558 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVI. 



coated with mud when other parts of the snake are not, that I had expected 

 the use of this appendage in some way whilst probing beneath the soil. 



The sexes. — Of 23 that were sexed 16 proved to be $ and 7 <S • The tail 

 in the male is longer, the subcaudals numbering 9 to 11, against 7 to 8 of 

 the female, but the body is but little shorter in the male. The male 

 ventrals numbered 185 to 196 as compared with 194 to 208 (usually over 

 200) in the female. 



Breeding. — I had two gravid females captured between the 20th of June 

 and 10th of July. One measuring 11 inches contained 3 sacs with well 

 developed embryos about 4f inches long. The other measuring 14^ inches 

 contained 5 sacs in which embryos 4J inches long were observed. A few young 

 of the year measuring from 5 to 6f inches reached me in July and August. 



Length, — I had four females 15 to 15| inches long, and my largest males 

 measured 13 and 13| inches, respectively. 



Dentition. — Maxillary set 4 or 5. Palatine and pterygoids edentulous. 

 Mandibular set 6 or 7. 



The Common Roughtail — Silyhura hrevis (Gunther). 



All my specimens, 59 in number, came from the Wynaad. 



Habits. — The few live specimens sent to me were as inoffensive as the 

 last species. In captivity it burrowed with the aid of the snout alone, and 

 nothing in its behaviour suggested any special use for the stumpy curiously- 

 fashioned tail. In this species again I repeatedly noted that the top of 

 the tail was clogged with earth when none was adhering to other parts. 



Food. — Most examples contained fragments of earthworms in the sto- 

 mach. The overloaded condition of the intestines with liquid mud gave 

 one an idea of the heavy toll exacted from the ranks of its fellow sojourn- 

 ers beneath the soil. 



Sexes. — Of 26 examples in which the sex is recorded, 14 were S and 12 

 2 , I was unable to discover any external characters to differentiate the 

 sexes. Females as usual attain to a greater length, no less than 10 exam- 

 ples reaching or exceeding 11 inches, whereas only one male had acquired 

 this length. My largest female measured 16^ inches, and my largest male 

 12 inches. 



Breeding. — I had no single gravid female, but the season for the appear- 

 ance of the young is evidently from June to August. I had 21 young vary- 

 ing from 3| to 6^ inches from the end of June onwards. They pro- 

 bably grow three inches in the first year as twelve specimens ranged from 

 6| to 8| inches. 



The young examples I noticed had no trace of the terminal points, that 

 one sees so well developed in the adult, and the supracaudals are less evi- 

 dently carinate. 



Lepidosis. — The range of ventrals I found to be 133 to 145 for the S and 

 139 to 143 for the 5- The subcaudals in the J being 9 to 12, and in the 

 $ 9 to 10. One specimen had the 7th, 8th and 9th subcaudals entire. 



The skin strips off easily everywhere except on the truncate part of the 

 tail. Here the epidermis is thicker than elsewhere, and intimately adher- 

 ent to a cushion of deep musculature. Within this no osseous thickening 

 is to be observed but the vertebrte are probably peculiarly L^ropeltid. 



Dentition. — The maxilla holds from 5 to 6 teeth. The palatine and 

 pterygoid are edentulous. The mandibular array is 7. 



Perrotet's Spinetail — Plectrurus perroteti (Dumeril and Bibron). 



Boulenger in his Catalogue (Vol. I, p. 162) under the heading P. davisoni 

 suggests that this species may have to be united with perroteti. I think 

 there is no question that davisoni cannot be retained as a species apart. 

 No less than 135 examples of this snake came into my hands, and from 



