'WO-TOED CONGO SNAKE 



75 



Notes on the Two-Toed Congo Snake. 



v.y Dk. K. w". snri'i'j.Dr. wash ixctox, h. c. 

 Mail}' xears ayo. wliilo ii\'ing in New 

 Orleans. I had in conlinenient several 

 specimens of the three-toed Cong-o snake 

 (Miirariiopsis frichictyliis); they were 

 ohtained for me li\- my Creole and negro 

 collectors, the animal heing quite common 

 in the bavons near where T lived and did 



HiiaiiJiiidac. the famous, two-toed Congo 

 -nake { .linl'hiuuia means). For the 

 courtcotr^ loan of three or four of these 

 I am indebted to Mr. Edward vS. Schmid, 

 of Washington. 1). C, who imported 

 them from hdorida in addition to his stock 

 of unusual animal> kept in connection 

 with his sui)ply of pet animals from many 

 parts of the world. 



FIGURE 1. Till-: TW()-T()l-:i) CONGO SNAKE. 



my collecting in that region. These speci- 

 mens are probably now in the collection 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, as all my 

 material of that kind was forwarded to 

 Professor Baird, who kept me supplied 

 with the means for exploration in soitth- 

 ern Louisiana, ^^d^ile there I prepared 

 cjuite a full account of the anatomy and 

 biology of the three-toed siren just re- 

 ferred to, publishing the same in Science 

 (Mar. 24, 1883. p. 319. 8 figures). It 

 is a most interesting batrachian and per- 

 fectlv harmless, though the negroes, in 

 their usual superstition, stand in great 

 horror of its bite. 



Only recently I have had in my posses- 

 sion living speciments of the near relative 

 of this three-toed member of the Ani- 



This two-toed batrachian ranges 

 throughout the Southern States north to 

 North Carolina : but I did not meet with 

 it in Louisiana, where, as I say, the three- 

 toed one was more or less abundant. 

 Those loaned me for studv by Air. Schmid 

 were in excellent condition and very 

 vigorous. As they all had the branchi?e 

 or "gills" on the sides of the head, I took 

 them to be subadult. After they had been 

 in mv possession a day or so, I undertook 

 to photograph one with a 5x8 verti- 

 cal camera, the animal being con- 

 fined in a white porcelain dish. 

 After an hour's trial, I at last suc- 

 ceeded in doing this ; though at one 

 time I did think that that unobliging 

 Consfo "snake" would never come to a 



