COLLECTION OF SNAKES IN THE NILGIRI HILLS. 659 



this large material I am also inclined to doubt the validity of the other 

 two " species," viz., guentheri and aureus. Without however studying the 

 type specimens it is wisest to say no more. 



Habits. — Several live specimens were brought in, some having been en- 

 countered crossing the roads, and showing so little alarm at the approach 

 of footsteps as to permit easy capture. In one's grasp it glides through 

 the fingers restlessly and slowly without attempting to bite. One wreathed 

 itself round a stick that was placed over it, and was carried so, for a mile 

 or more without relaxing its folds. It exhibits considerable strength when 

 wreathed round one's fingers. 



Put into loose earth it burrowed with its nose so as to conceal its head, 

 frequently leaving most of the body uncovered. No use was made of the 

 tail while burrowing. 



Sexes. — Of 38 sexed, 28 were found to be females and 10 males. I 

 could discover no external difl'erences to distinguish the sexes. 



Breeding. — It is viviparous in habit. I obtained four gravid females 

 between the 29th of June and the 3rd of August. In a specimen captured 

 on the 29th of June six embryos were found measuring about 3 inches. 

 In another between the 1st and 4th of July four embryos measuring about 

 2 inches long were observed. In a third caught on the 8th of August three 

 young were found, all males, 4^^, 4\ and 4 J inches long. The fourth 

 killed between the Ist and 3rd oi August contained three foetuses (two 

 of which were males, and the third of uncertain sex one of which measured 

 3^ inches). The young escaped from one mother partly by their own 

 movements when she was cut open. A specimen in Gray's collection, date 

 of capture unknown, contained six eggs. 



I have always been puzzled to know when the genitals of male fcetuses 

 became ensheathed. Up to a certain period they are found extruded 

 before birth. I was able to observe that in the three most advanced 

 fcetuses ripped from their mother, although males (ventrals and sub- 

 caudals 166 + 12, 167+12 and 167+11), the genitals were no longer ex- 

 truded so that the ensheathing takes place before birth. The mothers 

 varied in length from 11 to 14 inches. 



The season of birth is from June to September. I obtained 3 specimens 

 ^i, 4f and 5| inches long in June, and as many as 15 varying from 

 4 to 4f inches in September. As many as 40 specimens of this year's 

 production were collected. 



Food.- — Earthworms form its exclusive dietary, many of these being found 

 in fragments '' in gastro". The intestines were almost always filled with 

 liquid mud. 



Colour. — In some specimens there is a bright carrot red hue on the centres 

 of the scales of the belly and beneath the tail instead of the usual mustard- 

 yellow. In the young a pale pinkish shade replaces these brighter hues. 



One specimen furnished me with several white vermiform parasites which 

 appeared to me identical with the Porocephalus crotali so frequently found in- 

 festing the abdominal cavity of Colubrines. One of these was half obtruded 

 from the cloacal orifice which would make it appear an interalimentary 

 parasite, sometimes though usually found attached to the walls of the ab- 

 dominal cavity, or outside the various viscera. 



Lepidosis. — The ventrals in the S varied from 160 to 167, in the $ from 

 162 to 181. The subcaudals in the d from 9 to 12, in the $ 6 to 8, 



Habitat. — It is an extremely common snake between 5,000 and 6,000 

 feet, and gets scarcer as one approaches 3,500 feet. This accounts for the 

 small number (only five) of specimens from the Wynaad. 



Dentition. — The maxillary teeth number 7. There are no palatine, and 

 no pterygoid teeth. The mandible holds 6 or 7. 



