Zoological Boctety. 133 



have myself seen distinctly on more than one occasion, m their com- 

 bats, the fang of the Rat-tail enter into the body or head of the Clibro, 

 and bring blood from the spot, while the Clibro has taken no more 

 notice of it than to get the head of the Rat-tail into his mouth as 

 quickly as possible and begin to swallow him. I have satisfactorily 

 proved that the Clibro does not kill his prey before he has swallowed 

 it, by allowiiag a Clibro to swallow a Couresse, all excepting the very 

 point of his tail, then pulling him out, after a short interval giving it 

 to him again, pulling out the Couresse by the tip of his tail as before, 

 and keeping him alive for months afterwards. 



The common belief is that the Clibro, when bitten by the Rat-tail, 

 rubs himself in a grass which is commonly found in uncultivated land ; 

 but this I have at all events shown to be an unnecessary proceeding 

 on the part of the Clibro. 



It may not be uninteresting to describe here a fight which I wit- 

 nessed some months since between a large Clibro and Rat-tail, the 

 latter being nearly half as thick again as the former, but not so long ; 

 they were each however upwards of four feet in length. 



Upon being placed together in a barrel, the Clibro immediately 

 seized the Rat-tail by the middle, and twisted three times round him, 

 in doing which the Rat-tail bit him in the back, and drew blood ; they 

 both then remained perfectly quiet for a few seconds, when the Clibro 

 moved his head slowly up behind his own body, and looking over it, 

 advanced under its cover, to the point which lay nearest to the head 

 of the Rat-tail, which was between four and five inches distant ; wait- 

 ing about a couple of seconds in this position — the Rat-tail never 

 having moved all this time — the Clibro made a dart, and with almost 

 incredible rapidity seized the head of the Rat-tail in his mouth, and 

 began to swallow him, which he accomplished in rather more than 

 three hours. 



But the Clibro does not confine itself to snakes of other species, 

 for on one occasion I lost a large Clibro by its being eaten by another. 

 The two had lived for weeks together in the same drawer, and there 

 was no great difference between them in size : having offered them 

 food a few days previously, they refused it, and on my next visit I 

 found only one in the drawer. Not being able to discover the means 

 of egress of the missing Clibro, I then began to remark that the one 

 in the dravrer was thicker than usual, and after taking him out and 

 disturbing him a little, he vomited up his late friend in a half-digested 

 state, but enough of him was left to enable me to recognise his scales. 



4. Boa diviniloqua, Dum. et Bibr. The Boa. 



The St. Lucian Boa, which is called by the natives " Tcte Chien" 

 from the resemblance of its head to that of a greyhound, is found in 

 great numbers in cane-pieces, where it is highly valued as a means 

 of destroying rats, but so feared that few natives can be induced to 

 touch or even approach very near to it. 



This fear is however perfectly unnecessary, as although it con- 

 stantly leaves its teeth in the object of its attack, no result more than 

 from the scratch of a thorn ensues. 



