i62 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS 



" Flying " Snake is a constrictor, and feeds chiefly on 

 lizards, Geckos being preferred ; it will also, however, 

 occasionally take small mammals, but never frogs. In 

 coloration the snake is very variable ; the body may be 

 black or green, handsomely ornamented with yellow, 

 orange, or red ; the head is always black, with yellow spots 

 or cross-bars. 



Dryophis, another Old World genus of tree snakes, is 

 composed of eight species, all inhabiting South-Eastern 

 Asia. The body and head are much elongate and com- 

 pressed ; the eye is large and provided with a horizontal 

 pupil. Several of the teeth in both jaws are enlarged and 

 fang-like ; the poison fangs are likewise large. 



The Green Whip-Snake, D. mycterizaus, which is also 

 known by the name of the Eye-poking Snake, in allusion to 

 its habit of striking at the face of those by whom it is dis- 

 turbed (the natives believing that it purposely aims at the 

 eyes of its aggressor), is specially remarkable for its long and 

 pointed snout, which terminates in a fleshy appendage. It 

 is uniform bright green in colour, being quite invisible in 

 the bushes and high grass which it frequents. Although 

 often represented as a gentle creature, the few specimens 

 that I have come across were all abnormally vicious, 

 and for the first few days of their captivity persisted in 

 striking wildly at the panes of the vivarium in which 

 they were kept. Its food consists chiefly of lizards, 

 which it invariably seizes behind the neck ; it will also 

 occasionally accept frogs, while quite young specimens are 

 said to be insectivorous. This species is viviparous, a 

 large specimen received some years ago in the Zoological 

 Gardens, bringing forth a brood of eight active young. 



