1853.] 419 
that many names and synonyms which have been given to C. dryinas will also 
be common to C. durissus. The name of adamantews must be changed to 
that of terrificus, as this last has the priority in date by thirty years. Others 
may think otherwise but 
Rumpat et serpens iter institutum, 
Si per obliquum similis sagitta 
Terruit mannos. 
A few words concerning the habits of these serpents. Their vaunted gene- 
rosity in giving warning to those who approach them, is a ridiculous fable ; in 
most cases they inflict their deadly wounds without sounding an alarm, and show 
themselves extremely vicious by making unprovoked attacks upon every thing 
that comes within their reach. With regard to their venom and the many anti- 
dotes which at different times have been pronounced infallible, I can safely de- 
clare that, in no instance where the fang has entered the body so as to penetrate 
one of the larger veins, has arecovery been known. Inevitable death is the 
consequence. ‘hey tell us that they cannot hurt deer or swine; the reason 
is obvious ; the first has long legs with scarcely any muscular substance on them, 
and therefore no veins of any size; and in the case of the other, no snake’s fang 
is long enough to pass through the skin and fat so as to meet a part obnoxious to 
the poison. I should have observed before, that a complete solution of the blood 
in the whole body is the immediate cause of death from the bite of a Crotalus. 
Palisot de Beauvois, in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 
has said, that these snakes have no fetid odor emanating from them; that in the 
presence of any number of them, no disagreeable smell is perceptible. On the 
contrary, I know from repeated experience, that their vicinity may generally be 
discovered by the fetor which they exhale, and that it is so strong when proceed- 
ing from one that is enraged, as to occasion a considerable degree of sickness of 
some hours duration. Most snakes emit a smell by no means pleasant; this has 
always been known, and is stronger and more deleterious in those which are 
venomous than in those which are not. Martial, in one of his epigrams, says: 
Quod vulpes fuga, vipere cubile 
Mallem quam quod oles olere Bassa. 
There is another fact connected with these snakes as well as many others, 
which has been the subject of much discussion. I allude to what has been called 
the power of charming smaller animals upon which they prey. This has been 
attributed to some secret fascinating power in the serpent. It has also been 
attributed to the fright experienced at the sight of so formidable an enemy. If 
it be said that the bird or the squirrel, in this predicament, fixedly gazed upon by 
the terrible eyes of the serpent, could easily make its escape, the answer is, that 
the unaccountable behaviour of the poor victim arises from its anxiety for its 
young. ‘The only instances in which I have seen snakes endeavoring to get pos- 
session of birds, was ata time of the year when they had no young totake care of. 
Squirrels generally have their nests on such lofty trees in our forests, that it is 
very doubtful whether a snake’s range of vision could reach so far, therefore, it 
must be something more than fear which can bring a squirrel down from his se- 
eure habitation, one hundred or one hundred and fifty feet from the ground, to 
become the easy and unresisting prey of a serpent. If he should be surprised on 
the ground, what prevents him from ascending the next tree and soon losing him- 
self among the foliage of those which are in the neighborhood. I do not attempt 
to explain the thing, but call the attention of the reader of these observations to 
the behaviour of cats to birds, and of cats and dogs to men when they wish to 
obtain any thing from them. If there is any fascination in the steadfast gaze of 
the.eyes, they attempt to employ it upon us. 
It may not be out of the way at the end of these lines, to correct an error 
which is now current among naruralists, which is, that the fangs in the genus 
Elaps are always and permanently perpendicular, and not laid back as in other 
venomous serpents. This is not the case. Upon examining fresh killed speci- 
-mens, I find them placed exactly as they are in a rattlesnake, and erected in fhe 
same way when they wish to bite, that is by throwing back a part of the upper 
