RATTLE SNAKES. 181 



fancy has assigned to the lordly rattle snake 

 tin attendant, or minister, like the jackall of the 

 king of the quadrupeds. This is a venomous vi- 

 per, with a Hat head, and a body coloured Wkt 

 the rattle snake. 1c has no erepitaculum, and is 

 called the rattle snake's pilot. 



I have been told, but I have had no opportunkV 

 of ascertaining the fact, that the rattle snake dif- 

 fers from all others, for that when skinned, the 

 whole body becomes open to the back bone, and 

 and that no intestines are visible except the heart. 



It appears that the rattle snake is not singular 

 hi the selection of his winter quarters. Thunberg 

 speaks of a mountain, or rather a large single 

 rock, in the Cape Colony, in Africa, called Slan- 

 genkof, (serpent's head) on one side of it is a large 

 and deep crevice, which makes this rock remarka- 

 ble, for every autumn the serpents go there and 

 coil together, and come out in sumiumer. The 

 poison of the serpent has most power over those 

 animals whose blood is the warmest, and the 

 action of whose heart is the most lively; white 

 on the contrary it is said not to be a poison to 

 the serpent itself, nor to its fellows, nor in gene- 

 ral to cold-blooded animals. I have heard tins 

 remark contradicted in relation to the bite of the 

 rattle snake, although 1 believe it to be true of 



the viper tribe in general. A ncrscn saw two 



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