Fangs measured from the tip of the notch of the basal lumen to the end of the fang vary from about 1.3 per cent of the snout-vent length in juveniles to about 1.0 per cent in large adults (Table 6). The fangs are longer than those of copperheads (Fitch, 1960:111). Klauber's (1956:736) figures on fang-lengths in all species of rattlesnakes are percentages of total length rather than of the snout-vent length. The fangs of various species of rattlesnakes range from nearly the same proportionate length as those of cottonmouths to some much longer. From patterns of bites of venomous snakes, Pope and Perkins (1944:333-335) attempted to correlate number, size, and patterns of tooth marks with size and generic identity of the snake responsible for the bite. Distance between fangs is relatively constant for snakes of a particular size (Table 6) regardless of genus, but the fangs of a cottonmouth are directed outward to variable degrees, and puncture wounds could easily resemble those of a much larger snake (Table 7). Also there is no direct relationship between size of snake and toxicity or amount of venom injected. Consequently information of this kind is of little or no value from a medical standpoint. TABLE 6.--Correlation of Relative Fang-length and Distance Between Fangs at Base with Snout-vent Length of Cottonmouths. ======================================================= |Snout-vent |Number |Average |Number |Average | |length |in |ratio of |in |ratio of | |(millimeters) |sample |fang-length |sample |distance | | | |to | |between | | | |snout-vent | |fangs to | | | |length | |snout-vent | | | |(percent) | |length | | | | | |(percent) | |--------------+-------+------------+-------+-----------| | 200-299 | 3 | 1.33 | 3 | 2.57 | | 300-399 | 7 | 1.30 | 5 | 2.48 | | 400-499 | 13 | 1.21 | 9 | 2.21 | | 500-599 | 12 | 1.22 | 8 | 2.19 | | 600-699 | 7 | 1.17 | 1 | 2.10 | | 700-799 | 5 | 1.07 | 4 | 1.65 | | 800-899 | 1 | 1.00 | 1 | 2.00 | ------------------------------------------------------- TABLE 7.--Contrast in Measurements Between the Base of the Fangs and Between Fang Punctures of Nine Cottonmouths (in millimeters).