Rev. Mr Cowan on the Natural History of Madagascar. 143 



The Neodrepanis lias only hitherto been found in a snmll 

 part of the forest to the east of the capital. 



SXAKES. 



Snakes of several genera are common, but all of them in- 

 nocuous. Many stories are prevalent amongst the natives as 

 to the dreadful powers of some of these animals, and these 

 have been readily believed by European residents; but I have 

 examined every species, even those most dreaded, and have 

 found them perfectly harmless. 



The Pijtlionidia, represented by a peculiar genus, Sanzinia, 

 is common both in the forests and in the highlands, and about 

 these the natives have much superstitious feeling. The 

 female of one species is supposed to have emerged from the 

 tomb of a former king. As this animal is beautifully marked, 

 not unlike the designs on the native mats, the people say, 

 that they received their first ideas of those patterns from this 

 animal. The male of this same species, wrongly considered 

 by the natives and Europeans resident in the island to be a 

 different reptile altogether, has even more superstition 

 attached to it than the female. By a most disgusting process, 

 they pretend to derive it from the dead bodies of their chiefs, 

 and whenever one of these animals is found, it is captured 

 with much ceremony, rolled in silk cloths, and fed on the 

 richest of milk, on the supposition that it contains the spirit 

 of the chief from which it has been derived. The species 

 lives upon rats and such animals, and is exceedingly fond of 

 young Indian corn. At one time I kept several of the 

 females of this species, called by the natives Dona, and one of 

 them presented me with seven young ones, which, as they dis- 

 appeared, were afterwards the cause of some amusement and 

 excitement in our compound. The last we saw of them, 

 was when one of the ladies, about to place her child in the 

 crib, saw what she supposed to be a slipper, but which to her 

 horror turned out to be one of these young pythons, now 

 well grown. There are large numbers of lizards, more especi- 

 ally on the upper plateau, but of these I am not at this time 

 able to say much. 



