498 Reptiles. 
THE RATTLE-SNAKE, (Crotalus horridus,) 
Is a native of the New World, and grows to five or six, 
and sometimes to eight feet in length, and is nearly as 
thick as a man's leg. It is not unlike the viper, having 
a large head and small neck, and inflicting a very dan- 
gerous wound. Over each eye is a large pendulous 
scale, the use of which has not yet been ascertained ; the 
body is scaly and hard, variegated with several different 
colours. The principal characteristic of this justly 
dreaded serpent is the rattle, a kind of instrument re- 
sembling the curb-chain of a bridle, at the extremity of the 
tail; it is formed of thin, hard, hollow bones, linked 
together, and rattling on the least motion. When dis- 
turbed, the creature shakes this rattle with considerable 
noise and rapidity, striking terror into all the smaller 
animals, which are afraid of the destructive venom that 
this serpent communicates to the wounded limb with his 
bite. The wound the Rattle-snake inflicts, through the 
uncommon sharpness and rapid fluency of the poison, 
generally terminates the torment and life of the unhappy 
victim in the course of six or seven hours. 
A snake of this kind exhibited in London at a mena- 
gerie of foreign animals, in the year 1810, wounded a 
carpenter's hand, who was repairing its cage, and seeking 
for his rule. The man suffered the most excruciating 
pain, and his life could not be saved, although medical 
assistance was immediately applied, and every effort 
