TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Full text is unavailable for this digitized archive article. Subscribers may view the full text of this article in ...

But a big, hollow chamber can't get the job done on its own. That's where the tail muscles come in. Rattlesnakes are equipped with three powerful shaker muscles at the base of their spine.

In the course of tail regeneration, a cartilaginous tube encapsulates the regenerated spinal nerves and is covered by muscle and skin. Lozito and Tuan found that differentiation at both ends of this ...