To-day a fer-de-lance is seldom found exceeding six feet length; but the dimensions of the reptile, at least, would seem to have been decreased considerably by man's warring upon it since the time of Pere Labat, who mentions having seen a fer-de-lance nine feet long and five inches in diameter. He also speaks of a _couresse_--a beautiful and harmless serpent said to kill the fer-de-lance--over ten feet long and thick as a man's leg; but a large couresse is now seldom seen. The negro woodsmen kill both creatures indiscriminately; and as the older reptiles are the least likely to escape observation, the chances for the survival of extraordinary individuals lessen with the yearly decrease of forest-area.

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