A DIFFICULT PROBLEM. 201 
gentleman referred to was a prominent citizen of Pinetown, 
Natal.) 
Mr. W. A. Lutman, of Durban, writes: ‘‘ I have had con- 
siderable experience with Mambas in my various shooting ex- 
peditions, being bitten on one occasion by a Green Mamba, and 
on several occasions I have killed Black Mambas under six feet 
long. It is quite true that the Green Mamba when aged, turns 
colour, but not anything like the colour of the Black Mamba. 
The colour is something like steel blue, such as is seen on clock 
springs, turning, as the snake gets older, to dark navy blue, but 
only along the back, the sides retaining sufficient green to dis- 
tinguish the snake. The natives assert that both the Black and 
the Green Mamba, on attaining a certain age, develop a crest of 
feathers on their heads. For this I cannot vouch. I have shot 
both green and black; the last Green Mamba that 1 shot 
measured nine feet two inches, and was just turning steel-blue at 
the back of its neck ; no sign of feathers. The last Black Mamba 
I shot measured seven feet four inches, and was, I believe, laying, 
or had already laid eggs, because it chased me, and it was only 
by a lucky shot that I was prevented from being bitten.” 
Mr. H. W. Bell-Marley, of Durban, who is a keen observer, 
and who has had much experience of Mambas, says: “ The first 
signs of this snake losing his green coat is between eight and nine 
feet, when, instead of his being brown, he is of a greenish-brown 
colour, which soon changes as he ages to black. I think when he 
is eleven feet in length he is what we might term an adult, or at 
his largest dimensions.” 
H. W. James, Esq., of Zwelle Estate, Verulam, Natal, savs : 
“T have lived for many years in this part of Natal, which is fully 
supplied with Mambas. My parents have also resided here since 
the early sixties. I can certainly state, both from hearsay and 
also from my own experience, that Mambas of the green variety 
grow to a large size, and I have myself shot one over nine feet in 
length, and my parents killed one in the early days which, when 
measured, proved to be fifteen feet long. As regards Black 
Mambas, a few years ago I found a newly-hatched lot of just one 
dozen, and as lately as January of this year (Ig10), when cutting 
cane, killed one nine feet long, and a few minutes later, within a 
yard or two, killed a young one of about two feet long.” 
