264 BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



within reach of the fangs of the snake the many birds who greedily de- 

 vour these insects. The rattle has been heard at times when no apparent 

 cause of irritation to the snake existed, and a case has been reported in 

 which a biped was drawn within reach of a rattler, thinkiug it a grass- 

 hopper. 



The principal enemies of the rattlesnake, besides man, are wild hogs, 

 peccaries, and deer. The latter kill the serpent when coiled by striking 

 with the hoofs,; the former attack it successfully with hoofs and teeth, 

 and in some regions derive no small part of their subsistence from this 

 source. The popular belief that the venom of the rattlesnake is innoc- 

 uous to hogs is merely a partial statement of the fact that the iiuid usu- 

 ally fails to enter the circulation through the layer of adipose tissue 

 with which these animals are commonly covered. The venom is con- 

 ceded to be innocuous when introduced to the stomach, and the flesh 

 of the rattlesnake is as edible as that of other serpents. The fatality of 

 the rattlesnake's bite is by no means the constant element generally 

 supposed, but the result may vary from the slightest amount of poison- 

 ing to one rapidly fatal. This depends altogether upon the amount of 

 venom absorbed in the system, and the rapidity of its diflusion through 

 the circulation, matters which turn upon the amount of venom in store 

 at the moment of striking, the vigor of the animal at the time, the pen- 

 etration of the tooth, the part of the body struck, and, finally, the state 

 of health of the person attacked. No positive specific antidote is 

 known. Surgical means of preventing dispersion of the poison through 

 the system, and alcoholic stimulation to the highest ])itch, are the 

 usual resorts. 



It may not be out of place to refer in this connection to the inter- 

 esting mechanism of the poison apparatus, as it is a matter not very 

 generally known as yet, though clearly set forth by the researches of 

 specialists, notably Dr. S. Weir Mitchell. The venomous fluid to be 

 injected into a wound made by the teeth has nothing to do with the 

 ordinary saliva, as popularly supposed; nor does the forked tongue or 

 any of the numerous small teeth of the mouth take part in the infliction 

 of the wound. The tongue and smaller teeth are essentially the same 

 as in any harmless serpent. The active instruments are a pair of fangs,* 

 one on each side of the upper jaw, rooted in the maxillary bones, which 

 bear no other teeth. The fangs vary in size, being sometimes half 

 an inch long. They are somewhat conical and scythe-shaped, with an 

 extremely fine point; the convexity looks forward, the point downward 

 and backward. The fang is hollow, for transmission of the venom ; but 



* It may be mentioned, as a fact of some interest, that, while in C. confliientus the 

 fangs are generally shed or pushed out of place at variable periods of time (probably 

 in twelve months), in C. adamanieus atrox, a species common in theSonoran region, this 

 shedding, or loss, frequently fails to take place, and it is common to find generally in 

 the right side of the jaw of this species two or more fangs in position. In one speci- 

 men lately examined, three were found in posi.ion, and behind them three or four oth- 

 ers were advanced in growth. 



