-COLLECTING WAYS AND COLLECTING DAYS. 355 
Taungjah also I found parading about among the dead leaves on the 
ground, and managed to catch with some difficulty, two magnificent 
specimens of Salins intermedius, Smith, one of the fossorial hyme- 
noptera of the family of the Pompilide.. On the top of the ridge 
we came across a lovely snake of a bright green colour coiled 
round, or rather on, the root of a tree, about a foot off the ground. 
On these steep hill-sides the washing away of the soil under the 
drenching rains often leaves the roots of trees entirely bare, giving 
a rather curious appearance to the trees, which seem to be raised 
above the ground on their roots. H. pushed the snake off gingerly 
with a stick and, holding its vicious-looking flat head down, seized it 
with finger and thumb behind the jaws. As he held it up, the 
brute opened its mouth angrily and showed its two recurved fangs 
clearly, which, asin all the viper family, were rather long. Suddenly 
it gave a twist and a wriggle and, distinctly protruding its fangs, 
jt managed to shake a minute drop of clear poison on to H.’s thumb. 
Inever saw H. in such a hurry to drop anything: he flung the 
snake from him, wiped his thumb on his coat and then with his hand- 
kerchief, and sucked at it violently for at least a minute. However 
there was no abrasion of the skin and no harm done. I don’t think 
the snake itself was a very poisonous one; it was one of the many 
forms of Trimeressurus gramineus, Shaw. This particular individual 
had the tail cinnamon-red. 
Further along, the road narrowed somewhat, and at one bend H., 
who was ahead, suddenly stopped and beckoned to me. I hurried up, 
and he pointed out a magnificent butterfly seated with closed wings 
on the under-side of a bamboo by the edge of the road, Its wings on 
the underside were grayish brown marked on the hind wing with 
faint ocelli. As I approached cautiously, it half opened and closed its 
wings once or twice and then, spreading them suddenly to their full 
extent, it soared and went down the hill-side with a dash that seemed 
to annihilate space. A broad blue bar on the upper side of its wings 
flashed in the sun, and J recognized it as Amathusia portheus, one of the 
most beautiful of the Morphine found in Tenasserim. It was hopeless 
following the creature, so we went on, and by 2 p.m. reached the 
village of Thinganyinaung inthe valley of the Thaungyin, where we 
were to camp that night. That evening we had enough to do to 
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