COLLECTION OF SNAKES IN THE NILGIRI HILLS. 569 



Se:ies.—Oi the 28 sexed, 10 were d and 18 $. 



Breeding. — No female was gravid, but the season for the appearance of 

 the young can be inferred by the following facts. 



In this Journal (Vol. xix, p. 661) I recorded a young one 4*8 inches 

 long that I thought a hatchling. This was killed in March in Cannanore. 

 As will be seen below all my young this year taken from June to Septem- 

 ber were considerably longer, and indicate that they hatched out much 

 earlier in the year, probably January to March. 



looA, — Like venustus its diet consists of lizard's (snake's ?) and frog's 

 eggs. Four soft-shelled eggs were found in one specimen, about | of an 

 inch in length, their contents absorbed, and the egg-envelope collapsed. 

 Another contained a yellow sausage-shaped mass that was almost a 

 cast of the stomach. It measured 4^ inches and when broken into was 

 found to contain 5 soft shelled, empty, egg envelopes from f to | inches 

 in length. These were embedded, and concealed in the coagulated yolk- 

 mass. A young specimen 6| inches long also contained in its stomach a 

 mass of coagulated yolk in which one soft-shelled, and empty egg-case 

 I inch long was embedded. A fourth specimen contained a similar 

 yolk-mass but no egg envelope was discovered therein. A fifth specimen 

 contained three very small lizards, the bodies of which measured about 

 f of an inch, and the tails a similar length. Flocculi of coagulated yolk 

 adhered to them, and there seems little doubt that the snake had dis- 

 covered eggs just on the point of hatching, and probably liberated the 

 occupants in its endeavour to swallow the eggs. A mass of frog's eggs 

 distended the stomach in one example, with no trace of the frog. 



Groioth. — Young of the year were represented as follows : — One 6| 

 inches long reached me in June, five varying from 6 to 1\ inches in August 

 and eight measuring from 6g to 9| inches in September. My largest <S 

 taped 19 2" inches and J 18 inches. 



Colour. — The crossbars consisting of more or less confluent quadrimacu- 

 late parts numbered 16 to 22 on the body, and 3 to 4 on the tail. Dark 

 variegations are often grouped so as to suggest crossbars in the 

 intervals. 



Lepidosis. — 1 found the loreal absent in one specimen, and two anterior 

 temporals in another. In one other example the 4th to 8th subcaudals 

 were entire. 



The Western Reed Snake — Ablabes calamaria (Gunther). 



Evidently an uncommon snake, only 5 specimens having been acquired. 

 Four of these were from the Wynaad. There is nothing special to note 

 since all accord well with Boulenger's description. One specimen 5 inches 

 long in August had 132 ventrals and 70 subcaudals. In another 8| inches 

 long, these shields were 139 -f- 57. In a third 8^ inches long 126 -f- 59, in 

 a fourth J (?) 9| inches 127-1-64, and in a fifth a $ {?) 10\ inches 

 135+53. 



Dentition.— The maxilla bears 24 teeth, the palatine 15, the pterygoid 

 16, and the mandible 18. 



The Brown Tree Snake — Dipsadomorj)lius trigonatus (Schneider). 



Only 3 specimens were received, and this being so, it is strange that tw( 

 of these should have come from such an altitude as Frith Hall Estate 

 One had swallowed a lizard of the genus Calotes, 



