The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1890-10-23

considerable size, their jaws possess relatively
great strength and tho number of their rattles
is very variable. At all times the warning
sound is but faint. and as this serpent assimiates
in color to the withered grass and dead leaves
among which it hunts for the field mice that
form its principal prey, people frequently tread
upon it, without having been made aware OF its
proximity,
BEFORE BEING BITTEN.
Crotalophorus, moreover is fond of summing
itself on teled timber, fallen trees and stumps,
where tie pepper and salt gray" of its ground
color, relieved by row of brown spots along
the spine, together with double series of
darker ones on the body, affords little contrast
with the bark on which it lies. In this way
many persons have been struck in the act of
sitting down upon ground rattlesnakes. There
is n general, but entirely erroneous, opinion to
the effect that in this species the venom is
more powerful than that secreted by larger
serpents of the same kind.
Whether there be ono or many species of
true crotalus in North America need not be
discussed here. Once its specific forms or vari-
cites were much larger and more numerous
than ut present. There seems to be little doubt
that snakes greatly superior in size to those now
found formerly aboundcd. Rattesnakes fly
before the advance of civilized man." and ono
over four and a half feet long is now seldom
seen. Hogs are their greatest enemies, and it is
principally TO these animals that we owe their
decrease in numbers. Unlike ground rattle
axes, fully grown crotali are sluggish and in
active. They very rarely attack without provo
cation. aud will often allow persons to pass un-
molested within few feet of them. In this
reptile the body is thick and clumsy and the
tail is short and blunt" It's head is large, broad
and triangular (all venOmous serpents have
triangular heads), and the skull is generally
flatteued throughout. On top 10 is protected
by scales similar to those which cover the back,
but on the sides these give place to large plates.
Rabbits squirrels, rats, birds, etc, are preyed
upon by Cr0taidw. to all of whose divisions the
preceding statements about their structure and
habits apply. They lie in wait for game, and
never pursue an animal who has evadcd their
first attack.
1t is not with regard to their markings and
dimensions that naturaists classify varieties
of CrotaldR so much as in respect to the pecu-
liar character and arrangement of their scales
and plates. Tho subject is very complicated
and technical, and il is enough to say that in
what is called tho banded rattlesnake," the
most widely distributed variety in North
America, plates cover the head only in front,
while the crown and back are thickly set with
minute scales. In Uropsophus durissus, the com
mon rattlesnake, the neck which Is consider
ably contracted, presents n covering Of
CARINATED SCALES
larger than those seen on the head while the
thick frame is clothed with broad plates below,
and rough carinated, rhombo'dal scales above.
This serpent's neck and tho upper part of its
bod is of pale ash color. IL has yellow dorsal
streak three scales wide, and the back is also
marked with triple series of dark. irregular
blotches and bars. Below the tint is reddish
yellow, aud the abdomen Is thickly sprinkled
with minute dark spots