably 

 abundant. 



PIG. 106. Diamond rattler, Crotalus adamantous, caught alive in Florida. 



The Rattlesnakes, genera Crotalus and Sistmrus, Fig. 106. Little 

 need be said of these most famous of our American serpents. It is 

 unnecessary here to look for the pit nor for the elliptical pupil, since 

 that curious structure, the rattle, is always to be found at the end 

 of the tail; and he who has once heard that ominous sound is not apt 

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