TREE-SNAKES. 277 



bably Uramts heraldicus, and other species closely allied. 

 When wounded, these large Lizards bite very severely, but 

 unless provoked are perfectly harmless . They are easily shot, 

 but it is not without some difficulty they are caught alive. 

 Among the most active and graceful of the Tree- 

 Snakes to be found in Borneo is the DryiopMs nasuta, a 

 slender, grass-green reptile, with a yellow line extending 

 along the sides, and with the muzzle prolonged into a 

 sharp-pointed snout. I had two of these beautiful 

 creatures in my possession, at different times, one from 

 Borneo, and the other from Celebes. The Dyaks, when 

 they presented me with the Bornean variety, carefully 

 secured in a joint of bamboo, with a cork made of rolled 

 up leaves, considered it to be highly venomous, and were 

 greatly surprised at observing me playing with, and 

 teazing it, most probably confounding it with a green 

 species of Megcera, which is poisonous, and which I have 

 also seen in Borneo. The Dryiopliis, however, is perfectly 

 innocuous, and is, to boot, one of the most graceful 

 reptiles that glide upon the ground ; Satan might have 

 assumed its form when he courted the notice and admi- 

 ration of our common mother. It is a very active and 

 playful Serpent, and feeds on Grass-hoppers, Ants, and 

 other insects, which it seizes, with the velocity of light- 

 ning, frequently darting out its long, black, forked tongue, 

 before making the final spring. A party in one of our 

 boats, proceeding up the Sarawak river, encountered a 

 large black-coloured Cobra (Naja Tripudians), seven feet 

 long, making his way through the water with his head 

 slightly raised, and his tongue protruding. He was im- 

 mediately attacked, wounded, and, after much struggling, 



