THE GOLDEN TREE-SNAKE. 



137 



THE beautiful BOIGA, sometimes called the AH^ETULLA, also belongs to the family of 

 Tree-Serpents. This pretty and graceful creature inhabits Borneo, and on account of 

 the extreme gentleness of its disposition, and the ease with which it is tamed, the chil- 

 dren are in the habit of considering it as a kind of living toy, and allow it to twine 

 around their bodies, or carry it about in their little hands without the least alarm. It 

 is a most active Serpent, living in trees, and darting its lithe form from branch to branch 

 with arrow-like celerity, leaping, as it were, from the coiled folds in which it prepares 

 itself for the spring, and passing through the boughs as if shot from a bow, its glittering 

 scales flashing an emerald or sapphirine radiance, as it glances through the sunbeams. 



The head of the Boiga is long and slender, as beseems the delicate body ; the eye 

 is large, full, and round, and the gape very wide. The upper part of its body is rich 



ROIOA. 



llocercua. 



shining blue, shot with sparkling green ; and three bright golden stripes run along the 

 body, one traversing the spinal line, and another passing along each side. Behind 

 each eye is a bold jetty black streak, and immediately below the black line runs a 

 stripe of pure white. 



The specific name ought properly to be spelled leiocercus. It is of Greek origin, 

 and signifies smooth-tail, in allusion to the smooth-surfaced scales of the back and tail. 



THE family of the Wood-Snakes, or Dryiophidae, as they are learnedly called, contains 

 some interesting and rather curious reptiles. The upper figure in the illustration rep- 

 resents the GOLDEN TREE-SNAKE, which is a native of Mexico. It is a most lovely 

 species, and of a most singular length, looking more like the thong of a "gig whip " 

 than a living reptile. It lives in trees, and in many respects resembles the preceding 

 species. It is not so gorgeously decorated as the boiga, but its colors are beautifully 

 soft and delicate. The general tint of this Serpent is gray, tinged with yellow, and 

 having a golden reflection in certain lights, and being decidedly iridescent in others. 

 The body is profusely covered with minute dottings of black. 



The lower figure represents the LANGAHA, one of the Serpents of Madagascar, re- 

 markable for the singular appendage to the head. The muzzle is extremely elongated, 

 and is furnished with a fleshy projection, about one-third as long as the head, and cov- 

 ered with small scales. There is another species, the COCK'S-COMB LANGAHA (Langaho, 

 crista-galli), also a native of Madagascar, which is known from the ordinary species by 

 the form of the appendage, which is toothed something like the comb upon a cock's 

 head. The color of the Langaha is reddish brown. 



