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RATTLESNAKE

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 920 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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RATTLESNAKE . Rattlesnakes are a small See also:

GROUP

group of the sub-See also:

FAMILY

family of See also:

PIT (O. E. pytt, cognate with Du. put, Ger. Pfutze, &c., all ultimately adaptations of Lat. puteus, well, formed from root pu-, to cleanse, whence gurus, clean, pure)

pit-vipers (Crotalinae, see See also:

SNAKES

SNAKES; Viperidae), characterised by a tail which terminates in a See also:

CHAIN (through the O. Fr. citable, chcene, &c., from Lat. catena)

chain of horny, loosely connected rings, the so-called " rattle. " The "pit " by which the family is distinguished from the See also:

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary vipers is a deep depression in the integument of the sides of the snout, between the nostrils and the See also:

eye; its physiological See also:

FUNCTION

function is unknown. The rattle is a complicated and highly specialized See also:

ORGAN

organ, See also:

DEVELOPED

developed from the See also:

SIMPLE

simple conical See also:

scale or epidermal spine, which in the See also:

MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

majority of snakes forms the termination of the See also:

general integument of the tail. The See also:

bone by which the See also:

root of the rattle is supported consists of the last caudal vertebrae, from three to eight in number, which are enlarged, dilated, compressed and coalesced (fig. 1, a). This bone is covered a 4 1. Caudal vertebrae, the last coalesced in a single bone a. 2. End of tail (rattle removed); a, cuticular See also:

MATRIX

matrix covering terminal bone. a. See also:

Side view of a rattle; c and d the See also:

OLDEST

oldest, a and b the youngest See also:

JOINTS

joints. 4.

A rattle with joints disconnected; x fits into b and is covered by it; z into d in like manner. with thick and vascular cutis, transversely divided by two constrictions into three portions, of which the proximal is larger than the median, and the median much larger than the distal. This cuticular portion constitutes the matrix of a horny epidermoid covering which closely fits the shape of the under-lying soft See also:

PART

part and is the beginning of the rattle, as it appears in See also:

young rattlesnakes before they have See also:

SHED

shed their skin for the first See also:

time. When the See also:

period of a renewal of the skin approaches a new covering of the extremity of the tail is formed below the old one, but the latter, instead of being See also:

CAST (from the verb meaning " to throw "; the word is Scand. in origin, cf. Dan. kaste, and Swed. kasta; " cast " in Middle Eng. took the place of the A.S. weor pan, cf. Ger. werf en)

cast off with the See also:

REMAINDER, REVERSION

remainder of the epidermis, is retained by the posterior swelling of the end of the tail, forming now the first loose See also:

JOINT (through Fr. from Lat. junctum, jungere, to join)

joint of the rattle. This See also:

PROCESS

process is repeated on succeeding moultingsthe new joints being always larger than the old ones as See also:

long as the snake grows. Perfect rattles therefore See also:

TAPER (probably of Celtic origin, cf. Irish tapar, Welsh tampr, taper, torch)

taper towards the point, but generally the oldest (terminal) joints See also:

WEAR

wear away in time and are lost. As rattlesnakes shed their skins more than once every See also:

YEAR

year, the number of joints of the rattle does not indicate the See also:

AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age of the See also:

animal but the number of exuviations which it has undergone. The largest rattle in the See also:

BRITISH

British Museum has twenty-one joints. The rattle consists thus of a variable number of dry, hard, horny See also:

CUP (in O.E. cuppe; generally taken to be from Late Lat. cuppa, a variant of Lat. cupa, a cask, cf. Gr. KuaeXXov)

cup-shaped joints, each of which loosely grasps a portion of the preceding, and all of which are capable of being shaken against each other. If the interspaces between the joints are filled with See also:

WATER

water, as often happens in wet See also:

WEATHER (O. Eng. weder; the word is common to Teutonic languages; cf. Du. weder, Dan. veir, Icel. ve8r, and Ger. Wetter and Gewitter, storm; the root is wa- to blow, from which is derived " wind ")

weather, no See also:

NOISE (a word of doubtful origin; O. Fr. nogse or nose; Prov. nausa, which points to Lat. nausea, sickness, as the origin; others take Lat. noxia, harm, as the source)

noise can be produced. The motor See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power lies in the lateral muscles of the tail, by which a vibratory See also:

motion is communicated to the rattle, the noise produced being similar to that of a See also:

child's rattle and perceptible at a distance of from ro to 20 yds. The See also:

HABIT (through the French from Lat. habitus, from habere, to have, hold, or, in a reflective sense, to be in a certain condition; in many of the English senses the French use habitude, not habit)

habit of agitating the tail is not See also:

PECULIAR

peculiar to the rattlesnake, but has been observed in other venomous and innocuous snakes with the ordinary tail, under the See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence of fear or anger.

It is significant that the tip of such snakes is sometimes rather conspicuously coloured and covered with peculiarly modified scales, notably in Acanthophis. The use of such a tail probably consists in attracting or fixing the See also:

ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being " stretched " or " tense ")

attention of small animals, by slightly raising and vibrating the tip. The rattle no doubt acts as a warning, every snake preferring being See also:

LEFT

left alone to being forced to bite. Many a See also:

man has been warned in time by the shrill See also:

sound, and this principle applies undoubtedly to other mammals. Moreover, rattlesnakes are rather sluggish, and comparatively not vicious. First they try to slink away; when overtaken or cornered they use every means of frightening the foe by swelling up, puffing, rattling and threatening attitudes; it is as a See also:

RULE

rule not until they are touched, or provoked by a rapid See also:

MOVEMENT

movement, that they retaliate, but then they strike with fury. They are viviparous, and as destroyers of rats, mice and other small rodents they are useful. The surest way of clearing a ground of them and any other snakes is to drive in pigs, which are sure to find and to eat them, without harm to themselves. They inhabit localities to which the See also:

sun has See also:

FREE

free See also:

ACCESS (Lat. accessus)

access, prairies, rough stony ground, &c. Specimens of 5 ft. in length are not rare. Formerly See also:

COMMON

common in the eastern parts of the See also:

UNITED

United States, and still so in thinly inhabited districts, rattlesnakes, like the vipers of See also:

EUROPE

Europe, have gradually succumbed to the persecution of man. Rattlesnakes are confined to the New See also:

WORLD

World.

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