610 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



after 8un-set, begin again long be- 

 fore tlie dawn, and never seem so 

 happy as during the morning and 

 evening twilight. The madruga- 

 dores are about as large as spar- 

 rows. Among the night birds are 

 several kinds of owls and bats. 



The reptiles of Mexico are of 

 two classes, the four-footed and 

 those without feet. The first class 

 are crocodiles, lizards, frogs, and 

 toads ; in the second class are all 

 kinds of serpents. The Mexican 

 crocodiles resemble the African 

 crocodiles in size, form, voracity, 

 way of living, and in all the other 

 peculiarities of their character; 

 they abound in many of the lakes 

 and rivers of Mexico, and some- 

 times destroy men as well as ani- 

 mals. Among the greater lizards is 

 the acaltetepon ; the bite of this 

 animal is painful, but not mortal. 

 The iguana is a harmless lizard. 

 Among the poisonous lizards, the 

 worst is the tetzauhqui. Of ser- 

 pents, the most considerable in 

 point of size is the canauhcoati, 

 which is about 20 feet long, and 

 five to six feet in thickness. Among 

 the poisonous serpents is the tect- 

 lacozauhqui, which is the famous 

 rattlesnake ; its colour and size are 

 various, but it is commonly three 

 or four feet long; the rattlesounds 

 whenever the snake moves, and 

 particularly when he is in motion 

 to bite ; the bite is attended with 

 certain death, unless remedies are 

 speedily applied, of which the 

 most efficacious is thought to be, 

 the holding of the wounded part 

 some time in the earth. The 

 ahueyactli is three to four feet long; 

 it communicates a kind of poison 

 which occasions the blood to burst 

 from the mouth, nose, and eyes of 

 the person bit. The cuicuilcoatl, 



so named from the variety of it$ 

 colours, is not quite eight inches 

 long, and of the thickness of the 

 little finger, but its poison is moat 

 active and deadly. The teixrai-. 

 nani is of a long slender form, 

 with a grey-coloured back, and 

 purple belly ; it moves always in 

 a straight line, never coils, but 

 springs from the trees upon pas- 

 sengers ; its poison is most fatal. 

 The cencoatl is also a poisonous 

 snake, is about five feet long, and 

 eight inches round at the thickest 

 part. The most remarkable qua- 

 lity of this snake is its shining in 

 the dark. 



Of harmless snakes there are 

 several kinds, of which the tri- 

 catlinan, or mother of ants, is 

 very beautiful, about a foot in 

 length, and of the thickness of 

 the little finger ; if. lives always in 

 ant-hills, and feeds upon the ants. 

 The raaquizcoatl is about a foot in 

 length, and an inch in thickness; 

 it is of a shining silver hue, the 

 tail is thicker than the head, and 

 it moves progressively with either 

 extremity at pleasure. 



Of insects, in Mexico, there 

 are three classes, viz, the flying, 

 the terrestrial, and the aquatic. 



Among the flying insects are 

 beetles, bees, wasps, flies, gnats, 

 butterflies, and grasshoppers. The 

 beetles are of several kinds, and 

 mostly harmless. Some of them 

 are of a green colour, called by 

 the Mexicans majatl ; they make 

 a great noise in flying. There are 

 others black, of a disagreeable 

 smell and irregular form, called 

 pinacatl. The cucullo, or shining 

 beetle, is more than an inch in 

 length, and, like other flying 

 beetles, is furnished with double 

 wings. It shews much light when 



