308 SNAKES OF CEYLON 



I must say I can abundantly confirm Flower's experiences. 

 There is no doubt that this snake is decidedly plucky, and on 

 occasions fierce, but I would not suggest that all are equally 

 vicious. I think that snakes, like other creatures, exhibit 

 individual character. 



I well remember my servant in Rangoon trying to effect the 

 capture of a large specimen in a hedge adjoining my compound. 

 I arrived on the scene when the excitement was at its height, 

 and discovered that all the menial establishment, amounting 

 to ten or more, had been pressed into service. The snake had 

 fought most courageously to elude capture, and struck at any- 

 one who ventured to attempt to grasp it. My boy, confident 

 of master's solatium in the form of a rupee, if the creature was 

 captured alive, had been struck at and bitten, and I hardly 

 knew which to admire most, the servant's determination and 

 courage, or the snake's vigourous endeavours to retain its 

 liberty. 



Flower mentions one in a fit of rage biting itself with such 

 vigour that its teeth were fixed into the side of its body, and 

 I can remember recapturing one which had escaped from my 

 vivarium and had taken refuge between some boards in my 

 house. When extricated after some difiicultv, and with the 

 employment of some force, it struck at and buried its teeth 

 in its own body. 



The fact that this snake ^^'ill not onl}' engage, but some- 

 times overcome, so formidable an antagonist as the tuctoo 

 {Gecko veriicillatus), is in itself sufficient proof of its courage. 

 This remarkable Burmese lizard grows to over a foot, and is 

 renowned for its truculence and the strength of its jaws. 

 Flower says that the tuctoo may give battle to the gold and 

 black tree snake for some hours before being finally swallowed. 

 Captain Lloyd, I. M.S., sent me the following account of an 

 encounter he witnessed between a Chrysopelea and a tuctoo 

 on Sandoway Island : " The snake was on the ground in 

 combat with a tuctoo, and faring badly as the gecko had it 

 fast held in its jaws some inches behind the head — the marks 

 of the jaws ^^ere plainly visible. Finding it difficult to catch 

 either \\hilst on board, I shook them off into the sea, but in 



