Word: rattler
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Dates: during 1929-1929
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...cutting our way with machete hatchets through dense underbrush, now wading through water up to our knees, with the ever-present fear of the moccasin snake, whose bite is more deadly than that of the rattler, we made our way into the heart of a comparatively unknown region...
...Amaral's work developing serums against U. S. snake bites was relatively easy. He had the technique of production. There remained to make a survey of noxious U. S. reptiles. He found only 19 kinds of them. Thirteen belonged to the rattler (Crotalus) family. Others were massasauga and pigmy rattler (Sistrurus family), copperhead and cottonmouth moccasin (Agkistrodon family), coral and harlequin (Micrurus family). Harlequins and corals are rare, appearing only in the south. Moccasins and copperheads frequent the southeastern and eastern states...
...nostril. Heads are flat and triangular, necks thin, bodies stout, tails short, eyes with elliptical pupils like a cat's. Fangs fold back against the roof of the mouth. A single row of scales runs along the belly. The biggest U. S. snake is the eastern diamond-back rattler, which grows to nine feet...
Contrary to lore snakes do not attack humans wantonly. They are lazy and timid and do not strike unless hurt or threatened with hurt. Exceptions are the African mamba, the Malayan King, the bushmaster of the tropics, and cascavel (a rattler) of Central America. A coach whip will sometimes follow a man. But it is only curious, and will speed away if threatened...
...Catch the snake that did the biting. To identify it is to know what serum to use. Polyvalent serums are made, good against rattler, moccasin or copperhead bites. For other snakes specific anti-venoms must be used...