Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-04-15
Venezuelan JuneIes
Alive With Weird Life
Some SmoIIer Snakes
Look Like Eurthworms
By THOMAS r. HENRY

Look Like Eurthworms
BY THOMAS r. HENRY
PITTIER NATIONAL PARK. vene-
Zuela-Little green frogs in interstices
Of 500-foot-high waterfalls carry on
their backs black pictures Of priests
with arms raised in supplication before
affairs.
There are threadlike snakes under
foot which only biologists can dis
tinguish from earthworms. There are
scarlet snakes. blue snakes. green rat
tlesnakeS. golden tree snakes. There are
snow-white frogs in high treetops.
In few other places on earth does
reptile and amphibian life take on such
fantastic forms and colorings as in
this jungle in the clouds. Here. for ex-
ample. are IL species Of coral snakes
ranging in color from bright red to
bright green. The venom Of any one of
them might be deadly to man unless
treated in a short time. Fortunately
they seldom if ever bite, and are ex-
tremely seclusive in their ways Of life.
It so happened, however. that the only
animal actually seen in a two-hour
climb through the jungle was a green
coral snake banded with white which
moved SO agilely that it slipped unhurt
under the lightninglike downward
stroke of deadly machete.
Like Live Worms
There are three or four varieties OF
earthworm- SnakeS-true Serpents which
have taken up a worms ways of life.
Such. for example. is the yellow-faced
worm snake, or "antnest worm"
which spends the greater part of its
life in the nests of certain variety of
ants It is a snake which is almost
a lizard, for beneath its scales are rudi-
mentary hind legs. Hard scales protect
it from the mass attacks of ants and
its food presumably consists entirely
of these insects, their larvae and their
pupae.
The creature seldom appears on the
jungle floor in the dry season but may
be seen after the rains start, creeping
slowly over leaves and moss but capable
Of moving considerable distances and
even of climbing trees. 1t is thread
like creature which may be the smallest
of all snakes. It seldom is more than
six inches long. The yellow-faced snake
is nearly toothless and has only small,
rudimentary eyes buried under scales.
More like an earthworm is the lep-
totyphlops, which has been found more
than two feet below the surface and a
long way from any ant or termite nest.
1t is an extremely active, threadlike,
dark-broWn reptile which is capable of
climbing trees at a rate of about foot
an hour.
In addition to the corals the poison
Gus serpents of the wildlife preserve
are the fer-de-lance and bushmaster,
common throughout the American trop-
les. The former is deadly enough when
it strikes but is chiefly notable as an
obstetrical marvel A female about five
feet long has been known here to give
birth to as many as 80 living young,
each about seven inches long and with
functioning poison fangs, at one time.
Boas are quite common in the cloud
forest and. in spite of their often fear
some appearance, are quite harmless to
man. Besides the enormous and WELL
known boa constructor there is a tree
boa bright green but with a yellow
head and belly. This coloring makes it
essentially invisible in the foliage. 1t
rolls itself into compact ball in tree
crotches.
10 Giant Iguanas
Along the jungle paths may be en-
countered a three-foot-long green
iguana with long spines on its back
and red comb like rooster. Fairly
common at some times, says DR.. Walter
Arp, director of the biological station.
is the great gray marsupial frog It
carries about with it, under the skin
of its back, little pockets of liquid. In
these pockets the eggs are Matched and
the pollywogs develop to the point Of
transmutation into their final form.
Land snails are represented by the
-inch-long dryptus marmoratus,
which breeds in the moss of the Jungle
floor Two species of land crabs wander
through the brush or make homes in
pools at the bottoms of the high water
falls.
All these animals lead precarious
lives and it usually is difficult to find
one of them except by accident, even
for naturalist well acquainted with
their haunts. DR.. Arp, for example,
searched the bottoms of at least
three high waterfalls before finally
finding an assembly of the curious,
and extremely agile, priest frogs which
he himself evidently regards as one OF
the parks greatest curiosities. And
some Of the deadly coral snakes, which
pass most of their lives under leaves,
have been captured only once or twice
since naturalists have visited the area.