NATURAL HISTORY. 391 



mouth, when not wanted. An aperture exists in the point 

 of the fang, by which a poisonous fluid, secreted in a gland at 

 the base of the tooth, is poured into the wound, and, mixing 

 with the blood, rapidly carries its deadly influence throughout 

 the entire system. A short time since an American physician 

 was exhibiting a caged rattle-snake to his friends. He ap- 

 proached his hand too near the irritated reptile, who instanta- 

 neously inflicted a wound, and although every precaution wa?: 

 taken, the bite proved fatal in a few hours. 



Waterton gives some useful hints respecting snakes, especial- 

 ly those of the venomous kind : 



" When a man is ranging a forest, and sees a serpent gliding 

 towards him (which is a very rare occurrence), he has only to 

 tack off in a side direction, and he may be perfectly assured 

 that it will not follow him. Should the man, however, stand 

 still, and should the snake be one of those overgrown monsters 

 capable of making a meal of a man, in these cases the snake 

 would pursue its course ; and when it got sufficiently near to 

 the place where the man was standing, would raise the fore- 

 part of its body in a retiring attitude, and then dart at him 

 and seize him. A man may pass within a yard of rattle-snakes 

 with safety, provided he goes quietly ; but should he irritate a 

 rattle-snake, or tread incautiously upon it, he would infallibly 

 receive a wound from its fang, though, by the bye, with the 

 point of that fang curved downwards, not upwards."* 



The same author was nearly falling a victim to a rattle- 

 snake. He saw what he thought w r as a green locust struggling 

 in the grass. On stooping down to examine it, he was consid- 

 erably alarmed at discovering it to be the tail of a rattle-snake. 



The length of this snake has seldom been known to exceed 

 seven feet. 



* This latter passage refers to a plate in Audubon's Ornithology, where a rattle- 

 snake is represented attacking a mocking-bird's nest, and threatening the birds with 

 two i'angs curved upwards a mistake which Waterton never loses sight of. 



