THE RATTLESNAKE. 
CROTALUS HORRIDUS. Linn. 
Ir the Boas furnish the most terrible examples of the 
tremendous powers of destruction possessed by a few of 
that division of the Serpent tribe, whose bite is unat- 
tended with the effusion of venom, the Rattlesnakes 
afford a no less remarkable instance of the dreadful 
malignity of the poison with which others of the tribe 
are so abundantly supplied. This poison is secreted by 
a gland of considerable size situated beneath the eye, 
the excretory duct of which terminates on each side at 
the base of a long and tubular fang in the upper jaw, 
which is concealed while the animal is at rest in a fold 
of the gum, but is capable of being instantaneously 
