54 CROTALUS DURISSUS. 



XI. 

 CROTALUS DURISSUS. 



Lozenge- Spotted Rat tie- Snake. 



Class and Order Amphibia Serpentes, Lin. Order 

 Ophidia. Family Serpentes, Cuv. 



Gen. Char. — Head broad, triangular, and flattened ; 

 with a hollow behind the nostrils. Scales carinated. 

 Shields entire on the belly and under the tail. 

 Upper maxillary bones destitute of common teeth, 

 supporting only the poison fangs on each side. Tail 

 with a rattle, formed of hollow, moveable, and 

 sonorous cups. 



* Scales on the head similar to those on the hack. 



Spec. Char. — Bodybrown,w\t\\ blackish lozenge-shaped 

 spots, bordered with pale yellowish-white on the back ; 

 neck with blackish lines ; belly yellowish-white, 

 and not spotted ; rings of the rattle from 1 to 14, 

 deep brown. 



Caudisona Durissa 5 Lav.renli, Spec. Med. p. 93. Le Durissus ; La Cepede Hist. 

 Nat. des Serpens, p. 423. Tentlacduphitz ; Seta, Mux. 2. t. 9a, f. 2. Crotalus 

 Durissus ; Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmelin, i. 1081 ; Shaw, Zool. iii. t. 89. 



Till the discovery of America the formidable reptiles compre- 

 hended under this genus, celebrated for the danger which accom- 

 panies their bite, and the peculiar appendages to their tail, were 

 unknown to Europeans, and from that period to the present day 

 they have attracted the particular attention of naturalists. For- 

 tunately the species are not very widely distributed, and those are 

 all provided with a rattle, whence they derive their name, the noise 

 of which gives warning of their proximity to those who may acci- 

 dentally come within their haunts. They swarm in the less 

 inhabited parts of the New World, but it has been observed that 

 in proportion as the country is peopled the snakes decrease in 



