crotalidæ

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. A family of venomous serpents, of the group Solenoglypha of the order Ophidia, having a dilatable mouth with perforated poison-fangs, and poison-glands, and differing from Viperidæ chiefly in having a deep pit on each side of the head between the eye and the nostril, whence they are also called Bothrophera; the rattlesnake family: so called from the crepitaculum or rattle with which the tail ends in many of the species. The family contains most of the venomous serpents of the warmer parts of Asia and America, such as the rattlesnakes, moccasins, copperheads, bushmasters, etc., of the genera Crotalus, Trigonocephalus, Bothrops, Cenchris, Trimeresurus, Craspedocephalus, etc.