SNAKES, SCORPIONS, AND FLIES. 23 



tommy-goff, or tamagasa, and the coral, snake. The bite of the 

 two former causes death in a few hours ; but that of the latter, 

 it is said, almost directly. In Mr. Fowler's trip across the 

 country he reports having killed seven "poisonous brutes" 

 during the journey. " A snake locally known as the * jumping 

 tommy-goff ' was the principal and most dangerous specimen 

 encountered ; 'but one large black snake, about 3 feet long, with 

 a grey, flat head, was killed, which none of us recognised." 



There is a beautiful grass-green-coloured snake, known as the 

 whip snake, which is probably not venomous. 



Scorpions, especially the small brown-coloured species com 

 mon in the West Indies, are plentiful, as also the tarantula 

 spider, which is greatly feared. 



Of " flies," mosquitoes and sand-flies are as abundant on the 

 coast as in any country 'similarly situated-: though perhaps not 

 more troublesome than in Florida and many places' infested by 

 them. In the interior, except at certain seasons of. the year, 

 they are not troublesome in open places. One pest, which I have 

 met nowhere else, is found during certain seasons of the year 

 in low moist districts, which the natives call the " botlass " fly. 

 This is a small black fly, shaped somewhat like a bottle hence 

 its name which is only found in the daytime, but whose bite 

 on the hands and face is most troublesome; if not indeed veno- 

 mous. Its sting leaves a black mark, surrounded by a small 

 reddish-coloured area, which does not disappear until the skin 

 is worn off. " During flood tim.es the natives living in their 

 midst are obliged to shut themselves up in their houses, and stop 

 every aperture to keep out the flies." While in the upper lands 

 on the Mullin's River, rubber-gathering, I made the acquaintance 

 of these pests, which certainly, in persistence and severity, can 

 be compared to nothing except the land-leeches of the East 

 Indies, or the grass-lice (ticks) of Brazil. 



