POISONOUS SNAKES. 499 
The Salenoglyph poisonous snakes may always be recog- 
nized by their broad, flattened heads, and usually short thick 
bodies. The poison gland of the rattlesnake (Fig. 442, a) is 
a modified salivary gland. The two fangs are modifications 
of maxillary teeth, each of which has been, so to speak, 
pressed flat, with the edges bent towards each other, and 
soldered together, so as to form a hollow cylinder open at 
both ends, the poison duct leading into the basal opening. 
When the fangs strike into the flesh, the muscles closing 
the jaws press upon the poison gland, forcing the poison 
into the wound. The poison-fangs are largest in the most 
deadly species, as : 
the viper ( Vipera), 
the puff adder 
(Clotho), the rat- 
tlesnake, and fer- 
de-lance (T'rigono- 
cephalus), but are 
small in the asps 
or hooded snakes 
(Naja). The bite 
of the rattlesnake 
is intensely painful; 
it ig best cured by Erg ttl. ent of fhe msteramios oa. pole gent 
sucking, freely lan- posterior tempera muscle : I digaatrio4a ¢ te etna, 
fe pterygoid muscle ; 4, middle temporal muscle ; g, arti- 
cing, and by cauter- culo-maxillary ligament which joins the aponeurotic 
ee capsule of the poison gland; 1, the cervical angular’ 
1Z1ng the wound, muscle ; ¢, vertebro-mandibular muscle ; u, costo- mate 
and drinking lar Ze dibular muscle.—After Duvernoy. 
quantities (at least a pint) of whiskey or brandy, sufficient. 
ordinarily to produce insensibility. Deaths from the bite of 
rattlesnakes are not common, while in India it is éstimated 
that several thousand people annually die from the bite of 
the cobra—20,000 dying each year from the bite of snakes: 
and the attacks of wild beasts. The ‘“‘rattle” of the rattle- 
snake is a horny appendage formed of buttonlike compart- 
ments ; the sound made by the rattle, which has been com- 
pared by some to the stridulation of a Carolina locust, or of 
the Cicada, is an alarm note, warning the intruder ; the rat- 
tle is sprung before the snake strikes. Allied to this snake 
