DCHP-1 Online
Massasauga (rattler) an irregular form of a river name in S.W. Ontario: Missisauga < Algonk. 
n. a relatively small rattlesnake of the genus Sistrurus.
- 1837 The fangs of the "Massasaugua", through which the poison distils, are two in number, one on each side.
- 1959 There is . . . the Massasauga, a runty type of rattlesnake whose bite is ordinarily no more dangerous than a bee sting.
- 1963 It was the third case in the last ten days of attacks by Massasauga rattlers.
- 1964 The Pacific rattler is found in parts of British Columbia, the prairie rattler in sections of Alberta and Saskatchewan and the small Massasauga in Ontario. The Massasauga is found chiefly within 20 to 30 miles of the Georgian Bay, Lake Erie and Lake Huron shorelines and is fairly common on the Bruce Peninsula. Although the Massasauga has claimed two lives since 1956, with prompt and proper treatment, this need not be the case.
- 1837 The fangs of the "Massasaugua", through which the poison distils, are two in number, one on each side.