REMARKABLE JUMPING SNAKE 187 



and whistling over-head, and, firing several shots at 

 random, brought down one bird. We were so short of 

 fresh meat that we were glad to eat anything we could 

 procure, and many small animals were roasted at our 

 nightly camp-fires. 



There was heavy rain on the 6th, followed by an evening 

 of lovely serenity, the sun-setting amidst extraordinary- 

 looking clouds of the most vivid red, yellow, and green 

 tints, which, as darkness set in, gradually merged into a 

 deep purple colour. 



We passed the night in a gully which was nearly a 

 hundred yards deep, with water trickling at the bottom. 

 This spot was a frog's paradise, and there were no fewer 

 than six species in the gully, viz., the " bull frog," which 

 is a creature of very different size and appearance from 

 the batrachian bearing the same title in America ; a 

 yellowish-brown frog; another of a tawny colour, with 

 dark spots ; a bright green ; and one of grey colour. There 

 was also a very small species, with bright reddish-brown 

 markings. 



Probably attracted by the abundance of food, the gully 

 was also resorted to by many snakes, the most remarkable of 

 which is the "jumping snake " of Westralians. This seems 

 to be a lizard of the Seps type, and it is certainly one of 

 the most notable of a notable genus. The finest specimen 

 I could find was less than a foot in length, and the usual 

 length is about nine inches. It has a single pair of well- 

 developed legs, with five toes to each foot, placed near the 

 vent, and these legs are nearly two inches long. No siren 

 or amphisbaena with which I am acquainted has such well- 

 developed legs, nor do I know of any that can use these 

 very small appendages as a spring to leap withal ; but 

 the jumping snake is capable of springing a distance of 

 five feet, and a height of two or three ; in fact, it is quite 

 as active as the most agile of Australian frogs. In colour 

 this lizard is of a dingy black or dark grey, with greenish 

 shades, and lighter tint beneath. The legs are a dirty 

 flesh colour inside and greenish outside, the eyes small 

 and bright, and the head and body those of a snake, 



