1 86 SNAKES. 



eluded, and took to his heels with all speed, knowing the 

 vicious nature of that snake. Looking back, he saw the 

 reptile pursuing him with ' strides ' or ' bounds,' stretching 

 itself to full length, then bringing up its tail and springing 

 forward again with terrific vigour. In its excitement it 

 seemed almost to fly, now gaining on him, and now, as 

 an occasional obstacle had to be avoided, giving his victim 

 some slight advantage. For the space of three whole fields, 

 ' paddocks,' he was thus chased, he the while using his 

 utmost speed. His home was in the bush, and when, 

 almost dropping with excessive fatigue and terror, he came 

 within sight of it, one of his farm-servants saw him thus 

 tearing along, and, guessing the cause, seized his gun, and 

 hastened to meet the fugitive, and put an end to the 

 chase. 



Du Chaillu's snakes were almost always 'springing' at 

 him, and very probably some of them did so. At the same 

 time, most of his snakes had ' fangs ' as well ; but then, in 

 his ^ Wild Life' he witnessed many other anomalies. 



As a rule, the most active are the non-venomous kinds ; 

 yet among the venomous colubrines, the slender elapidce, 

 of which the above Australian snake is one, we find much 

 activity. 



Mr. P. H. Gosse was struck with the amazing springing 

 power of the yellow Jamaica boa {CJiilobothrus inornatus), 

 and by a similar use of its tail as a propelling power.^ It 

 rears itself up and leaps an incredible distance, he tells us ; 

 one covered nearly twenty feet in such a spring, but that 

 was on the incline of a hill. He noticed another suspending 



^ A Natwalist in yajnaica, by P. H. Gosse. 



