OUR ANCIENT ENEMY THE OPHIDIA.N. 



67 



yellow beneath, blotched ; contracted neck ; carinated 

 (keeled) dorsal scales in twenty-three to twenty-five 

 rows. The fangs recline against the roof of the 

 mouth protected by an elastic membrane. They are 

 the only teeth on the maxillaries. These fangs when 

 broken off or re- 

 moved are re- 

 placed by oth- 

 ers. The ven- 

 om may or may 

 not be ejected 

 by the serpent.* 

 Like the skunk, 

 the creature is 

 chary about dis- 

 pensing what he seems to consider a valuable product 

 not to be wasted on any account. The snake can only 

 strike a distance equal to half the length of his body, 

 and he is by no means aggressive, as the passer-by is 

 unmolested if he does not begin hostilities. The 

 snake need not necessarily be coiled to strike, either. 

 He win throw himself right or left as far as the posi- 

 tion of his body allows him to reach. The noise of 

 the rattle is extremely like a rapid stridulation of the 

 cone-headed grasshopper {Conocephalus ensiger), with 



The rattlesnake coiled to strike : showing the flat- 

 tening of the body against the ground. 



* Samuel Garman. 



