317 



CROTALUS. RATTLE-SNAKE, 



Generic Character. 



Scuta abdominalia. Scuta on the abdomen. 



Scuta Squamaque subcaudales . Scuta and S quanta beneath the 



tail. 



CrepitaculumtexmimlQ caudse. Rattle terminating the tail. 



BANDED RATTLE-SNAKE. 



Crotalus Horridus. C. fusco-flavescens, fasciis transversis nigri- 

 cantibus. 



Yellowish-brown Rattle-Snake, with blackish transverse bands. 

 Crotalus horridus. lAn. Syst. Nat. p. 372. 

 Vipera caudisona Ameiicana. Catesb. Car. 2* t. 4:1, 

 Abdominal scuta l67, subcaudal 23. 



JL HE genus Crotalus, or Rattle-Snake, affords 

 the most signal examples of the powerfully de- 

 structive poison with which some of the serpent 

 tribe are furnished ; instances having frequently 

 occurred in which the bite of these snakes has 

 proved fatal to mankind in the space even of a 

 very few minutes. 



Till the discovery of the Western Hemisphere 

 the knowledge of these serpents was concealed 

 from the rest of the world, and philosophers then 

 first beheld with amazement a reptile of the most 



