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Governmental investigation of rattlesnakes.
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CURRENTTOPICS.
[J. I;. I.
Governmental Investigation of Rattlesnakes.-Offhand one would be inclined to link babies with rattles, but now biologists of the U. S. Department of Agriculture tell us that rattles are just what baby rattlesnakes do not have. Instead, a newborn rattler must be content with just a button-on the end of its tail. Only after twice shedding its skin, a few days after birth and about two months later, is the first ring of the rattle formed. The power of the rattle seems dependent upon the fact that the last 7 or 8 of the snake’s vertebrae early fuse into a solid bone, the “shaker,” around which the rings of the rattle form. Normally one ring is added to the rattle every time the snake sheds its skin, which is usually three times a year. According to the biologists, a small number of rings is more an indication of a snake’s tailIn other words rings wagging proclivities than its youthfulness. are shaken or broken off by the vigor of the tail’s movements. What is more, it is believed that nature gave the snake his rattle not as a warning device, but to be used as a call or a challenge during the breeding season. However that may be, it does serve as a highly effective “keep off the grass” and saves the snakes a lot of bother. c. “It was while in his bath that Archimedes is said to have made the historic discovery that whenever a body is immersed in a fluid it is buoyed up with a force just equal to the weight of the fluid displaced.“-T. A. Boyd, “ Research.”
CURRENTTOPICS.
[J. I;. I.
Governmental Investigation of Rattlesnakes.-Offhand one would be inclined to link babies with rattles, but now biologists of the U. S. Department of Agriculture tell us that rattles are just what baby rattlesnakes do not have. Instead, a newborn rattler must be content with just a button-on the end of its tail. Only after twice shedding its skin, a few days after birth and about two months later, is the first ring of the rattle formed. The power of the rattle seems dependent upon the fact that the last 7 or 8 of the snake’s vertebrae early fuse into a solid bone, the “shaker,” around which the rings of the rattle form. Normally one ring is added to the rattle every time the snake sheds its skin, which is usually three times a year. According to the biologists, a small number of rings is more an indication of a snake’s tailIn other words rings wagging proclivities than its youthfulness. are shaken or broken off by the vigor of the tail’s movements. What is more, it is believed that nature gave the snake his rattle not as a warning device, but to be used as a call or a challenge during the breeding season. However that may be, it does serve as a highly effective “keep off the grass” and saves the snakes a lot of bother. c. “It was while in his bath that Archimedes is said to have made the historic discovery that whenever a body is immersed in a fluid it is buoyed up with a force just equal to the weight of the fluid displaced.“-T. A. Boyd, “ Research.”