78 THE BANDED RATTLE-SNAKL 



eyes were fixed, his teeth closed upon his tongue, 

 which was hanging out, his lips were drawn up so 

 as to leave his teeth and gums bare, and in a quar- 

 ter of a minute he died. The hair was then 

 taken off by means of hot water, and only one small 

 puncture appeared, between his fore-legs, with a 

 bluish-green colour round it. — A second dog was 

 brought about half an hour afterwards, and the 

 snake bit his ear: he exhibited signs of violent sick- 

 ness, staggered about for some time, then fell down 

 convulsed, and two or three times got up again : he 

 lived near two hours. — Four days after this two 

 dogs, as large as common bull-dogs, were bitten by 

 him : the one in the inside of his left thigh, which 

 died exactly in half a minute; and the other on the 

 outside of the thigh, which died in four minutes. — 

 Captain Hall, after some other experiments, wished 

 at last to try whether its poison would prove mortal 

 to itself. He therefore hung it up in such a manner 

 that it had about half its length on the ground, and 

 irritated it by two needles fastened to the end of a 

 stick. The creature made several attempts to seize 

 the stick, and then bit itself. It was let down, and 

 in ei^ht or ten minutes was found to be lifeless. The 

 snake was afterwards cut into five pieces, which 

 were successively devoured by a hog, but without 

 receiving any injury in consequence. 



We are told, by an intelligent American writer, 

 that a farmer was one day mowing with his negroes, 

 when he by chance trod on a Rattle-snake, that im- 

 mediately turned upon him, and bit his boot. At 

 night, when he went to bed, he was attacked with 



