THE BANDED RATTLE-SNAKE. 75 



They are confined to the warmer parts of America, 

 where they prey on the smaller birds, lizards, and in- 

 sects. They give notice of their approach by the 

 rattle at the end of their tail, which is composed of 

 hollow membranaceous articulations, that annually 

 increase in number till they amount to about forty. 

 The head is broad, and covered with large carinated 

 scales, or such as have a prominent middle line : the 

 snout is rounded and obtuse. 



Their Linnean generic character is that they have 

 scuta on the abdomen ; scuta and squama? beneath 

 the tail, and the tail terminated with a rattle. 



THE BANDED RATTLE-SNAKE*. 



This, the most dreaded of all the Serpents, is found 

 both in North and South America, where it usually 

 grows to about five or six feet in length. Its colour 

 is yellowish-brown above, marked with broad trans- 

 verse bars of black. Both the jaws are furnished with 

 small sharp teeth, and the upper one has four large 

 incurvated and pointed fangs. At the base of each is 

 a round orifice, opening into a hollow, that appears 

 again near the end of the tooth in the form of a small 

 channel : these teeth may be raised or compressed. 

 When the animals are in the act of biting, they force 

 out of a gland near the roots of the teeth the fatal 

 juice: this is received into the round orifice of the 

 teeth, conveyed through the tube into the channel, 



* Synonyms. — Crotalus horridus. Linn.— JSoiquira. La Ccpede. 

 Rattle snake. Far, 



