66 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Battle between a tree frog and a snake. 



He has even seen die small tree frogs eat humble 

 bees, but this was never done without some con- 

 test: they are in general obliged to reject them, 

 being incommoded by their stings and hairy 

 roughness , but in each attempt the bee is fur- 

 ther covered with the viscid matter from the 

 frog's tongue, and when thus coated it is swal- 

 lowed with facility. 



A battle between a tree frog and a snake was 

 seen in the top of a mangrove tree, by one of 

 the officers who was with Captain Stedman when 

 he was sailing up one of the rivers of Surinam in 

 a canoe. When the captain first perceived them, 

 the head and shoulders of the frog were in the 

 jaws of the snake, which was about the size of a 

 large kitchen poker. This creature had its tail 

 twisted round a tough limb of the mangrove, 

 while the frog, which appeared about the size of 

 a man's fist, had laid hold of a twig with his hind 

 feet. In this position they were contending, the 

 one for life, the other for his dinner, forming 

 one straight line between the two branches, and 

 thus they continued for some time, apparently 

 stationary, and without a struggle. Slill it was 

 hoped that the poor frog might extricate him- 

 self by his exertions, but the reverse was the 

 case. The jaws of the snake^gradually relaxing, 

 and by their elasticity forming an incredible ori- 

 fice, the bodv and fore leers of the frog by little 



/ O J 



and little disappeared, till finally nothing more 

 was seen than the hinder feet and claws, which 



