A TTLESNA KES. 317 



Orotalidse, being found in nearly all parts of the United States, from lat. 40 on the Mississippi to 

 the Gulf of Mexico. They are now more and more restricted to the south-east. The cuticle on the 

 ends of the tail is arranged in a series of rings, loosely connected together, so as to constitute the 

 rattle. There are many of these rings, according to the species and age of the Snake ; but Rattle- 

 snakes grow more than one ring in the year, and therefore the size of this appendage cannot be 

 used in estimating their age. They lose rings and others come, and the greatest known number is 

 probably twenty-one. They are very curious and similar, and the piece immediately connected 

 with the body seems to be moulded on the last vertebra of the tail, from which it is separated by 

 a layer of the true skin by which it is secreted. Its surface presents three circular elevations 

 corresponding to three protuberances. Of these, the first, or that nearest to the body of the reptile, 

 is the largest, and the other two rings are encased in the succeeding piece, which is connected in a 



COMMON KATTLESNAKE. 



similar manner to the next ring, and so on throughout the series. The posterior two-thirds of each 

 ring are thus embraced by the next, so that of the three prominent rings that project from each piece 

 the anterior only is visible, the two posterior being contained in the next ring, with the exception of 

 the ultimate one. Each piece is loose, and plays freely about that which it envelops. There is 

 no muscle, and the noise is produced by a shake of the tail. 



Bates testifies to the slowness of the attack of other species of Rattlesnakes. When on the 

 Lower Amazons he saw a Rattlesnake for the first time. He heard a pattering noise close to him, 

 and thought some creepers on a tree were about to fall ; but when the wind lulled, it was evident that 

 the noise came from the gimind. On turning his head to look, a sudden plunge startled him, and a 

 heavy gliding motion betrayed a large Serpent making off from beneath his feet. This was a Rattle- 

 snake. Again, his little dog Diamante rushed one day into a thicket and made a dead set at a large 

 Snake, whose head he saw above the herbage. The foolish little brute approached quite close, and 

 then the Serpent reared its tail slightly in a horizontal position and shook the terrible rattles. It was 

 many minutes before Bates could get the dog away. 



The Water-rattle* is seen in damp and shady places, and abounds in East Florida, the Gulf 

 States, and Mexico, and reaches eight feet in length, and its dusky colour, bloated body, and 

 grey and yellow iris, give it an expression of sullen ferocity. It is also called the Diamond 

 Rattlesnake. 



Central America and Brazil have the " Horrid Rattlesnake," t which is a most widely 

 dispersed species of Eastern North America. It has a black band across the forehead, and another 



* Crotalus adamanteus, orrhombifer. .f Crotalus horridus. 



183 



