AMPHIBIA. 



so singular, that no description or even delineation of it 

 ■will be found ^adequate to explain its structure compleatly, 

 without perhaps an examination. At the end of the body 

 of the Snake, there is fixed a membraneous appendage 

 which may be called not improperly, the Radix or Root 

 of the Rattle, it is flattish in shape as if compressed; 

 and upon this are placed ten or twelve horny rings or 

 circles, which are connected loosely, and on the motion 

 of the animal rattle against each other, the sound much 

 resembling that of a pCrsom playing a game with dice. 

 The circular rings have a strong hold upon each by means 

 of a tightened collar, so that they may recede or be com- 

 pressed upon each other, by any mo* ion of the tail; 

 and to this impulse the noise is always owing. 



As the Rattlesnake changes his skin every year, it 

 is supposed there is a fresh growth in the joints of the 

 tail, and which varies according to the age of the animal. 

 We shall finish our account of this extraordinary Rep- 

 tile, by a concluding reflection, upon the wisdom and 

 goodness of the great Creator, who has not left mankind, 

 and other creatures, subjected to the danger of its deadly 

 bite, without a means of alarm so well calculated to 

 enable them to avoid and escape the evil. This vengeful 

 animal is also very much confined in it's province and 

 range, there being no authority to justify us in supposing, 

 that they are ever found in the Eastern parts of the globe ; 

 they remain confined to the hotter regions of the Westers 

 Hemisphere. 



From a fine living Specimen in Mr. Kendrick's Mena* 

 garie, Piccadilly ', London. 



