8 THE LAND-MARKS OF 



withered. Doubtless, be how it will, they are very • 

 venomous." Nevertheless, this snake no more 

 poisons with its tail than does the rattlesnake. 

 Mr. Lawson's work was dedicated, " To His Ex- 

 cellency, William Lord Craven, Palatine; the Most 

 Noble Henry, Duke of Beaufort; the Right 

 Houourable John Lord Carteret, and the rest of 

 the True and Absolute Lords, Proprietors of the 

 Province of Carolina in America. As a debt of 

 gratitude, the sheets were laid at their Lordships' 

 feet, having nothing to recommendthembuttruth, 

 a gift which every author may be master of if 



Rattle of the ° ^ "'_ ■' _ 



rattlesnake, jje will." I have in my possession a rattlesnake's 

 rattle, which was sent to me by Dr. Mitchell ; it 

 is a fair specimen, about two inches long, and 

 when shaken makes a noise similar to that made 

 by the shaking of a " dry bean-pod." When I 

 showed this to a friend, he exclaimed, " What, 

 is that all ! I thought the thing made a noise 

 like a policeman's rattle ;" and so, I imagine, do 

 many of my readers. A very fine specimen of 

 a rattle is figured in Miss Hopley's work. As 



rattlesnake, regards the habits of snakes Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, 

 the distinguished American physician and phy- 

 siologist, tells us that he had an opportunity of 

 observing the habits of the Crotalus durissus 



