184 CAEIPI. Chap. V. 



furcata), and the large falcate-winged Campylopterus 

 obscurus. 



Snakes were very numerous at Caripi ; many harm- 

 less species were found near the house, and these some- 

 times came into the rooms. I was wandering one day 

 amongst the green bushes of Guajara, a tree which yields 

 a grape-like berry (Chrysobalanus Icaco) and grows along 

 all these sandy shores, when I was startled by what ap- 

 peared to be the flexuous stem of a creeping plant 

 endowed with life and threading its way amongst the 

 leaves and branches. This animated liana turned out 

 to be a pale-green snake, the Dryophis fulgida. Its 

 whole body is of the same green hue, and it is thus 

 rendered undistinguishable amidst the foliage of the 

 Guajara bushes, where it prowls in search of its 

 prey, tree-frogs and lizards. The forepart of its head 

 is prolonged into a slender pointed beak, and the 

 total length of the reptile was six feet. There was 

 another kind found amongst bushes on the borders of 

 the forest closely allied to this, but much more slender, 

 viz., the Dryophis acuminata. This grows to a length 

 of 4 feet 8 inches, the tail alone being 22 inches ; but 

 the diameter of the thickest part of the body is little 

 more than a quarter of an inch. It is of light brown 

 colour, with iridescent shades variegated with obscurer 

 markings, and looks like a piece of whipcord. One in- 

 dividual which I caught of this species had a protu- 

 berance near the middle of the body. On opening it I 

 found a half-digested lizard which was much more bulky 

 than the snake itself. Another kind of serpent found 

 here, a species of Helicops, Avas amphibious in its habits. 



