CROTALUS. 
from the sca-scuivy; it may not be unac- 
ceptable to give a concise account of the 
process for making it, according to the in- 
formation communicated by an ingenious 
German gentleman. The soundest and 
most solid cabbages are selected for this 
use, and cut very small, commonly w ith an 
instrument made for this purpose, not un- 
like the plane whicih is used in this country 
for slicing cucumbers. A knife- is used 
when the preparation is made with great 
nicety. The cabbage thus minced is put 
into a barrel in layers, liand high, and over 
each is strewed a handful of salt and carra- 
way seeds ; in this manner it is rammed 
down with a rammer, stratum super stratum, 
till the barrel be full ; when a cover is put 
over it and pressed down with a heavy 
weight. After standing sometime in this 
state it begins to ferment ; and it is not till 
the fermentation has entirely subsided that 
the head is fitted to it, and the barrel is 
finally shut up and preserved for use. 
CROTALUS, the rattlesnake, in natural 
liistory, a genus of Amphibia, of the order 
Serpentes. Generic character ; scuta on 
the abdomen ; scuta and scales beneath the 
tail; rattle at the end of the tail. There 
are five species. The C. horridus, or banded 
rattle-snake, inhabits Carolina in North 
America, and is from three to five feet in 
length, of a yellowish brown colour. The 
rattle is fixed at the end of the tail, and is 
composed of dry and hollow bones, nearly 
of the same form and size. The tip of 
every bone superior to the two last, passes 
within the two immediately beneath it, thus 
producing a firm coherence, and also an in- 
crease of noise, as during the sounding of 
tire rattle each bone strikes against two 
others. The object of tliis curious instru- 
ment has not a little perplexed naturalists, 
and some have considered it designed to 
warn other animals of their danger, while 
others have regarded it as intended, indeed, 
to sound the alarm of peril, but such an 
alarm as is followed by consternation, under 
which the affrighted victims experience a 
prostration of all its faculties, and is bereav- 
ed at once of intelligence and motion. 
These animals were supposed to possess the 
power of charming others, or of operating 
upon tliem by some ineffable power, to in- 
duce them to drop from their stations into 
the very mouth of the destroyer. This 
opinion, long prevailing, but now exploded, 
not unnaturally arose from the circumstance 
just mentioned. The appearance of the 
rattle-snake to these creatures, who instantly 
VOL. II. 
recognize it for their mortal enemy, and- 
the sound of that instrument, which is as it 
were the signal of execution, impresses 
them occasionally with a degree of terror, 
which withers alt the energies of their 
frame, and relaxing their hold on the 
branches of trees, causes them to drop al- 
most lifeless into the mouth of their adver- 
sary. These animals have been known to 
enter houses in America, and even to insi- 
nuate themselves into beds. They move 
with great slowness; and with respect to 
all other animals but those which they sub- 
sist on, never inflict any injury but in reta- 
liation, wounding on provocation and not in 
aggression. Their bite is not only poison- 
ous, but rapidly fatal, and has been known 
to kill a man in tw o minutes. When the 
bite is received in a fleshy part, the Indians 
apply the knife with all possible speed. In 
slight cases they have recourse to various 
roots; and in some cases they suck the 
wound: but when a principal vein or ar- 
tery is penetrated, with the animal’s full 
strength, they abandon their case as hope- 
less, and apply no remedy whatever. In 
the territories of America, but thinly inha- 
bited, rattle-snakes are abundant ; but in 
others they are almost exterminated. They 
are seldom seen farther north tlian Lake 
Champlain, or south than Brazil. They are 
extremely fond of frogs, and are found ge- 
nerally where these are most to be met 
with. In summer they are generally seen in 
pairs ; in winter they are gregarious, and 
secure themselves from the rigours of the 
season by withdrawing deeply in the earth, 
whence a fine day sometimes induces them 
to appear, but in a state of great weakness, 
in which they may be attacked without 
danger, and in which a single person has 
sometimes destroyed with a stick several 
score in a single morning. The largest ever 
seen by Catesby, who, while in Carolina, 
paid particular attention to them, was about 
eight feet long, and nearly nine pounds in 
weight. It is mentioned by Dr. Shaw, from 
Bouvais, that this snake, which is viviparous, 
possesses the mode of securing its young 
ascribed to the European viper, of swallow- 
ing them during the period of danger, and 
disgorging them after it is over. Mr. Bou- 
vais having inadvertently molested a rattle- 
snake in his wglk, saw the animal instantly 
coil itself up, and distend its jaws, into 
which five young ones rushed with great 
rapidity. He watched it for about a quar- 
ter of an liour, at the end of which time he 
saw tiiem thrown up. To remove the pos- 
E e 
