Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1891-07-31
THE "RATTLER."
FACTS ABOUT y SLUGGISH BUT
DANGEROUS REPTILE.
It Cannot Charm Other Creatures
Description of Its Rattlcs-rhc
Peculiar Mechanism OF
It's Mouth.

though there are a good many varieties
fact which makes them difficult to dc
fine. The kind most common cas-. O
the Mississippi is, believe, popularl,
known rs the " banded rattlesnakc" anC
ranges at least from Maine to Texas
At one time 1t was very common in east
crn Massachusetts, where it is now.
happily, very rare indeed, and only com
mon in thinly inlIabitatcd districts oil
more Southern and Western States. II
varies good deal in color, and may bo
mainly brownish, yellowish, or blackish,
while series of dark spots, frequently
edged with yellow and of very variable
shape, run along the buck and sides.
The head is very large, much flattcncd
and triangular in shape, the exterior
angle being rounded. One very notice
able feature is deep pit which is plac I'd
between the eye and the nostrils ON
either side of the head The use of this
structure remains unknown. The snake
often attains a large size, that is, five
feet in length. 1t feeds on rabbits,
squirrels, rats, etc, and is for the most
part slow and sluggish, waiting quietly
until some suitable prey approaches it.
The notion formerly entertained that the
rattlesnakc can charm or fascinntc the
creatures is mere superstition, now
quite exploded. But its sluggishncss
makes it dangerous, rs it mny be unknow-
ingly stepped upon. Yet it never
attacks spontaneously, or pursucs q re-
treating enemy.
The structure from which the animal
takes its namc-thc "rattle"--consists
mainly of three or more solid horny
rings placed ut the end o. the tail. These
rings themselves are mere notifications
of the genera: skin of the body, but the
'rattle" has a more serious and solid
foundation. From three to eight of its
terminal segmcnts Tor vcrtcbr;r) become
united together into one solid whole,
and also become enlarged in size and
specially modified in forming, being
swollen at the hinder end. This bony
structure is covered with special devcl-
opmcnt of the soft deeper skin from
from which all the outer skin and scales
OF the body are formed, the soft struc-
ture being so subdivided by grooves rs
to form three segmcnts, which diminish
IN size from the nape backward. These
three scSmcnts coat themselves with
three corresponding dense layers of outer
skin, or, as it is technically called, "cpi-
dermis, thus forming three horny rings.
These constitute all the rattle there is in
young snakes which have not vet shed
their skin. Snakes and men shed their
skin differently. In us the outer skin is
thrown oil i'll very minute separate por-
lions, SO that 1t is not ordinarily noticed.
In snakes all the skin is shed mt once as
one continuous wholc-even the skin of
the eycualls being shed with the rest, and
thus snakes get little blind during the
process of its detachment. When the first
moult in rattlcsnakcs draws near fresh
skin is formed beneath the old covering
OF the hinder end of the tail, and when
the moult actually takes place the old
covering of the tail end is not cast oil
(hcing held by the swollen end of the
bone before noted), but remains rs Il
loose appendagc, leaving the first formed
JOINT OF the future perfect rattle. The
rattle, in fact, grows perfect by the &C
cuuulation OF rings in this manner, one
thus being made loose aud yet retained,
ut each succeeding moult, while more
than one moult takes place in each year.
Thus the rattle ultimately consists of II
number of dry, hard. more or less loose,
horny rings. The older of these wear
away in time and are lost, but l have nv.
self nevertheless seen snake with as
many as twenty-onc rafting rings.
II is the shaking of these rings by 4
violent and rapid wagging of the end of
the tail that produces the noted sound
sound which may be compared to the
rafting OF peas i'll paper bag by very
quick shaking. But this habit of shak
ing rapidly the end of the tail is by no
means peculiar to the -attesnakc. 1t
occurs in many other species of serpents
but venomous and harmless ones. 1t is
probably natural and spontaneous re-
suit oil emotional excitement, like the
wagSing OF dogs tail. Any nervous
excitement tends to produce some bodily
movement, and naturally results in the
motion OF any part most easily moved
ms the end of the tail whenever q due
supply OF muscle exists to produce it.
Inc meaning or use OF the rattle is a
problem still awaiting solution. 1t has
been supposed TO be useful rs paralyzing
to animals, through terror excited by the
sound, or to excite the curiosity Of other
animals and so bring them within its
reach; or to serve as means for en-
abling the sexes to find each other; or to
save it from attack when its power Of
offence temporarily has been exhausted.
But no sufficient evidence known to us
lends adequate support to any of these
ingenious speculations.
The deadly bite of the rattlesnake is
effected by means of very ingenious
and simple mechanism. need hardly, I
think, guard any of my readers acains;
the popular error that the rapidly Vi
brating cleft tongue of the creature, so
often protruding from the front of its
muzzle, is its sting the rattlcsnake
poisons by biting, and the only practical
sting it possesses consists of n pair of De-
culiarly modified teeth The lower law
is furnished On either side with series
OF small sim nlp- nointnd tootb ,,,1 49,.