l#2 RATTLE SNAKES; 



engaged in battle — at last one bit the other; 

 which immediately retreated, and died in a I v 

 minutes. It was supposed that it went off rapidly 

 lor an antidote. 



To show the rapidity of the bite, and the mor- 

 tality of the venom, the following anecdotes were 

 related to me : A man in pursuance of a common* 

 practice of killing snakes, took a rattle snake by 

 the tail from under a log, and snapped off its head 

 like the cracking of a whip; he was bit in the 

 thumb, without knowing it, during this rapid ope- 

 ration, and died. Another one killed a rattle 

 snake, and cut off the head about five inches long, 

 and ordered a boy to bury it ; not obeying the 

 order fast enough, and being hurried in Ids work, 

 the man took hold of the head, which turned 

 round and bit him so that he died. 



The same serpent possesses very different de- 

 grees of power in its bite, according to time and 

 circumstances. This is beautifully intimated by 

 Virgil when speaking of a serpent common in 

 Italy in his time. 



" Est etiam ilie malus Calabris in saltibus anguijr, 

 Squammea convo'vens sublato pectore terga, 

 Atque, notis longam maculosus grandibus alvum : 

 Qui, dum amnes ulli rumpuntur fontibus, et dum 

 Ver e madent udo terra, ac pluvialibus Austris, 

 Stagrin colit ; ripisque habitans, hie piscibus atram 

 Iinprobus mgluviem, ranisque loquacibus explet, 



