CRO 



CRO 



back. There are thirty-two species, all 

 natives of warm climates. 



CROUTE, sour croute. As this prepa- 

 paration of cabbage has been found of 

 sovereign efficacy as a preservative in 

 long voyages from the sea-scurvy, it may 

 not be unacceptable to give a concise ac- 

 count of the process for making it, ac- 

 cording to the information communicated 

 by an ingenious German gentleman. The 

 soundest and most solid cabbages are se- 

 lected for this use, and cut very small, 

 commonly with an instrument made for 

 this purpose, not unlike the plane which 

 is used in this country for slicing cucum- 

 bers. A knife is used when the prepara- 

 tion is made with great nicety. The 

 cabbage thus minced is put into a barrel 

 in layers, hand high, and over each is 

 strewed a handful of salt and carraway 

 seeds ; in this manner it is rammed down 

 with a rammer, stratum super stratum, till 

 the barrel be full ; when a cover is put 

 over it and pressed down with a heavy 

 weight. After standing some time in this 

 state it begins to ferment ; and it is not 

 till the fermentation has entirely subsid- 

 ed that the head is fitted to it, and the 

 barrel is finally shut up and preserved 

 for use. 



CRO TALUS, the rattlesnake, in natu- 

 ral history, a genus of Amphibia, of the 

 order of Serpentes. Generic character : 

 scuta on the abdomen ; scuta and scales 

 beneath the tail ; rattle at the end of the 

 tail. There are five species, all natives 

 of America. The C. horridus, or banded 

 rattle-snake, inhabits North America, and 

 is from three to five feet in length, of a 

 yellowish brown colour. The rattle is 

 fixed at the end of the tail, and is com- 

 posed of dry and hollow bones, nearly of 

 the same form and size. The tip of every 

 bone superior to the two last,passes with- 

 in the two immediately beneath it, thus 

 producing a firm coherence, and also an 

 increase of noise, as during the sounding 

 of the rattle each bone strikes against two 

 others. The object of this curious instru- 

 ment has not a little perplexed natural- 

 ists, and some have considered it design- 

 ed to warn other animals of their danger, 

 while others have regarded it as intend- 

 ed, indeed, to sound the alarm of peril; 

 but such an alarm as is followed by con- 

 sternation, under which the affrighted 

 victim experiences a prostration of all its 

 faculties, and is bereaved at once of in- 

 telligence and motion. These animals 

 were supposed to possess the power of 

 charming others, or of operating upon 

 them by some ineffable power, to induce 

 them to drop from their stations into the 



very mouth of the destroyer. This opi- 

 nion, long prevailing, but now exploded, 

 not unnaturally arose from the circum- 

 stance just mentioned. The appearance 

 of the rattle-snake to these creatures, 

 who instantly recognise it for their mor- 

 tal enemy, and the sound of that instru- 

 ment, which is as it were the signal of 

 execution, impresses them occasionally 

 with a degree of terror, which withers 

 all the energies of their frame. These 

 animals have been known to enter houses 

 in America, and even to insinuate them- 

 selves into beds. They move with great 

 slowness ; and, with respect to all other 

 animals but those which they subsist on, 

 never inflict any injury but in retaliation, 

 wounding on provocation, and not in ag- 

 gression. Their bite is not only poison- 

 ous, but rapidly fatal, and has been 

 known to kill a man in a few minutes. 

 When the bite is received in a fleshy 

 part, the Indians apply the knife with all 

 possible speed. In slight cases they 

 have recourse to various roots : and in 

 some cases they suck the wound : but 

 when a principal vein or artery is pene- 

 trated with the animal's full strength, 

 they abandon their case as hopeless, and 

 apply no remedy whatever. In the ter- 

 ritories of America but thinly inhabited, 

 rattle snakes are abundant ; but in others 

 they are almost exterminated. They are 

 seldom seen farther north than Lake 

 Champlain, or south than Brazil. They 

 are extremely fond of frogs. In summer 

 they are generally seen in pairs; in win- 

 ter they are gregarious, and secure them- 

 selves from the rigours of the season by 

 withdrawing deeply in the earth, whence 

 a fine day sometimes induces them to ap- 

 pear, but in a state of great weakness, in 

 which they may be attacked without dan- 

 ger, and in which a single person has 

 sometimes destroyed with a stick several 

 score in a single morning. The largest 

 ever seen by Catesby, who, while in Caro- 

 lina, paid particular attention to them, 

 was about eight feet long, and nearly nine 

 pounds in weight. It is mentioned by 

 Dr. Shaw, from Bouvais, that this snake, 

 which is viviparous, possesses the mode 

 of securing its young ascribed to the Eu- 

 ropean viper, of swallowing them during 

 the period of danger, and disgorging 

 them after it is over. Mr. Bouvais hav- 

 ing inadvertently molested a rattlesnake 

 in his walk, saw the animal instantly coil 

 itself up, and distend its jaws, into which 

 five young ones rushed with great rapi- 

 dity. He watched it for about a quarter 

 of an hour, at the end of which time he 

 saw them thrown up. To remove the 



