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"`Surely, thought we, `he is not going to encounter the rattlesnake the most terrible of all reptiles. But the constrictor understood one chapter of herpetology better than we for the next moment we saw him drop to the ground; and, almost as quick as thought, appear lapped in sable folds around the speckled body of the `crotalus!
The Bambarra was a "snake-charmer" I had heard so could handle the most venomous serpents at rail could guide and direct them! Was it not he who had guided the crotalus to where I lay who had caused me to be bitten? Strange as it may appear, this supposition at that moment crossed my mind, and seemed probable; nay, more I actually believed it.
The huanaco has never been a hybernating animal; but we must assume that, like the crotalus of the north, he had formed a habit of congregating with his fellows at certain seasons at the same spot; further, that these were seasons of suffering to the animal the suffering, or discomfort and danger, having in the first place given rise to the habit.
There was a fair illustration of the matchless agility of the crotalus when he cares to be quick. The cage was just twelve inches high in the clear; but before the falling mouse was halfway to the bottom, there was an indescribable gray blur, and I knew that the larger snake had hit him.
Then Anna was privileged to witness a strange thing a very strange thing; so unusual, in fact, that when reported to the head of the zoological department of the State university that conservative gentleman would have given the story little credence had it not been for the unimpeachable authority of a celebrated naturalist, who had reported it as occasionally occurring among the large, much-to-be-dreaded species of the Eastern States the Crotalus horrible, or banded rattler.
We saw before us the dreaded rattlesnake the crotalus horridus. "My companions were eager to rush forward and at once attack the monster. I restrained them, dogs and all. I had heard who has not? of the power of fascination which these reptiles possess. I knew not whether to believe or disbelieve it. Here was an opportunity to test its truth. Would it charm the bird? We should see.
The fork was exactly across the small of the creature's neck, and it could not raise its head to strike me. Large as it was, there was no danger from anything but its fangs; for the crotalus, unlike serpents of the genus constrictor, possesses but a very feeble power of compression. Gabriel had gone off among the bushes, and in a few minutes I saw him returning.
It is a peculiarity of these specimens of the Crotalus of America that they strike only from the coil, are easily killed, and generally, although not always, do they rattle before they dart forward their poisonous fangs. We can conceive of nothing upon the face of this beautiful earth more shudderingly repulsive than a rattlesnake.
The naturalists drew up a paper on the "Probable Extinction of the Crotalus Durissus in the Township of Rockland." The engagement of the Widow Rowens to a Little Millionville merchant was announced, "Sudding 'n' onexpected," Widow Leech said, "waälthy, or she wouldn't ha' looked at him, fifty year old, if he is a day, 'n' ha'n't got a white hair in his head."
Was Elsie Venner, poisoned by the venom of a crotalus before she was born, morally responsible for the "volitional" aberrations, which translated into acts become what is known as sin, and, it may be, what is punished as crime?
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