FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB. 135 



" not a Rattlesnake at all, but a Boa, and as for sleeping, 'tis true he 

 " takes a nap by da} r , like other gentlemen, who have nothing to do, 

 "bat after dark he is wide awake enough, like an owl, or an 

 " Insurance agent on the night of a fire. He is an ugly-looking 

 " brute but so are many good-hearted fellows we meet every 

 " (1 ty. As for venom, he is not half so bad as a mother-in-law 

 "or a traitor friend. He take 5 a starry night for a ramble, 

 " catches his rats by the sweet silver light of the moon and meets 

 " his sweetheart in the shady dell. Every one in Trinidad says 

 " he is frightfully venomous. The Venezuelans say the same. 

 " They regard him as one of the worst characters in the country. 

 " They called him " Mapanare." Now what is the truth? His 

 " true name in serpent lore is Corallas. He lives altogether in 

 " the trees, rarely coming to tha ground. He is one of the best 

 " climbers in the world." There are other useful snakes, such as 

 the (Jribo,* the Scytale corouaium or ratanero. The cribo it is 

 true will take chickens, but he lives principally on rats and I 

 think we should excuse him if he sometimes takes a chick by 

 mistake. After the snikes come the toads and frogs. Very 

 little good has ever been written of toads and frogs. Milton 

 represents the evil one in the guise of an enormous toad 

 whispering temptations into the ear of Eve as she lay a;leep : 



" him there they found. 



" Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve, 



" Assaying by his devilish art to reach 



" The organs of her fancy, and with them forge 



" Illusions, as he list, phantoms and dreams; 



" Or if, inspiring venom, he might taint 



" Tlie animal spirits, that from pure blood arise 



" Like gentle breaths from rivers pure." 



Shakespeare was particularly ingenious in attributing bad 

 qualities to this useful amphibian. "Adversity is like a toad 

 ugly and venomous ,; ; he sings of venom toads, and poison 

 never hung on a fouler toad ; a poisonous hunch-backed toad ; 

 slaves toads and rogues are linked together; while no one 

 could be more loathsome than a toad and so on. On the 

 authority of Shakespeare and numerous other writers and 

 tradition the toad then is unanimously declared to be 

 poisonous. Now the toad has a certain acrid secretion in his 

 skin >vhich he takes care to discharge when any other animal 

 interferes with him, but he is not at all venomous and as he 

 can neither bite nor scratch he isa very helpless creature although 

 such wonderful powers and spiteful temper are attributed to 

 him. That he is useful there is no doubt, for he devours all the 

 enemies of the kitchen gardener, snails, beetles, flies, grubs of all 



* r olubcr corais, Cuvier. 



