368 



ZOOLOGY 



States, and gives no warning noise as does the rattlesnake. 

 Tiie copperhead of the eastern half of the United States is also 

 dangerous, but is mostly confined to wooded, mountainous 

 regions. The rattlesnake was once conmaon over the whole 



Fig. 



34S. — Florida crocodile. (Courtesy of the New York Zoological 

 Park.) 



of the Northern States as far west as the Rock)' Mountains, 

 but it is now nearly exterminated in well-settled districts. 

 Related to these are the venomous vijiers of Europe. 



The order of crocodiles, or Crocodilina, contains only 

 some twenty living species, distributed in three genera. 

 The gavial is the crocodile of the Ganges River. It captures 

 even large mammals and man. The crocodile in the strict 

 sense is found in the Nile and other African rivers, in certain 



