360 



BANE AND ANTIDOTE. 



it its own betrayer, and warns man involuntarily against its 

 formidable presence. This is the rattle to which it owes its vulgar 

 appellation. The rattle is situated at the end of the tail, and consists 

 of several hard, dry, bony processes. Imagine a string of hollow, 

 dry, semi-transparent bones, nearly of the same size and figure, and 

 resembling to some extent the shape of the human os sacrum : 



CROTALUS, AND BOA-CONSTRICTOR. 



imagine these so placed that the tip of every uppermost bone runs 

 within two of the bones below it ; imagine these constantly clattering 

 against each other, as the reptile moves, with a hoarse, dull, echoing 

 sound, and you will be able to form some idea of the permanent 

 warning of its approach which the Crotalus carries about with it. 

 The rattle is placed with the broad part perpendicular to the body, 

 and not horizontal ; and the first joint is attached to the last vertebra 

 of the tail by means of a thick muscle beneath it, no less than by the 

 membranes which unite it to the skin. The bony rings increase in 

 number with the reptile's age, and it gains an additional one, it is 

 said, at each casting of the skin. 



