188 CENTRAL AMERICA. 



but she was far too quick, and beat her 

 antagonist by the most skilful sparring ever 

 witnessed. 



There are very many other poisonous 

 snakes, such as the Tamagasa, and a very 

 large flat-headed snake, with a thick lump in 

 the neck close behind the head ; but there is 

 not room for a description of them ; yet there 

 is a curious fact connected with one species 

 of snake that I should like to be able to 

 account for. 



This is a long, slender, and harmless snake 

 of about three or four feet in length, and is 

 generally found climbing on the bushes that 

 grow about the sides of small sheltered 

 streams; the colour is of a most brilliant 

 green ; but if one is killed and thrown into 

 the sunshine, the colour gradually changes 

 until, in an hour or two, it becomes a pale 

 sky-blue. The change is very much like 

 that indigo undergoes : when the indigo is 

 taken from the pit, it is quite green, but by 

 exposure to the air in very small lumps or 

 rather wet dabs, it gradually becomes blue 

 by the absorption of the atmosphere. Is it 

 not possible that a similar change may take 

 place in the colouring matter of this snake, 

 after death, that vitality resists during life? 



