WAIP SNAKES. 49 
cervical vertebree. The object of the latter is to crush the shells 
of birds’ eggs, upon which the snakes in question habitually feed. 
Of the more characteristic Tree Snakes, the Dendrophide have 
the body and tail much compressed, or very slender and elongated ; 
the head generally lengthened, narrow, flat, and distinct from the 
slender neck; the snout rather long, obtuse or rounded in front ; 
cleft of the mouth wide; and the eye of moderate size, or large, 
with round pupil. These are diurnal Snakes, which live entirely 
upon trees, where they prey chiefly on arboreal lizards and frogs. 
Species of them inhabit all tropical countries. They are generally 
of great beauty; the Indian Crrysopelea ornaia is excessively so, being 
variegated with yellow and crimson upon a black ground, but the 
crimson soon fades when a specimen is immersed in spirit. Others 
are very variable in their colouring, as the African Bucephalus capensts 
and the Indian Dendrophis picta. 
The next family of Dryzophide, or the Whip Snakes, have a still 
more slender and elongated body, which has been aptly compared to 
the thong of a whip. The head is very narrow and long, with taper- 
ing snout, ending in a protruded rostral shield, which is sometimes 
modified into a flexible appendage ; the eyes are of moderate size, 
and all the Asiatic species have the pupil of the eye horizontally 
linear, and a long fang-like tooth in the middle of the maxillary. 
The whole of this group are provided with a posterior grooved 
tooth. They are chiefly nocturnal, and their movements are wonder- 
fully rapid and graceful among the branches of trees. They are 
numerous almost everywhere in tropical countries. In general 
the various Whip Snakes are of a bright leafgreen colour, with 
two white stripes on the belly, so that they are difficult to discern 
among the foliage. In the genus Zangaha, which is peculiar to 
Madagascar, the muzzle is elongated into a fleshy appendage, 
which is covered with small scales, constituting about one-third 
of the total length of the head. ‘This appendage is dentated in 
one species (LZ. crista-gal/i), and not so in another (LZ. zasuta). In 
the Indian genus, asserita, the snout is long and pointed, termi- 
nating in a flexible appendage. The name of Whip Snake is 
applied by Anglo-Indians to all of the species of Dendrophide and 
of Drytophide; and the erroneous notion prevails that they are 
highly venomous, and that they spurt venom into people’s eyes. 
- The same is believed in South Africa of the Bucephalus capensis. 
_ Even Gordon Cumming asserts that one night a snake which his 
_ Servant had tried to kill with his loading-rod flew up at his eye, 
and “spat poison into it. Immediately,” he adds, “I washed it 
