98 A NATURALIST IN CELEBES ch. v 



free the tail end was tightly coiled up, and vice versd. We 

 sometimes had half an hour's exciting chase before a 

 specimen was safely deposited in my pickle jar. Another 

 snake, the Dendrophis picta, was a great nuisance to me, for it 

 would come by night and kill my chickens ; but it is a beau- 

 tiful creature, of a warm brown colour, brilliantly orna- 

 mented with spots and stripes of a bright bluish-green sheen. 



I saw one or two specimens of the sea-snake (Hydro- 

 phis) on the coral reef, but never succeeded in securing 

 one. They are dangerous creatures to meddle with, for 

 their bite is said to be very poisonous, and, equipped 

 as I was on my reef expeditions only with weapons for 

 collecting corals, eehiaoderms, and the like, I thought it 

 better on the whole to let them go their own way. It must 

 not be supposed, however, that because there are no terres- 

 trial poisonous snakes in Talisse that they are also wanting 

 in Celebes. It is true there are very few really dangerous 

 snakes in that island, and very few cases are on record of 

 natives having been mortally or even dangerously bitten ; 

 but, nevertheless, I was told that in elevated plains and 

 forests there is a timid black snake which is greatly feared 

 by the natives, whose bite is said to be extremely poisonous. 



There were not many places in Talisse favourable for 

 amphibia, but in a muddy stinking pool some distance 

 from my hut a hoarse croaking, followed by a hasty splash, 

 proclaimed the existence of some kind of frog. From the 

 glimpses I caught of this animal, I believe it was the Rana 

 macrodon (Kuhl), but I should not like to pin my faith to 

 this. If I had possessed at the time a proper keenness 

 for herpetology, I should have raked that pond with a net 

 until I caught one ; but, to tell the truth, the stench was 

 so offensive when undisturbed, and spoke so loudly of the 

 dread miasmas of the tropics, that I thought it wiser to 

 direct my energies to other pursuits until more favourable 

 opportunities presented themselves. 



