30 TiMEHRl. 
velopment of the peculiarities of this appendage, is how- 
ever unnecessary here, since in Vol.V. New Series, 1891, 
of this Journal, the matter has been already dealt with ; 
but it may be as well to point out that the popular idea 
that a new ring is added each year, and that therefore the 
number of rings give the age of the snake, is quite a 
mistaken one. Young rattlers are observed to exuviate 
on an average about every two months, and adults at 
times varying from three to five months under normally 
healthy conditions. Moreover the rings observed on a 
rattle vary entirely according to the number of pieces 
which have been broken away by damage from conta6l 
with sticks, stones and other such obje6ls. The older 
and more delicate pieces invariably get broken off, and 
those that remain represent only the harder and denser 
pieces which have been added during the most recent 
exuviations. The number present therefore is purely 
accidental. 
As already mentioned, this is the commonest of the 
venomous snakes in the cleared or savannah lands. They 
will be found occasionally in cultivated fields, under or 
in the houses of the settlements, or along the paths, and 
are more frequently met with in open sandy and rocky 
ridges and wastes than in the a6lual swamps. Open 
lands with low scattered bushes are much more preferred 
than high forest, where they are seldom it ever met with. 
The species is much less secluded in its habits than 
the generality of serpents, and will be more fre- 
quently observed in exposed places in the day time than 
other forms, though the greater part of its a6livity is 
exercised at night, as is customary in the group, As a 
isL^, much of the security ot man as against snake-bite is 
