This member of the _Crotalidæ_ is said to be as venomous as the rattlesnake, and is much more dreaded, because it has no rattle to give warning of its proximity. When a bitten person survives, the effects of its bite are said to be felt annually, as in the case of the rattlesnake, and the injured limb ‘turns the colour of the snake.’ In regard to this latter symptom, said to show itself in the case of so many snakes, the bitten limb assumes all manner of horrible tints in most cases, and it does not require a great stretch of imagination to detect colours resembling the also many-tinted aggressors. Still there may be more in this than we at present know of. In the cranberry swamps and tamarack marshes in the northern districts of Ohio formerly were found immense numbers of a small and very dark brown rattlesnake known as the _Massasauga_. It is seen lying in clusters like small twigs on dry leaves, and still is found in considerable numbers in some remote districts. The illustration of the small rattle (p. 302) was sent me from that neighbourhood, and is, I believe, from a true ‘Massasauga.’ This is the one (as I think I am safe in stating) that was first (1810) described by Dr. Kirtland, a distinguished naturalist of Ohio, and after him named _Crotalophorus Kirtlandi_. Its range is confined to the swampy districts of Northern Ohio and Southern Michigan. Its rattle being scarcely audible, this little snake gets frequently trodden upon, and persons are as frequently bitten; but Dr. Kirtland stated that he had never known any one to die of its bite, which is scarcely worse than the sting of a hornet. It is a link between the last-named snake, the ‘copper-head,’ and the rattlesnake, having head-shields like the former, and tail of the latter. These small species no doubt help to add to the confusion of evidence regarding the virulence of rattlesnake bites, one person affirming that they are deadly, and another, that recovery is common. The degree of venom between the smallest and the largest of the _Crotalidæ_ can no more be compared than can the constriction of the little slow-worm round your fingers with the constriction of the anaconda.