sometimes when hungry he will persistently resist all efforts to drive him away from a house-yard, and one of my monteros was attacked by one when sleeping in the forest. In this case the tigre was in complete darkness, and was badly gashed by the man’s machete; but so far from being frightened, he actually pursued the montero more than a mile to the nearest house, where a gun was obtained and the wounded animal shot. I have seen skins between five and six feet long, exclusive of head and tail. The puma (_Felis concolor_) is more common in the mountain regions, and the “lion” that descended from the Volcan de Agua and ravaged the country about the young City of Guatemala (_antigua_) was of this species. The ocelot (_Leopardus pardalis_) and coyote (_Canis ochropus_) are also found in the interior. Of creeping things the warm regions of the earth are supposed to be prolific. I had been told of the terrible serpents,—the boas that hung from the trees and whipped up deer, the deadly tomagoff, and others, until I was ready to see their folds around every tree, or their coils under every bush. I was to be deprived of a swim in the rivers and lakes because of the alligators, and I must beware of scorpions and centipedes. Now, in fact, the alligators are few in number, small in size, and very deficient in courage. There are a hundred in Florida to every one in Guatemala, and I seldom got a shot at any; I was able to kill only one, and he was not over seven feet in length. A much larger one came ashore to lay her eggs near a house on the Chocon plantation, and was killed. The musky odor of the alligator is very strong during the breeding season, and the eggs (which are eaten by the Caribs) have a very strong flavor. They are small,—less than three inches long,—alike at each end, and rough; when dry, the shells contract, and finally split in spiral strips. Young alligators, not more than a foot long, are eaten, it is said, by the Indios.