Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
February 1797
Primary Source Reference:
Palisot de Beauvois, “Memoir on Amphibia,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 4 (1799): 362–381; paper read February 1797 / https://doi.org/10.2307/1005115
Additional Source Text:
"Mr. Peale . . . has kept alive a boiquira for five years and a half. He has made on this animal, many observations, which, if not convincing, establish at least a doubt as to all the fables which have been imagined respecting this reptile."
Notes:
In this article Beauvois attempted to distinguish this specimen, which he called Crotalus boiquira, from Crotalus horridus, but they are now considered to be synonymous. In the plate accompanying his article the first-mentioned snake is beneath the second.
Specimen Type:
Live/living (presumably eventually taxidermied/preserved)
Current Common Name:
Timber rattle snake
Current Scientific Name
Crotalus horridus
