176 



A COLLECTOR'S EXPBEIBNCES 



to shed his skin again. Prior to this time his future 

 rattle had been represented by a tiny black knob at 

 the tip of his tail. "When Eattles was excited he 

 vigorously shook his tail, and the little button became 

 blurred in rapid motion, but produced no sound. 

 Then, as he prepared to shed his skin, a new joint 

 developed at the base of the button. When Eattles 



Fig. 78. — Eattlesnake. 



crawled out of his old clothes he uncovered this new 

 ring, which had been growing under the skin ; it soon 

 grew dry and brittle, and the " button," fitting to it 

 loosely, produced a faint, buzzing sound when shaken. 

 From tiny mice, Eattles had graduated to mice of 

 good size, for which young rats were soon substituted. 



