65 



five years. Of several children by the second marriage, 

 Bryan became afterwards the eighth Lord Fairfax ; Wil- 

 liam died at Quebec in 1759, a lieutenant in the British 

 army ; and Hannah married Warner Washington, a nephew 

 of General Washington. 



THE BATTLE OP THE RATTLESNAKE. 



Mr. F. W. PUTNAM gave a description of the structure 

 of the horny appendage to the tail of many snakes, 

 especially developed in the genus of Rattlesnakes, and 

 controverted the idea of natural selection having anything 

 to do with its peculiar development. He also thought 

 that the supposition that the rattle was a benefit to the 

 snake, as a means of enticing birds, by its sound imitating 

 that made by the Cicada, as suggested by a writer in a 

 late number of the "Naturalist," could not be accepted. 

 The Cicada was not a ground insect, and was comparatively 

 rare, even among the trees, in such localities as were most 

 frequented by the rattlesnake. Secondly, the sound made 

 by the snake was very slight under ordinary circum- 

 stances, and the rattle was not sounded to any extent 

 unless the snake was disturbed by some cause. His own 

 observations on these snakes, in their natural habitat, led 

 him to believe that it was not at all their nature to set up 

 a rattling for the sake of enticing birds to them, but that 

 they would slowly and cautiously approach their victim, 

 or else lie in wait ready to give the fatal spring upon 

 anything that came near. He believed that the rattle was 

 in reality a detriment to the snake, except in so far as it 

 served to call the sexes together which, from the unsocial 

 habits of the species, he thought was most likely its true 

 function. 



ESSEX INST. BULLETIN. iv 9 



