The Golondrina Plant. 191 



After observing the rapid locomotion of a particularly long indi- 

 vidual one da\% I considered discretion the better part of valor when 

 it turned upon me and showed fight, especially as I chanced to have 

 no weapon at hand. 



On the Colorado desert the rattlesnake closely imitates the 

 color of the sand that surrounds it. The larger one resembles the 

 diamond-back in its markings and is the species known as Crotalus 

 pyrrhus. 



The desert region possesses a smaller species (Crotalus cerastes) 

 scarcely a foot in length, white as the sands beneath it, as pug- 

 nacious as a terrier among rats, by no means sluggish in the hot 

 sun, but inclined to honorable warfare by giving warning to its 

 approaching enemy. One evening the operator at a station on the 

 Southern Pacific railway stepped into his office with slippers on his 

 feet and quickh- stepped out again as he felt and heard one of these 

 reptiles under his foot. The sand-viper, or side-winder, as these 

 diminutive snakes are called by their acquaintances, kept his tail 

 employed in a lively manner until the young man put on his boots, 

 struck a light and dispatched him. On the Mojave desert this snake 

 is exceeding^ abundant in some localities. Their nocturnal habits 

 render them especially dangerous where they abound. All the other 

 rattlers, I believe, travel only in the daytime as a rule, when, if one 

 is on the lookout, he can generally avoid unpleasant experiences 

 with them. 



Dr. S. Wier Mitchell, of Philadelphia, who has made a special 

 study of venemous serpents, and has studied our rattlesnakes espe- 

 cially, claims there is no sure cure known for the virus of a rattle- 

 snake. There is a popular article in the Century Magazine (Vol. 

 38, pp. 513-514) by this author. I will copy a few sentences. 



'When a man or an animal is bitten by a rattlesnake death 

 may take place in a few minutes. It has followed in man within a 

 minute, but unless the dose given is enormous, or by chance enters a 

 vein, this is very unlikely. The bite is, however, popularly believed 

 to be mortal, and therefore every case of recovery gives credit 

 to some remedy, for it is a maxim with physicians that the in- 

 curable and easily relievable maladies are those which have the 

 most remedies assigned to them. * * '* The deadly apothecary 

 does not succumb to his own drugs. * * * We have never 

 been able to poison plants with snake venom. * * * It is 

 possible to feed a pigeon on crotalus (rattlesnake) venom day after 

 day and see it live unhurt. * * *• A bite in the extremities rarely 

 causes death.' 



From the above it will be seen that the bite of the rattlesnake is 



