FAMILY CROTALID^. 55 



State ; for I do not see it mentioned either in Hitchcock's Catalogue, or in the Report of Dr. 

 Storer on the Reptiles of Massachusetts. Dr. Holbrook, however, has seen it in the neigh- 

 borhood of Northampton, Massachusetts, and has received specimens from Vermont. It 

 occurs in Ohio. 



[EXTRA-LIMITAL] 



T. pisciiwrus. (Holbrook, Herpet. Vol. 3, pi. 7, of 2d Ed.) Dusky greenish brown tinged with 

 yellow, with irregular black bands. Abdominal plates, 130; caudal, 40. Length one to two 

 feet. Toxicophis leucostomus of Troost. North-Carolina, Louisiana. 



T. atrofuscus. (Id. Vol.3, pi. 9.) Scales smooth on the neck. Caudal plates : 25 subcaudal plates 

 at the base, and 18 pairs of scales at the rfpex; black, varied with brown. Head black, bordered 

 with grey ; upper lip white. Abdominal plates, 133. Length two feet. Tennessee. 



GENUS CROTALUS. Linneus. 



Head large, triangular, rounded in front, and covered with plates only on its anterior part ,■ 

 vertex and occiput with scales. A deep pit or fosset between the eye and nostril. Upper 

 jaw with poison fangs. Tail short and thick, ending in a rattle, which is a horny produc- 

 tion of the epidermis. Caudal plates undivided. 



Obs. This genus is peculiar to America. 



THE NORTHERN RATTLESNAKE. 



CrOTALUS DCRISSUS. 



PLATE IX. FIG. 19. — (CABINET OF THE LYCEUM.) 



Crotalus durissus. LiN. Syst. Nat. p. 372. Harlan, Med. and Phys. p. 132. 



C. canfiuentis? Say, Long's Expedition, Vol. 1, p. 48. 



Crotaliis durissus. HoLBROOK, N. Am. Herpetology, Vol. 2, p. 81, pi. 17 ; and Vol. 3, p. 9. pi. 1, Ed. 2da. 



The Banded Rattlesnake. Storer, Mass. Report, p. 233. Kirtland, Zoology of Ohio, p. 188. 



Characteristics. Reddish brown or chesnut to black, with irregular rhomboidal black blotches. 

 Abdominal plates, 173 ; caudal, 25. Length three feet. 



Description. Body robust, and covered with elongate rhomboidal scales, distinctly carinate 

 above, but less obviously so on the sides, although these latter are larger. Head large, trian- 

 gular, obtusely pointed, flattened above. Rostral plate large, truncate above, triangular, with 

 a quadrangular plate on each side ; posterior to these a smaller plate, and in the suture between 

 them are placed the nostrils. The superior orbital plates project strongly over the eye. A 

 deep fosset or pit midway between the eye and nostrils, but on a lower plane. Throat with 

 two very large plates. Neck small. Tail short, less than one-eighth of the total length. 



