The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1899-02-15

AS Impossible Uf eOiuIl0D, COmfOrted
himself with the moral reflection that
it was a providential arrangement to
prevent injury TO innocent animals and
man. Blu the history of evolution is
replete with cases of animals which,
having acquired special advantage US
character, found the same turned
against tn, m on the appearance Of new
enemies, because 1t could not be al
tered to meet new conditions.
"This mystery of the rallle has had |
some queer effects on herpetoloeicsl |
literature. remember that Prof. N. 8.
Shaler many years ago announced that |
the tail appendage Of the rattlesnake
was not TO be explained on the doc
trine of natural selection, inasmuch as
IL could contribute in no way to the adj |
vantage of the animal. But some time
after this positive decision he was wan
deripg in field, where he mistook the
rafting of snake for the sound made
by the locust, and at once the idea was
suggested to him that the purpose of
the noise was 10 decoy insect. eating
birds into the serpent's range by an
imitation of the locust's buZzing.
Thereupon he promptly wrote a trea-
tise on the rattlesnake and natural se-
lection, in which he incorporated the
theory Of the rattle's serving as q food
procurer. Other psychologists who
inclined to Shaler's previous views
made Investigations on the lines of his
new suggestion and discovered a re-
markable similarity Of the rafting
sound 10 that pr, duced by several spe-
cies Of grasshoppers. They, too, were
rather favorably impressed by the the
DRY of the rattle being a decoy, but
| few whose Investigations also embrac-
ed the birds learned that they did not
rely to any extent on their ears in
8. arching for delectable grssshoppers.
Besides, it was soon discovered that
birds are not especially esteemed by
rattlesuakes as dietary article.
Another theory which has many sup
porters to day is that the real function
of the rattle is to assemble the sexes,
and many observations have been put
for ward in support of it. Some obser-
frighten the victim or aggressor and
paralyze his combative energies. But
the theory most commonly accepted,
perhaps, is that the sounding of the rat
tie, instead of imperilling the snake, is
virtually means of self-protection,
and is of the same practical, defensive
use as the roar of the menaced lion.
The ability of the rattler to defend it.
self does not consist in It's size, superior
strength, or the power to prolopg con-
flict, as most of its enemies are far
larger and stronger. Neither does its
poison act quickly enough to assure its
safety when attacked. but the certainty
OF the poison's effect is advantageous in
preventing attack, and is warning
which, enforced by the fierce rattle of
the tail, is liable in majority of in
stances to be effective, according to the
ca culations of the snake.
"Dr Stejneger of the Smithsonian
Institution, who has devoted much
study to the poisonous snakes of this
country, says that of the many eXplana-
tons of the ratle's functions which
have been advanced by American her.
petologists, it seems possible to accept
them all as partially true. The rattle
having been acquired, it appears to him
even probable that the snake uses the
sound for several purposes indicated,
although it is difficult to speculate
which one has chiefly influenced the
evolution of the part. His idea is that
the rattle is a substitute for voice,
and he holds that it is logical to con-
clude that it may be put to all the uses
to which an animal may apply its voice.
"The rattlesnake, however, is not the
only serpent which sounds an alarm,
warning or call on its caudal append
age. Most snakes, when excited,
frightened or angered produce burr
ing or rustling sound by vibrating the
end of the tail among dry leaves or
against other objects, even their own
bodies, which frequently resembles the
rattlesnake's noise, and many harm
less snake has on this account been
mistaken for a rattler and hastily de-
spatched. This fact has often been
used as an argument in support OF the
preventive theory, for if the rafting is
of advantage to the rattlesnake in pre-
venting attack by its enemies, the
theorists contend, the imitation of the
noise must be of advantage to those
serpents which can mimic. That the
copperheads and moccasins resort to
rafting without ratlles, as it were, does
not operate against this theory OF imi-
tation, as it is held by supporters that
if it is advantageous to tie rltllesnake
to have g means OF preventing waste Of
poison or unnecessary exposure 10 in-
jury OF fangs, the imitation would be
OF equal benefitto all members of the
pit viper family.
But this vibration of the Tail, 50
more conservative psychologists argue,
instead of being an intended imitation
of the rattler's noise, was universal
characteristic of the majority of snakes
long before the evolution of the rat
tier from the common ancestral stock
of pit vipers. This is the opinion of
DIR. Steyneger. Perhaps, after all, this
common caudal threshing may be as
cribed, like Herbert Spencer's sugges-
ton as to the wagging of the dogs tail,
to an escape of nervous force restrained
from other modes of expression at the
moment. As it is, theorize as much as
one will, we are as much in the dark as
1