This word Crotalus, simply a rattle, from the Greek word crotalon, and the Latin crotalia and crotalum, a kind of castanets, is as suitable as any that could possibly have been assigned to the snake; and most of the generic names are compounds of it: Crotalophorus, rattle-bearing; Crotalina, little rattle; Crotaloidæ; Urocrotalon, rattling tail; or simply Crotalus. Then the specific name more especially describes the snake in colour, size, character, locality, etc., as Oregonus, from Oregon; Kirtlandii, from Dr. Kirtland of Ohio, who first described that species; horridus, from the hideous, terrible character of this large snake; miliarius, a very small one; caudisona, sounding tail; and so on.
Their geographical range is from about 45° north, to the Gulf of Mexico, Texas, and southward; and in South America to about the same degree of climate and temperature as in the northern latitudes. They are most virulent in the hottest seasons, the tropical regions, and according to their size; though, as is the case with other venomous snakes, a small species in hot weather and with a large store of venom may be more noxious than the largest in a half-torpid state and with a small supply of venom.
There is one known as the ‘Prairie rattlesnake;’ another frequents the marshy districts of Ohio; another, the swamps of the Southern States along the coast; a fourth is known as the ‘Western rattlesnake;’ some of the 20 species described in the United States being more abundant in the mountainous regions, others near the rivers.
In the wilder regions of Central and South America they also abound; but less is known of them where there are no United States Exploring Expeditions to record them.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE RATTLE.
THIS Crepitaculum caude, as an American has called it, has been the theme of many speculations. Its origin and its use have been discussed alike by the scientific and the unscientific, nor have they even now arrived at any very definite conclusions on these two points. There are theories as to its development, its form and size, its age and its utility, the caprice witnessed in all of these adding to the romance of its history; and whether its length increases by a link annually, or on each occasion of desquamation, have been among the questions connected with it. If we believe what the American Indians declare, an additional joint to the rattle grows whenever a human being falls a victim to that particular snake—a tradition more poetical than rational. The Indians also think the rattle vibrates more in dry than in wet weather, and are therefore cautious in traversing the woods during rainy seasons. This belief has given rise to the idea that the rattle is affected by damp—a fact which was affirmed so long ago as 1722.[82] The most reasonable clue to this is, that there may be less to disturb the reptile at a time when all animated nature is to a certain extent inclined to retirement and repose; for if the reptile be disturbed, rain or no rain, the rattle vibrates. In English as well as in American scientific journals, the subject of the rattle is ever and again ventilated by physiologists, and new suggestions are thrown out. In the present chapter I will endeavour to give a sort of digest of all these theories, venturing to offer in addition the results of my own observations. Appended is a drawing of the first rattle I ever saw or had in my possession. It is associated with a delightful visit of several months to some very dear friends in Iowa, and it recalls more particularly one lovely September afternoon. We were driving along a wild country road, where the prairie on either side was radiant with its floral carpet, and where the Mississippi gleamed like a succession of lakes between the wooded and picturesque bluffs that formed the background to the east.