SNAKES AND BLOODSUCKERS 



as the harmless Gecko has suffered as a result of its popular name 

 of viper, "Vibora." 



The snakes which seek their food by day are not venomous ; they 

 have no need of venom, since their prey — consisting chiefly of frogs, 

 toads, lizards and other snakes — has little chance of escape in the 

 daylight. These diurnal snakes are often exceedingly beautiful. 

 There is a whole series of green snakes, uncommonly slender and 

 graceful, which writhe through the grass like flashes of emerald 

 light. On my first day in Olinda I saw a glittering Emerald Snake 

 (Plate 31, 3) in the garden. Another green snake, Philodryas olfersi, 

 has a red streak down the back, and a black stripe across the eye; 

 and a third has two yellow lines running the length of the body. 

 These snakes, which are fond of climbing trees, feed on lizards. 



Another Brazilian snake is the Liana Snake or Cobra cipo (Plate 

 31, 2). I found this snake in Seringal, Pernambuco. It deserves its 

 name; it is long and slender as a liana or a whip-lash. More than 

 six feet in length, it writhes so quickly through the bushes that one 

 sees little more than a flash of its lustrous greenish-brown body. The 

 round eye, exceptionally luminous, gleams like a topaz in the long, 

 narrow head. The Liana snake eats frogs and toads. 



The large toads of Brazil must constitute the diet of a number 

 of snakes, and it is astonishing that they are nevertheless so plentiful. 

 In the villages, during the rains, you may see them under the ver- 

 andah steps, often several at a time, or hopping along by the walls. 

 Even for large snakes they represent a respectable mouthful, and 

 it was a horrible spectacle to see our Xenodon swallowing one of 

 these toads in the monastery garden. It was often a full hour before 

 the snake had pushed its jaws — no wider than two fingers — over 

 the victim, which was as large as one's two fists, and the head at 

 length disappeared with a few last notes of distress. But it must 

 not be forgotten that in the snake the bones of the head, which 

 in the other vertebrates are laminiform, constitute an open, articu- 

 lated structure, so that the back of the head can be expanded until 

 it will pass over an object of many times its normal circumference. 

 The Xenodon snake, when alarmed, spreads itself out quite flat, 

 till it looks like an empty skin surmounted only by a low crest. 



A common Brazilian snake is the large Ganinanha (Plate 31, 4) ; 

 another common snake, handsomely marked with black and yellow, 

 is the enemy of the poultry-farmer; and a third lives on lizards. 

 The habits of all these non-venomous snakes are somewhat similar, 

 so that I need say no more about them. But I must say something 



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