RATTLE SNAKES. 173 



And are they there in a state of torpidity ? Pro- 

 bably not all the time. In those deep^ and 

 almost unfathomable recesses, they probably find 

 appropriate food, and when the power of propa- 

 gation is set into operation, they emerge from the 

 great deeps of the lake, to enjoy the genial influ- 

 ence of the sun, and to afibrd food and security 

 for their offspring. 



LETTER XLI. 



Western Region, August, 1820. 

 My Dear Sir, 



I HAVE had an opportunity of seeing the rattle 

 snake, a serpent peculiar to America, and whose 

 natural history is greatly involved in fable and 

 mystery. Its venomous qualities have been some- 

 what exaggerated, and the antidotes against its 

 poison have been much misrepresented. It has a 

 brown, broad head ; the jaws are furnished with 

 small, sharp teeth ; four fangs in the upper jaw, 

 incurvated, large, and pointed ; at the base of 

 each, a round orifice opening into a cavity, that 

 near the end of the tooth appears again in form 

 of a small channel ; these teeth may be erected 

 or compressed. When in the act of biting, they 



-force out of a gland near their roots, the fata) 



I 



