VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 373 
at the egg-season, and so can say nothing of the taste ; 
but I am told they are much inferior to the eggs of the 
iguana. It is a common thing to capture sea-turtles which 
have had a flapper bitten off by sharks, and usually the 
wound has healed well, the soft scales covering the stump 
completely. 
Of the frogs, the most troublesome are those which get 
into the cisterns or behind the water-jars, and make a 
very loud and disagreeable noise. 
On the Atlantic coast snakes are much less common 
than on the Pacific. Two long, slender snakes, quite 
harmless, — one green, the other reddish-brown, — are 
seen once in a while; but although the natives believe 
that all snakes are poisonous, only the tomagoff, — a 
short, thick snake of dark color, — the rattlesnake, and 
the coral snake are really venomous, and these are rarely 
seen. Stories are told of boas seen lying across a road 
with head and tail concealed in the trees on either side ; 
but they lack confirmation, and perhaps may be classed 
with the absurd snake story told by Juarros. 1 
The supply of fish is good. The saw-fish grows to a 
great size, and its teeth are very long and sharp. The 
jew-fish is large, weighing several hundred pounds, and is 
good food. Snappers, mullet, bone-fish, king-fish, and a 
score of others of which we know only the local names, 
including one with solid red meat, are found in the rivers 
and bays. Of crustaceans, the crayfish takes the place of 
the lobster, and a small crab is common among the man¬ 
groves and in swampy forests; larger crabs come to the 
shores in breeding-time, but not in such numbers as at 
Belize. 
1 Compendio, t. ii. p. 94, Concerning the Tepulcuat. 
