REPTILES. 



391 



from its fang, to his tongue. " But I do not think,*' 

 says he, " I shall venture to repeat the experiment. I 

 did not find the venoip insipid, as the abbe Fontana 

 and his servant did that of the viper. It had, on the 

 contrary, a peculiarly pungent taste, and left, for a 

 considerable time, a pretty strong sense of heat upon 

 ray tongue and fauces. I have found that its powers 

 of digestion are very strong. Even the b6ny fabric 

 of the animals which it devours is completely di- 

 gested, or reduced to the state of fluid mortar. 



Great, however, as is the faculty of digestion in 

 this reptile, it is capable of living a long time with- 

 out any food, unless, perhaps a small quantity of 

 water. One lived without having ate one grain of 

 any solid food, from the 28th of April to about the 

 9th of March following. It then died; but upon ex- 

 amining it, I found it very fat.*'' 



This fact shews that this horrid reptile is exceed- 

 ingly tenacious of life. Mr. Peale of Philadel- 

 phia, has also repeatedly verified this observation 

 in the snakes which he has kept in his extensive 

 Museum. It is commonly supposed that the number 

 of its rattles is proportioned to the age of the animal, 

 and that it acquires one rattle for every year: this 

 however is a mistake ; the same gentleman found 

 that they acquire two or three bells in one year* 

 Dr. Barton also says, that upon dissecting a female 

 rattlesnake, several young ones were found, and that 

 in more than sixty instances, three bells could be 

 plainly discerned upon the fcetal snake. 



The venom of the rattle-snake is of a clear and 

 U'ansparent yellow colour. It is contained in a blad^ 

 • Letter to Lacepcdie, ' 



