212 The Massasauga and tts Habits. [March 
them, we may discover that He who “spake with authority” also 
spake as having knowledge of nature when He used the words, 
“as wise as a serpent.” 
At present far too little is known concerning the life-history 
of the great majority of our snakes. Of the breeding habits of 
many species and large groups of species we know little or nothing, 
and it is to be desired therefore that accurate observations should 
be made and reported. I hope in this paper to contribute some- 
thing to the knowledge of the Prairie Rattlesnake, or Massasauga 
(Caudisona tergemina). 
This venomous serpent ranges from Ohio to Utah. Towards 
the north it extends into Michigan, Wisconsin, and to the Yellow- 
stone River. It has also been found in Georgia and in Missis- 
sippi ; but it appears to be replaced in the greater part of the South 
by Caudisona miliaria. Its general color above is from gray to 
brown, with seven rows of dark spots which have a light margin. 
The belly is mottled with black and yellowish. In Ohio and 
some parts of Indiana black specimens are sometimes found, and 
to these the name “ Black Massasauga” has been given. Speci- 
mens of these were described by Holbrook as Crotalophorus kirt- 
landu in honor of Dr. J. P. Kirtland, their discoverer. Professor 
S. F. Baird also regarded this form as a distinct species; but of 
late herpetologists are not inclined to consider it as worthy of 
even varietal distinction. That the spotted form is ever found 
in wooded lands I do not know; but the black form, both in 
Ohio and Indiana, lives in swampy lands which are overgrown 
with brush, weeds, Sees coarse grass, and not on the open 
prairies. 
Some of Dr. Kirtland’s statements concerning the Black Mas- 
sasauga are, I think, to be taken with some grains of allow- 
ance. With reference to its bite he has, it appears, asserted that 
its virulence is scarcely greater than that of the sting of a hornet. 
There are probably no differences, as respects virulence, between 
this snake and the more common pale and spotted form living on 
the open prairies, and where the latter is best known it is much 
feared ; and certainly the effects of its bite on the large domestic 
animals are very serious. The members of this species are 
probably as poisonous as are individuals of equal size belonging 
-~ to any of the other species; and since specimens of the Mas- 
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