. First lessons in zoology. Zoology. FISHES, BATR/iCHIANS, AND REPTILES 227. Fig. 186.—The rattles of the rattlesnake; the lower figure shows a longitudinal sec- tion of the rattle. only poisonous snakes of the United States are the rattle- snakes and their immediate relatives, the copperhead and water-moccasin. These snakes all have a large triangular head, and in the rattlesnakes the posterior tip of the body is provided with a "rattle," composed of a series of partly overlapping, thin, horny capsules, or cones, of shape as shown in fig. 186. These horny pieces are simply the some-
. First lessons in zoology. Zoology. FISHES, BATR/iCHIANS, AND REPTILES 227. Fig. 186.—The rattles of the rattlesnake; the lower figure shows a longitudinal sec- tion of the rattle. only poisonous snakes of the United States are the rattle- snakes and their immediate relatives, the copperhead and water-moccasin. These snakes all have a large triangular head, and in the rattlesnakes the posterior tip of the body is provided with a "rattle," composed of a series of partly overlapping, thin, horny capsules, or cones, of shape as shown in fig. 186. These horny pieces are simply the some- what modified, succes- sively formed epider- mal coverings of the tip of the body, which instead of being entirely moulted as the rest of the skin is, are, because of their peculiar shape, loosely attached to one another, and by the basal one to the body of the snake. The number of rattles does not correspond to the snake's years for several reasons, partly because more than one rattle can be added in a year, and especially because rattles are easily and often broken off. As many as thirty rattles have been found on one snake. There are two species of ground-rattlesnakes, or massasaugas, in the United States, and ten species of the true rattlesnakes. The center of distribution of the rattlesnakes is the dry tablelands of the Southwest in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. But there are few localities in the United States outside the high mountains in which '' rattlers '' do not occur, or did not occur before they were exterminated by man. The copperhead is light chestnut in color, with inverted Y-shaped darker blotches on the sides, and seldom exceeds three feet in length. It occurs in the. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Kellogg, Vernon L. (Vernon Lyman), 1867-1937. New York, H. Holt and Com
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