. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. Xo rattlesnake occurs in any of the West India Islands proper, and only one species appears to be con- fined to South America, where also another species occurs, the range of which, however, extends into south- ern Mexico. Within the United States not less than ten species, with several sub- species, are found; but their dis- tribution within that area is very uneven. Thus, while tliere are but Pi„_;5j few localities in which Eattlesnakes D


. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. Xo rattlesnake occurs in any of the West India Islands proper, and only one species appears to be con- fined to South America, where also another species occurs, the range of which, however, extends into south- ern Mexico. Within the United States not less than ten species, with several sub- species, are found; but their dis- tribution within that area is very uneven. Thus, while tliere are but Pi„_;5j few localities in which Eattlesnakes DORSAL COLOR PATTERN OF cROTALus MOLOfsus. ^jq ^jq^ occur, or did uot occur before they were exterminated by man, yet the area inhabited by more than one species of Crotabis is comparatively very limited. Thus in the southeast the range of the Diamond Rattle- snake, C. aclamanteus, is overlapped to a great extent by that of the Banded Rattlesnake, C. horridits, while in the center of the Union there is another limited area in- habited by two species, viz, the Banded Rattlesnake, C. horridus, and the Prairie Rattler, C. eon- fiuentus. As we approach the Mexican boundary and the northward exten- sion of the Sierra Madre the density of the distribution of the species increases rapidly, until in southern Arizona we find no less than 7 dif- ferent species of Rattlesnakes, viz: C. molossus, G. <\ C. coHjiuentHS, C\ tigris, G. cerastes, G. lepidus, and ('. mitcheUii pyrrhus, out of a total of 10 species inhabiting the entire area of the United States. North of our northern boundary only two species of Grotalus extend a short distance into the British possessions, in the western part G. lueifer and in the central portion G. DORSAL COLOR PATTliKN OF CEOTALVS LEPIDUS. COUffHOttl(S. Fig. 52. DOESAL COLOR PATTERN OF =|M^M|&: ^^» \ \ \ aTx y/W^wA'^T^rv K/ / / / Fifi. 53. ;AL COLOR PATTERN OF CROTALUS Please note that these images are extracted fr


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Keywords: ., bookauthorsmithsonianinstitutio, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840