ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
155 
the interfering roots and stones. Between holes, 
and for some distance up and down stream, 
the animals had well-trodden runways, which 
occasionally turned sharply upward and led for 
a short distance through the undergrowth. 
On one side of each entrance was a low 
mound, pounded hard by the pressure of the 
animal’s feet and body, and scattered about, 
sticking in the soft mud, were veritable, minia¬ 
ture kitchen middens—remains of giant craw¬ 
fish, Macrobrachium jamaicense, ancient heads 
of fish with occasional bits of vertebrae and fins. 
The flowing stream in front (and the holes in¬ 
variably faced pools of considerable depth) pro¬ 
vided an abundance of food, much of which was 
apparently brought up and devoured near the 
burrows. These opossums have as many as 
nine young in a litter, and even well-grown 
ones have been seen in close association with one 
of the parents. It is a mystery how the young 
can stand immersion, when the mother goes on 
her fishing excursions, unless during the help¬ 
lessness of the early period of their existence 
she confines her hunting to shrimps in the shal¬ 
lows. Few naturalists have ever seen these 
creatures alive and my glimpse, meagre though 
it was, made me count my nocturnal adventure 
a success. 
Finally came the wind and in another five 
minutes the rain. For a time it fell heavily and 
we saw an end to jacking, but after some glori¬ 
ous lightning and thunder, and another wild 
burst of wind, came steady, quiet, misty rain 
which interfered in no way with us. As we left 
the shelter of the bank, a great tree fell on the 
other river, and we wondered whether it was the 
dead giant which had overhung our dining rocks, 
and upon which we had commented, wondering 
how r many centuries it had stood there, perhaps 
since Morgan passed, and how many minutes, 
or months or decades it would still resist gravi¬ 
tation. 
The shallows of the second river alternated 
patches of soft green grass with smooth rocks, 
and seemed singularly free from potholes until 
my guide got careless and went up to his waist 
in a narrow one. We sat motionless on a 
soggy bank, flashing occasionally, when we both 
thought simultaneously of the two Yapocks on 
the first river, and rose to make our way to 
shore. We were in an inch of water on a wide 
expanse of rock as flat as a table, when my foot 
struck against a bit of stick. Flashing down¬ 
ward perfunctorily, I saw a heavy-built, five- 
foot snake in the act of changing its course. My 
slight blow had turned it, and it was partly 
between my feet, winding slowly around to¬ 
ward its tail. The first glance showed me the 
swollen jowls, the x-shaped marks, and I 
thought fast. My first impulse was to press my 
flash down upon its neck, but the electric had 
been flickering during the last five minutes and 
if the water quenched it I would have to be 
very certain of my neck hold. My bags and 
haversack were far off on the other river and I 
remembered the thorns and slippery banks be¬ 
tween; besides we were out for Yapocks. So I 
decided against toting a living, deadly bush- 
master snake back, and called out to my com¬ 
panion who had the gun. He turned ready for 
a Yapock, and was astonished to see this great 
yellow and black form undulating toward him. 
Potholes did not concern him as he turned its 
flank and put two pellets through its neck. 
This rendered the snake helpless, but its fangs 
were a trifle over an inch in length, and I fas¬ 
tened the head very tightly in my handker¬ 
chief before I wound up and tied its sixty inches 
around my hunting belt. And on my way back, 
whenever its coils were unusually lively, and 
I simultaneously ran against a thorn, the com¬ 
bination tended unduly to excite the imagina¬ 
tion, and I was not sorry when I could cache 
the big master of the bush farther from my 
skin. These venomous snakes are apparently 
rare in this region, and this was the first which 
my companion had seen on the Isthmus in eight 
years of hunting. 
When we returned we could see nothing but 
the more common opossums and rats, although 
a paca once ran across the shallows. It was 
half past two and although the rain-mist still 
came down, yet the diffused light of the hid¬ 
den moon showed our figures to one another, 
which meant that the wild creatures could see 
us distinctly. 
Disappointedly we packed up, and squeezing 
all the water possible out of our clothes, we 
began the slow, steady crawl and creep and 
scramble which is the only gait to be sustained 
through the long miles of dense thorn jungle. 
We saw not one mosquito the entire night, but 
from six to eight, and for a half hour later in 
the night, our jacks made a veritable mecca 
for all the sand flies in the world. During that 
time we breathed and swallowed and felt noth¬ 
ing but the millions of pests—eyes, ears, and 
nostrils were filled with them, and it w r as diffi- 
