Towards the setting on of these, there is in each Tooth a little Hole, wherein you may just get in the Point of a small Needle. And here it is that the Poison comes out and follows the Wound made by the Point of their Teeth. They are much more venomous in the Months of June and July than they are in March, April, or September. The hotter the Weather the more poisonous. Neither may we suppose they can renew their Poison as oft as they will; for we have had a Person bit by one of these who never rightly recovered it, and very hardly escaped with Life; and a second Person bit in the same Place by the same Snake and received no more Harm than if bitten with a Rat. They cast their Skins every Year and commonly abide in the Place where the old Skin lies. These cast Skins are used for Physick, and the Rattles are reckoned good to expedite the Birth.’ ... ‘Gall mixed with Clay and made into Pills are kept for Use and accounted a noble Remedy.’ ... ‘This Snake has two Nostrils on each Side its Nose. Their Venom I have Reason to believe effects no Harm any otherwise than when darted into the Wound by the Serpent’s Teeth.’ This description, being an early and excellent illustration of what has since been termed ‘Practical Natural History,’ is given at length, and because Lawson has been a good deal quoted by subsequent writers. So again is Catesby, who went to Virginia in 1712, staying seven years ‘to gratify a passionate desire to view animal and vegetable productions in their native country.’ He was the first to figure and to describe two distinct species. It is admitted that he did much for natural history, and his drawings are by far the best that had as yet appeared. Catesby therefore claims a conspicuous place among rattlesnake historians. By this time, 1731, nine or ten of the American colonies had celebrated their first centenary, and had made considerable advances towards civilisation. In the parts visited by Catesby a good deal of the old English refinement marked the character and manners of the people. But a little domestic incident in the house where he was staying is related by him, and affords us an insight of a less attractive character in plantation life. The largest rattlesnake Catesby ever saw was eight feet long, and weighed eight or nine pounds. ‘This Monster was gliding into the House of Col. Blake, and had certainly taken up his Abode there undiscovered, had not the Domestic Animals alarmed the Family with their repeated Outcries: the Hogs, Dogs, and Poultry united in their Hatred to him, showing the greatest Consternation by erecting their Bristles and Feathers, and showing their Wrath and Indignation surrounded him; but carefully kept their Distance, while he, regardless of their Threats, glided slowly along.’ It was not at all an uncommon occurrence for rattlesnakes to come into houses at that time, nor indeed has it been long since then in secluded parts.