RATTLESNAKE, Croteus, a genus of serpents of the family crotalithr, distinguished from the rest of that family by the rattle at the end of the tail. They arc also charac terized by having only one row of plates under the tail. The genus is subdivided by many authors according to the scales and shields with which the head is covered in dif ferent species. All the species are American, and are much dreaded for their deadly venom, although they seldom assail man, unless molested, and the rattle often gives timely warning of danger. The rattlesnake is often found at rest iu a coiled form, with the rattle somewhat erected from the center of the coil; and when it begins to be irri tated, the rattle shakes. Rattlesnakes are generally rather sluggish in their movements, but they are most active and most dangerous in the warmest weather, their bite being more formidable at such a time, as well as more readily inflicted. The effects of the bite are various, according not only to the condition of the serpent, but also according to the constitution of the person bitten, and the place into which the fangs have been inserted, the worst case being when the poison immediately enters a large vein, and so is carried at once to the most vital parts. Death to human beings has been known to ensue in a few while in other cases, hours or days have elapsed, and .40211C times the sufferer recovers. Almost all animals show what may be deemed an instinc tive dread of the rattlesnake, and a great unwillingness to approach it. Hogs and pec caries, however, are so far from regarding it with dread, that they kill and eat it, find tag safety from its venom probably not in any peculiarity of constitution, but in their thickness of skin, and Ihe•thickness of the layer of fat under the skin. Rattlesnakes are viviparous, and exhibit altindirnent to their youniz. It is said of them, as of the viper, that on the appearance of danger, the mother receives her young cues into her mouth and gullet, or stomach, ejecting them again uninjured when the danger is past, but the same doubt attaches to the story as in the case of the viper. The power of
fascination (q.v.) has not been more frequently ascribed to any kind of serpent. e The rattle is a very peculiar appendage. It consists of a number of thin horny cells. jointed together; cacti, except the terminal one,- of a conical form, and in great part covered by that next to it, against the sides of which its apex strikes when the rattle is shaken, so as to prodiMe a rustling or rattling noise. It is generally believed that the number of joints in the rattle increases with the age of the serpent, one being added at each casting of the skin. One species of rattlesnake (cmtubrs 1urri1e.9, sometimes called the CARCAVELA, is found in the warm parts both of North and South America. Its muzzle is covered by three or four pairs of plates. Its scales have a sharp elevated keel. It attains the length of 8 ft., although it is seldom found of so great a size. Its color is yellowish-brown above, with a broad dark streak on each side of the neck, and a series of broad lozenge-shaped spots on the back.—Another species, crotalus or mop sop/ us, darissus, extends further northward as far as the southern shores of the great lakes. It is of a pale brown color, with a dark streak across the temples. tmd spots on the body, often assuming the form of bands; the keel of the scales not so strongly developed, and the muzzle with fewer shields than in the former species, which it resembles in size. A third species, crotalus or crtralophorus having the head completely covered with large shields, is also common in many parts of North America, and is as much dreaded as either of those already named, notwithstanding, its much smaller size, because the sound of its rattle is so feeble as not readily to attract attention. It is of a brownish-olive color, with brown spots on the hack and sides, the belly black.—ln the colder countries which they inhabit, rattlesnakes spend the winter in a torpid state, retiring for that purpose into holes, or hiding themselves among moss.