12 



of the eye to tte sides of the neck : the inferior yellow margin is the 

 broadest, and passes from the pit close to the angle of the mouth, turning 

 forward to the middle of the lower jaw, enclosing a semi-elliptical brown 

 patch. Two elongated yellowish spots may be observed, diverging from both 

 sides of the pit to the lip. The cephalic plates are deep chestnut-brown : a 

 transverse light brown band extends across the head from one orbit to the 

 other. 

 Beneath blackish brown, mixed with yellow. 



This species of rattlesnake has recently been added to the fauna of New- 

 York, in a communication by Mr. John Gebhard, the able (/urator of the 

 State Cabinet, in the Sixth Report of the State Cabinet, as follows : 



" The specimen in the State Cabinet was presented by the Hon. Levi 

 FiSK of the town of Byron, Genesee county, N.Y. Their habitat is a white- 

 cedar swamp in said town, containing an area of about one thousand acres. 

 During the summer season they leave the swamp, and go into the adjoining, 

 fields of grain, where they remain till autumn, when they return to the swamp 

 and hibernate. They have not been observed at any other locality in this 

 State. The entire length of the specimen is two feet : it has 139 abdominal 

 plates, and 23 entire and 3 bifid under the tail, upon which there are only 

 three rattles remaining. Mr. FisK states that one was killed last summer, 

 that had fourteen rattles, and was a little over two feet in length ; which 

 may be considered as the maximum size of the species " ( p. 22). 



Crotalophorus tergeminus appears to be quite a northern species ; oc- 

 curring also in Northern Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, and 

 on the plains probably to the base of the Rooky Mountains. In the south it 

 is replaced by C. miliarius ; and in Texas and Mexico, by the closely allied 

 C. consors and edwardsli. On the plains it is a frequent associate of the 

 burrowing owl {Athene hypogcea) in the holes of the praiiie dog, although 

 other species of rattlesnakes have the same habit. 



Its powers of injury are considerably less than those of the Crotalus 

 durissus, being rarely sufficient to produce death in large animals. It is 

 generally found in dry ridges of the prairies ; being distinguished in this 

 from the black massassauga, or Crotalophorus massasauga, Kirtland 

 ( C. kirtlandii. Hole.), which usually inhabits the swampy groimds of 

 Northern Ohio. This latter species may be looked for, at some time or other, 

 in the western part of the State. 



