Rattlessaices.- 



-KEPTILES.- 



-Tr.UE Rattlesnakes. 



43 



Bpecies of the three. This serpent has a very large 

 head of a triangular shape, hroad behind, and trun- 

 cate at the snout. It has large eyes, with black pupils 

 and a brilliant iris, the upper half being very bi-ight 

 yellow, and tlie lower black. The mouth is large, and 

 provided with strong jaws. Tlie neck is greatly 

 contracted, and the body is elongated, but thick in 

 proportion, even to the tail. This organ is short, 

 conical, and sustains an uncertain number of rattles. 

 The general colour is pepper-and-salt gi'ay, with a 

 central series of brown spots along the back, and a 

 double series of blackish spots on each side. It is 

 about sixteen inches in length. The Groimd Rattle- 

 snake is very common in the Southern States of 

 America, and has a wide range, abounding in Carolina 

 and Georgia, passing round the southern extremities of 

 tlie Alleghanies to Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. 

 It is chiefly in dry places where it is found, living 

 amongst leaves and in high grass, amongst which it may 

 be often seen searching for small field-mice, on which 

 it feeds. Holbrook informs us that it is greatly 

 dreaded, as it gives but a very slight warning with its 

 rattle. Hence it is often trodden upon ; and, from its 

 habit of frequently coiling itself on fallen trees, logs, or 

 the stumps of felled timber, persons have been known 

 to sit upon it, ignorant of its presence till bitten. It is 

 a bold animal, will frequently be the aggressor, and will 

 not retreat when threatened By the common people 

 its bite is erroneously thought to be more destructive, 

 and its venom more active, than some of the species 

 which are much larger. 



TUUE RATTLESNAKES. 



There are two_ distinct species of Rattlesnakes — one 

 peculiar to South, and the other to North America. They 

 have been celebrated from the earliest periods after the 

 'liscovery of the New World, both from the dangerous 

 nature of their fc.:^, and the peculiar appendages, called 

 rattles, attached to their tails. When that vast con- 

 tinent was sparsely inhabited, and formed the abode 

 only of the wild Indian; before civilization had spread 

 her blessings over the country — Rattlesnakes must have 

 abounded to a much greater extent than they do at the 

 present time. Indeed, were we to trust to the relations of 

 many of our earlier travellers, America would appear to 

 have been almost iminhabitable, in consequence of their 

 ravages, and the ten'or they inspired. Like other wild 

 and savage animals, however. Rattlesnakes fly before 

 the advance of civilized man. According to the state- 

 ments of some of the early writers on America, these 

 snakes were often found seven, eight, and even ten feet 

 in length, and Bartram assures us that he has often 

 seen them six feet long, and as thick as a man's thigh. 

 At the present day, however, few are found which 

 arrive to any great size. To the religious respect in 

 which they were originally held by the savage occupiers 

 of the soil, who regarded the death of one of these 

 serpents as a public calamity, has succeeded a hatred 

 so inveterate that in many settlements a price has even 

 been set upon their heads. They have accordingly 

 become so rare, that M. Bosc says that some years 

 ago, in the neighbourhood of Charleston, he saw but six 

 or seven individuals in the course of a year. A later 



writer still, Mr. Holbrook, says: — "At present tho 

 Rattlesnake is seldom met with, keeping far from till 

 settlements where its greates^t enemy, the hog, is to be 

 found. Even sportsmen are seldom under any appre- 

 hension on this account." The Rattlesnakes have a 

 peculiar aspect. Their head is large, broad, triangular, 

 and generally flattened through its whole extent. Tlie 

 hinder part of the cranium is covered with scales like 

 those of the back ; but the muzzle and temples are 

 clothed in large scales in the form of plates. The 

 body is stout and of a robust form, elongated, cylin- 

 drical, and covered above with keeled scales. The tail 

 is short, cylindrical, and rather thick, and is termi- 

 nated by a series of large, dry scales, termed the rattle. 

 The number of these is very uncertain, varying from 

 one to thirty, or even more. These rings or scales are 

 all exactly like each other in form, and often even in 

 size. They are composed of a brittle, elastic, and semi- 

 transparent matter, of the same nature as that of tho 

 ordinary scales. The one nearest to the body,- and with 

 which it is immediately connected, forms, as do likewise 

 all the rest, a sort of a hollow quadrangular pyramid, 

 the two opposite faces of wdiich are much larger than 

 the two others. United, they form a kind of sheath 

 which envelops the last joints or vertebrse of the tail, 

 being moulded upon them. They are all received within 

 each other, to such an extent that only one-third of 

 each is visible externally. The ring situated at the 

 end of the rattle, is the only one the whole form of 

 which is seen, and thus the rattle is composed exter- 

 nally only of that ring and the upper thirds of the 

 others. The two lower thirds of each ring, which 

 cannot be seen, are placed within the following piece ; 

 they occupy the hollow of it, keeping the ring in its 

 place, and preventing it separating from the rest of 

 the rattle. But, as the diameter of that portion of the 

 ring is less than that which receives it, each one 

 plays freely within the other. None of them, except 

 the one nearest the body, is united to the skin of the 

 animal, nor do they hold any connection with the body 

 by any musole, nerve, or bloodvessel. They conse- 

 quently receive no nou-iishraent from the body, and 

 do not increase in size ; they form only an external 

 envelope, which moves when the animal agitates its 

 tail, in the same manner as any foreign body would 

 move, which might be attached to it. All the rings 

 of the rattle being very dry, placed one above the other, 

 and having all sufficient play within each other, to rub 

 mutually against each other when they are shaken, it is 

 not surprising that they should produce a very sensible 

 sound. "Indeed," says Lacepede, " wo have proved 

 that a rattle of moderate size will produce a noise 

 similar to that of the crumpling of a piece of parch- 

 ment, which may be heard at the distance of more than 

 sixty feet ; and it is much to be desired that it could be 

 heard still further, in order that tho approach of a 

 Rattlesnake, being less imforeseen, might also be less 

 dangerous." Mr. Bosc, however, wdio has had oppor- 

 tunities of seeing these reptiles alive, says that the 

 noise produced by them could not be heard furiher off 

 than from twelve to fifteen paces ; and tliat when tho 

 animal was moving at its usual rate, it was necessary 

 to be close to it, and even listen very attentively to dis- 



