888 MR. A. loveuiuge: notes on 



snake escaped tlie following clay it is probable slio would have 

 laid more. 



Tiiis is an essentially arboreal species and ofl'ors one of the 

 finest examples of cryptic colouring amongst East African snakes. 

 The long and slender body is vine-like in its proportions, and 

 coloured for the part. In Morogoro s])ecimens the ci'own of tlio 

 head Avas lenf-green and not unlike a lenf in sluipe ; the Zenge- 

 i-agusu snake had the crown of its head th.e same colour as 

 the body however. The tongue is bright red with a black tip. 

 When annoyed or scared they inflate their throats veitically like 

 a Boomslang does. 



I have already mentioned the swallowing of a Typhlofs mucruso 

 by this Zengeragusn snake in captivity. Two montlis after its 

 escape it was killed in a tree only 200 yards from its cage and 

 then had a Channeleon dilepsis in its stomach. 



DlSPHOLIDUS TYPUS Smith. 



Blgr. Cat. Snakes, iii. 1896, p. 187. 



Two specimens of the Boomslang or Ngole, as it is known in 

 Kiswahili, were taken at Kilosa and Lumbo respectively. 



The largest male measured D6 inches (1027 + 39:]) and female 

 691 (1269 + 489), the latter being 258 mm. Icniger than the 

 maximum given in the Catalogue. These two snakes were 

 the finest of a series of eleven collected at Morogoro. Of the 

 two snakes under consideration, the Kilosa one was bright green 

 and the Lnmbo snake brown. 



In captivity they ate sunbird, wagtail, weavers (PZoce»s, Urmjin- 

 thus, Lagonosticta), warblei-, bulbul, and swallow. The Kilosa 

 snake when shot had the remains of a black swallow {Psalido- 

 procne sp.) in its stomach. 



The Lumbo Boomslang, 68^ inches in length, had a chameleon 

 (C. dilepsis) in its stomach. At Morogoro a Brown Boomslang 

 fell out of a tree in the avenue, together with a chameleon. 

 A green Boomslang and a chameleon of mine escaped, and later 

 I recaptured the snake close by with what was probably the same 

 chameleon in its mouth. A few days later a second brown 

 Boomslang fell out of the sanui trees with a (ihameleon. All 

 these incidents occurred Avithin a month of each other, showing 

 that though the Boomslang may like a chameleon diet it has 

 considerable difficulty in mastering its prey, seeing that no fewer 

 than three fell out of trees while attempting to do so. 



I therefore introduced a chameleon into the cage of a very 

 large and black Boomslang. The snake immediately approached 

 the chameleon, sliding silently towards it with raised head ; the 

 chameleon thereupon raised its occipital tlaps, inllated its throat, 

 and swayed about from side to side, suddenly lunging forwards 

 with widely gaping mouth a.nd uttering a hiss. I then removed 

 the chameleon from the cage, but fed several snakes on cham- 

 eleons later when pushed for other food. 



