1923] POPE, RATTLESNAKE FACTS AND FALLACIES 131 



the average adult is from three and a half to four feet. Ditmars^^ 

 records a specimen of this species from Missouri that measured exactly 

 six feet with a rattle composed of fourteen perfectly uniform segments. 



The coloration of the Banded Rattler exhibits great variation both 

 locally and in different parts of its range. The following description 

 is given by Ditmars, but is based principally upon specimens from the 

 eastern portion of the United States: "The most familiar phase is 

 that of a sulphur-yellow ground-color, with wide, dark brown or black 

 cross-bands, these usually wavy or sharply pointed in the rear some- 

 times broken up into three series of blotches — the larger on the back 

 in the shape of half-rhombs. The tail of such a specimen is black. 



"Another common phase is olive. On the forward portion of the 

 body are three series of dark blotches, margined with yellow; these 

 fuse into wavy, yellow-edged cross-bands on the posterior two-thirds 

 of the body. 



"The ground-color varies from yellow to brown, olive or black. 

 With the black specimens the bands are not discernible.""^ Then 

 again in the South there is the variety called the "Cane-brake" 

 Rattlesnake which is pinkish, with sooty black cross-bands and a 

 rusty-red stripe on the back. 



As to the relation of the sex of the Banded Rattlesnake to the color, 

 Ditmars says that in New York and neighboring states the "majority 

 of the males are black, and some of them are so intensely black the 

 entire upper surface is without a suggestion of transverse bands, 

 looking precisely like velvet. The females, to the contrary, are a 

 beautiful sulphur yellow, ornamented with irregular brown or black 

 transverse bands. Sometimes these bands assume the form of a 

 chain of rhomb-hke markings."^'' He further states that although he 

 has found occasional females among the black specimens he has never 

 examined a yellow male from the same region. 



During the progress of the snake-hunt in Sauk County in 1923," 

 the writer observed that the majority of all snakes seen were of a 

 general yellow ochre color, blending into olive-brown on the upper 

 parts and light chamois below. The greater number of these were 

 dark brown, indicating that they had not as yet shed their skins, 

 while a few of a brilliant ochre-yellow v/ith conspicuous dark brown 

 markings were probably freshly shed individuals. Practically all of 

 the specimens brought to the Museum were of this unattractive dark 



23Ditmars, Raymond L., "The Reptile Book," p. 443, 1907. 

 «Op. Cit., p. 442. 



25Ditmars, Raymond L., "Reptiles of the World," p. 358, 1910. 

 28See pp. 13—27, this vol. 



