THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



645 



the lamplighter, on his rounds to extinguish 

 the lamps, knocked me up to show me a 

 boa-constrictor he had just killed in the Rua 

 St. Antonio, not far from my door. He had 

 cut it nearly in two with a large knife, as it 

 was making its way down the sandy street. 

 Sometimes the native hunters capture boa- 

 constrictors alive in the forest near the city. 

 We bought one which had been taken in this 

 way, and kept it for some time in a laige box 

 under our veranda. This is not, however, 

 the largest or most formidable seipent found 

 in the Amazons region. It is far iufeiior, in 

 these respects, to the hideous Sucuiujti, or 

 Water Boa (Eunectes marinus), which some- 

 times attacks man ; but of this I shall have 

 to give an account in a subsequent chapter. 



It frequently happened, in pnssiug through 

 the thickets, that a snake would fall from 

 the boughs close to me. Once I got for a 

 few moments completely entangled in the 

 folds of one, a wonderfully slender kind, 

 being nearly six feet in length, and not more 

 than half an inch in diameter at its broadest 

 part. It was a species of Diyophis. The 

 majority of the snakes seen we re innocuous. 

 One day, however, I trod on the tail of a 

 young fceipent belonging to a very poisonous 

 kind, the Jararaca (Cra^pedotcphalus atrox). 

 It tumid round and bit my trousers ; and a 

 young Indian lad, who was behind me, dex- 

 terously cut it through with his knife before 

 it had time to free itself. In seme seasons 

 snakes are \ ery abundant, and it often struck 

 me as stiange that accidents did not occur 

 more frequently than was the case. 



Amcng the most curious snakes found here 

 were the Amphisbsense, a genus allied to the 

 slow worm of Europe. Seveial species occur 

 at Para. Those brought to me wei e ge nerally 

 not much more than a feot in length. They 

 are of cj'Iindrical shape, having, properly 

 speaking, no neck ; anci ihe blunt tail, which 

 is only about aa inch in length, is of the same 

 8hape as the head. This peculiar form, 

 added to their habit of wriggling backward 

 as well as forward, has given rise to the fable 

 that they have two heads, one at each ex- 

 tremity. They are extremely sluggish in 

 their motions, end are clothed with scales 

 that have the form of small imbedded plates 

 arranger! in rings round the body. The eye 

 is so small as to be scai cely perceptible. They 

 live habitually in the subterranean chambers 

 of the Saiiba ant ; only coming out of their 

 abodes occasionally in the night lime. The 

 natives call the Amphisbsena the "Mai das 

 Saiibas," or 3Io1her of the Saiibas, and be- 

 lieve it to be poisonous, although it is per- 

 fectly harmless. It is one of the many curi- 

 ous animals which have become the subject 

 of mythical stories with the natives. They 

 Bay the ants treat it wi'h great affection, and 

 that if the snake be taken away from a nest, 

 the Saiibas will forsake the spot. I once 

 took one quite whole out of the body of a 

 young Jararaca, the poisonous species already 

 alluded to, whose body was so distended with 

 its contents that the skin was stretched out 

 to a film over the contained Amphisbama. 1 



was, unfortunately, not able to ascertain the 

 exact relation which subsists between these- 

 curious snakes and the Saiiba ants. I be- 

 lieve, however, they feed upon the Saiibas, 

 for I once found remains of anls in the 

 stomach of one of them. Their motions are 

 quite peculiar ; the undilatable jaws, small 

 eyes, and curious plated integument also dis- 

 tinguish them from other snakes. These 1 

 properties have evidently some relation to 

 their residence in the subterranean abodes of 

 ants. It is now well ascertained by natural- 

 ists, that some of the most anomalous forms, 

 among coleopterous insects are those which, 

 live solely in the nests of anls, and it is curi- 

 ous that an abnormal form of snakes should, 

 also be found in. the society of these insects. 

 The neighborhood of Para is rich in in- 

 sects. I do not speak of the number of in- 

 dividuals, which is probably less than one* 

 meet?, with, excepting ants and Termites, in 

 Bummer days in temperate latitudes ; but the 

 variety, or in other words, the number of 

 species, is very great. It will convey some 

 idea of the diversity of butterflies when I 

 mention that about 700 species of that tribe 

 are found within an hour's walk of the 

 town ; while the total number found in the 

 British Islands does not exceed 66, and the 

 whole of Europe supports only 321. Some 

 of the most showy species, such as the swal- 

 low-tailed kinds, Papilio Polycaou, Tboas, 

 Torquatus, and others, are seen flying about, 

 the streets and gardens ; sometimes they 

 come through the open windows, attracted 

 b}' flowers in the apartments. Those species 

 of Papilio which are most characteristic of 

 the country, so conspicuous in their velvety- 

 black, green, and rose-colored hues, which.. 

 Liuna3us, in pursuance of his elegant system. 

 of nomenclature naming the different kind* 

 after the heroes of Greek mythology called 

 Trojans, never leave the shades of the forest. 

 The splendid metallic blue Morphos, some of 

 which measure seven inches in expanse, are 

 generally confined to the shady valley of the 

 forest. 'They sometimes come forth into Ihe 

 broad sunlight. When we first went to look 

 at our new residence in Nazareth, a Morpho 

 Menelaus, one of Ihe most beautiful kinds, 

 was seen flapping its huge winds like a bird 

 along the veranda. This species, however, 

 although much admired, looks dull in color 

 by the side of its congener, the Morpho Rlie- 

 tenor, whose wings, on the upper face, are 

 of quite a dazzling lustre. Rhetenor usually 

 prefers the broad sunny roads in the foiest, 

 and is an almost unattainable prize, on ac- 

 count of its lofty flight ; for it very rarel}' 

 descends nearer the ground than about twenty 

 feet. When it comes sailing along, it occa- 

 sionally haps its wings, and then the blue 

 surface flashes in the sunlight, so that it is 

 visib'e a quarter of a mile off. There is 

 another species of this genus, of a satiny' 

 white hue, the Morpho Uraneis ; this is 

 equally difficult to obtain ; the male only has 

 the satiny lustre, the female being of a pale- 

 lavender color. It is in the. height of the dry- 

 season that the greatest number and variety 



