•178 
MISCELLANEOUS WONDERS OV NATHS'* 
n'®' 
probably feel justified in considering them .. , v , 
same species, and entitled to the same name, un" 
close examination of the Great Serpent shall 
some difference of structure, important enough to 
a specific distinction. g 
A postscript contains a communication from ^ ^ Set^t 
stating that, on the 5 th of October, 18J7» ^ 
had been seen in tire Sound. At the distance 
mile fiom the shore, a long, rough, dark-lookinS 
obseiYed, making a rapid progress towards I',, ^ 
against a brisk breeze, and a strong ebb tide, -f j, 
vers were soon convinced that it was a living o"* 
head did not at first appear more elevated obo'’® ^ jiS^, 
than the ridges or humps on his back j but liisV 
afterwards seen, nearly in the middle of the Sottod'^ 
owing to the increased velocity with which ^ el®’ a* 
became more depressed, and his head ’’’y 
He was distinctly seen for about ten minutes, y 
short space it was estimated that his progress 
than six or seven miles. His back, 40 or 
which appeared above the surface of the ' 
irregular, uneven, and deeply indented. Ihe My. 
scription of tlie animal, in t|iis statement, t*g*^®^pidiif ^ 
already given j but it is said that the extreme ® 
which he moved, created a swell not unlike m 
towed rapidly at the stern of a vessel. 
i> 
THE RATTI.ESNAKB. Jy 
The genus ceotalus, or rattlesnake, O 
most signal examples of the powerfully 
with which some of the serpent tribe arefurnis 
having frequently occurred in which the bite o \.o ^ 
has, in the space of a few minutes even, prove 
It was not until the discovery of the of ^ 9. 
that naturalists beheld with amazement a 
fatal nature, furnished, agreeably to their con 
by a peculiar institution of Providence, with jfgjf 
capable, in general, of warning mankind of Ih ^ 
too near an approach. This is, however, trea 
Mead as a vulgar error ; and he very sensibly ^ 
“ all the parts of animals are made either j[S *1 
tion of the individual, or for the propagation 
