How long would the poison fang of such a reptile be? How many ounces of venom would its glands contain? Or does the Dr. wish us to understand that as the vertebræ of a _Hydrophis_ has gradually developed into the complicated structure of a constrictor, so has the poison-fang become gradually obsolete? Appalling, indeed, would it be were those enormous developments armed with poison-fangs! Monarchs of the deep they truly would be. Happily, venomous serpents are restricted in their size; but an interesting speculation has been opened in the above theory of abnormal development, and I trust it may be followed up by abler reasoners than the present humble writer. In the previous chapter the distinguishing characteristics of the true marine snakes were described, and I feel more disposed to agree with Dr. Andrew Wilson when he says, ‘_or for the matter of that, in the existence of distinct species of monster sea serpents_,’ than in the development of a small venomous one into an amazing constrictor. Except the ‘monster.’ Why should not the gigantic forms be perfect in themselves, with an inherited anatomical structure? In volume xviii. of _Nature_, 1878, Dr. Andrew Wilson again discusses the sea serpent, and thus concludes:’ ... and as a firm believer from the standpoint of zoology that the large development of the marine ophidians of warmer seas offers the true explanation of the sea-serpent mystery.’ Their physical constitution, then, as well as structure, must have very much changed to enable them to exist so far from the tropics. And still there are the creatures with flippers, and flappers, and fins to decide upon. And then the gigantic salamander with a hundred and fifty feet of tail! But these not being ophidians, and certainly not ‘sea serpents,’ must not intrude themselves here. In their enormous development alone the supporters of Darwin may justly exult, for surely in them we shall see ‘the survival of the fittest.’ [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER XVI. _RATTLESNAKE HISTORY._ FROM the peculiar rattling appendage, with which this snake is armed, it has excited the notice of European explorers since the very first settlement of the American Continent. Whenever a traveller attempted any printed account of the New World and its products, mention was made of this ‘viper with the bell.’ By and by, in 1762, a live specimen was brought to England, where it arrested the attention of the members of the Royal Society and the scientific ‘Chirugions’ of the day. From this time the rattlesnake began to be honoured with a literature of its own—one which equals if not exceeds in interest that of any other ophidian history handed down to us; for Cleopatra’s asp has its literature, and the _Cobra capella_, and M’Leod’s boa, and some few other distinguished ophidians, but none so voluminous and inexhaustible as the American _Crotalus_ with its sonorous tail.