4 B. NATURAL HISTORY. 



In Browne's "Vulgar Errors" may be found the following ac- 

 count of the Viper: — "For the young ones will upon any fright 

 for protection run into the belly of the Dam ; for then the old one 

 receives them in at her mouth, which way, the fright being past, 

 they will returne againe ; which is a peculiar way of refuge, and 

 though it seems strange is avowed by frequent experience and 

 undeniable testimony."* 



Gilbert White refers to the prevalent belief in this habit of the 

 viper, and though rather inclined to favor it, he is evidently shaken 

 in his faith by the adverse testimony of the London viper-catch- 

 ers, f 



M. Palisot de Beauvois, an eminent French naturalist, published 

 in 1802 some very important observations on the rattlesnake, 

 which will be quoted hereafter. 



S. John Dunn Hunter, an early traveller in the United States, 

 says: — "When alarmed, the j'oung rattlesnakes, which are gen- 

 erally eight or ten in number, retreat into the mouth of the parent 

 and reappear on its giving a contractile muscular token that the 

 danger is past. "J A few years later a long discussion occurred 

 in the " Gardener's Chronicle" which, however, reached no satis- 

 factory conclusion. 



In a note to the eighth edition of "Selborne," Sir William 

 Jardine says: — "The question remains, we believe nearly as it 

 did in White's time. The supposed habit is so much at variance 

 with what we know of the general manners and instincts of 

 animals, that without undoubted proof of its occurrence we are 

 inclined to consider it as a popular delusion. "§ 



In 1865 Mr. M. C. Cooke, editor of " Science Gossip," made a 

 strong argument in the affirmative. || 



Mr. F. W. Putnam published in the year 1869^[ a very thorough 



* " Pseudodoxia Epidemica: or. Enquiries into very many received Tenents aifd 

 commonly presumed Truths. By Thomas Browne, Dr. of Phy6ick." London, 1646, 

 p. 143. 



t" TheXatural History of Selborne." 1789. Series 1. letter xvii; Scries 2, letter xxxi. 



X " Memoirs of a Captivity among the Indians of North America," London, 1823, p. 

 170; and " North American Review," 1826. pp. 54, 95-107. 



§ " Natural History of Selborne." London, 1853, p. 58. 



|| "Our Reptiles," London. 1865, p. 58. 



IT •' American Naturalist." vol. ii. p. 173. To this article, which first interested me in 

 the subject, I owe many valuable suggestions. I am also indebted to Prof. 

 Baird. to Prof. Theo. Gill, to Prof. W. N. Rice of Middletown and to Mr. James Simson 

 of New York, who have caUed my attention to facts which would otherwise have es- 

 caped my notice. 

 (177) 



