The Hijlory of ANIMALS. ioj 
it were with grey j the little fcales with which it is covered being of an oval form, 
but pointed fo fharply, as to be almoft prickly ; and the body of them being green* 
but this tip or point grey. 
It is common to the Eaft Indies, and to the warmer parts of America : there were 
lately feveral of thefe difcovered among fome American timber, brought over for the 
life of our cabinet-makers. 
CROTALOPHORUS. 
f ' H E Crotalophorus has fcuta covering the whole under furface of the body 
and tail: and the extremity of the body is terminated by a kind of rattle, 
formed of a feries of urceolated articulations, which are moveable, and make a noife, 
when fhaken. 
Crotalophorus Jcutis abdominalihus centum et feptuaginta duo , 
caudee viginti uno . 3 Zl)t 
The Crotalophorus , with the fcuta of the abdomen a hundred 11 II cl ft 0 ♦ 
and twenty-two, of the tail twenty-one . 
This is a very terrible, and, at it’s full growth, a very large Serpent: it grows to eight 
feet in length, with a proportionable thicknefs, and, when of this iize, weighs about nine 
pounds: the head is large, broad, depreffed, and of a pale brown: the iris of the 
eye is red ; the back is of a brown colour, with an admixture of a ruddy yellow, and 
is variegated with a great many irregular tranfverfe lifts of a deep black ; the belly is 
of a pale greyifh-blue ; the rattle is of a firm, and, as it were, horny fubftance, and 
brown colour, and is compofed of a number of cells, which are articulated one within 
another : the point of the firft goes to a confiderable depth into the fecond, and fo on 
of all the reft ; and, the articulation being very loofe, thefe included points ftrike 
againft the inner furface of the rings they are admitted into, and make that rattling 
noife, when the creature vibrates or (hakes it’s tail. 
It is too frequent in the woods in the fouthern parts of America, and fometimes, 
though rarely, comes into the huts of the natives, and the houfes of the Europeans 
fettled there: the bite is fatal, but it is eafy to avoid it: the fnake is fluggifh, and moves 
flowly, and never attacks a f man, unlefs provoked ; and, when difturbed or injured, they 
generally give notice, before they bite, by fhaking their rattle : when a large Serpent 
of this kind bites with it’s full force in a flefhy part, death is the confequence in two 
minutes : (lighter bites, and from fmaller rattle-fnakes, are fometimes furvived. The 
colour of this fpecies is not certain or determinate ; it is fometimes deeper, fometimes 
paler, and often has a caft of greenifh, fo as to be a kind of olive : the creature fre¬ 
quently alfo cafts it’s (kin, and always is of a different colour from the ufual one, 
when it firft appears in it’s new one, till the airchanges that to the fame colour with the 
former. 
Crotalophorus fcutis abdominalihus centum et fexaginta 
quinque ? caudce viginti 0EI0. 
The Crotalophorus, with the fcuta of the abdomen a hun- 
dred a 7 id fixty-five, of the tail twenty-eight . 
This is an extreamly beautiful, though very mifchievous, Serpent, it’s bite being no 
lefs fatal than that of the common rattle-fnake, when of the fame fize : it grows to a- 
bout four feet in length, and to an inch and a half in diameter : it’s head is very large, 
broad, and depreffed, and it’s neck fmall and (lender; the opening of the mouth is 
very wide; the body is thickeft about the middle, and from thence grows gradually 
taper again toward the tail, at the extremity of which is placed a rattle exa&ly like 
that of the former fpecies, only fmaller: the general colour of the back of this fpe¬ 
cies is a pale dirty brown, with fome faint admixture of grey; it is variegated in a 
very beautiful manner, with clouds of a dufky reddifh, and with large, irregular 
(pots, of a deep black; the belly is of a deep and gloffy blue. 
