196 THE SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



studying their habits. They are at first exceedingly active, and 

 evince a disposition to bite if approached. However, they soon 

 lose all spirit, and will allow themselves to be freely handled 

 without showing any alarm. Those I kept in captivity were 

 bright grass-green at first, but gradually darkened in colour. I 

 was unable to keep them alive long enough to ascertain if they 

 would eventually have changed to olive-brown or blackish. The 

 existence of a green variety of Mamba is either doubted or posi- 

 tively denied by most Colonists. There is no doubt at all of its 

 existence. I have examined many. Their poison fangs, other 

 teeth and scale formation were similar to these distinguishing 

 characters in the Black Mamba. 



I have never met with the green variety of Mamba anywhere 

 but the coastal districts of Natal in the dense forests. In the 

 uplands of Natal and Zululand I have only seen the Black variety. 



A controversy has been, and is, waged as to whether the 

 Green Mamba remains green all its life, or gradually darkens in 

 colour with age. The so-called Black Mamba is usually olive- 

 black in colour, varying in its degrees of intensity. Some speci- 

 mens are uniformly dark olive or olive-black, others have the tips 

 of the scales edged with black. Green Mambas of all lengths up 

 to eight and nine feet have been frequently observed. 



On the contrary. Black Mambas have been killed which 

 measured thirteen feet from nose to tip of tail. It is almost a 

 daily occurrence for Black Mambas, averaging eight to nine feet 

 in length, to be killed in Natal, Zululand, and Transvaal. 



Green Mambas are always found in the forests, clumps of 

 tangled creeper-covered bush, and wooded valleys.* Tlie Black 

 Mamba is often found in more open situations, and wanders far 

 afield, and even penetrates the dwellings of man. It is quite a 

 common occurrence for Black Mambas to be found in the thatch 

 of old farm buildings, or amongst the refuse near by, drawn there 

 by the presence of rats and mice. I have several times seen and 

 killed Black Mambas in trees on the outskirts of the forests, or 

 on branches overhanging beaten tracks, where they lie watching 

 for rodents and other prey, but I found them more abundantly 

 on the ground basking in the sun on the bare sloping sides of 

 streams and dongas. On being alarmed, they rapidly glided off 

 to a hole, into which they vanished. 



* Their favourite lairs are the hollow interiors of old forest trees. 



