COLLECTION OF SNAKES IN THE NILGIRI HILLS. o73 



Food. — Lizards had furnished the meal on six occasions, a Lygosoma 

 once, a Mabuia once, and Chavasia dorsalis once. Others were too digested 

 to identify. Frogs had been victimised by five examples, on three occa- 

 sions a species of Ixaius having been taken. One example had eaten an 

 Ixalus, and an agamoid lizard. Another had swallowed a good sized snake 

 of the species Rhinophis sanguineus. The snake was doubled up in the 

 stomach, and not lying at full length as happens in the case of snakes 

 victimised by Bungarus and Hemibungarus. 



Breeding. — For the number of specimens collected the information derived 

 is meagre. Only four gravid females were included. One killed between 

 the 22nd and 25th of August, measuring 4 feet 9 inches, contained 10 eggs 

 about one inch long with embryos from 2 to 3 inches in length inside. One 

 killed between the 28th of August, and the 1st of September measuring 5 

 feet 10 inches, contained 5 eggs about one inch long with small foetuses 

 inside. One killed between the 1st and the 8th of September, measuring 3 

 feet 11 inches contained 3 embryos. One of these was 14^ and another 

 12j inches long, and the third was very much deformed. A fourth example 

 killed between the 20th and 30th of September, measuring 3 feet 10-| inches, 

 contained 4 eggs about f of an inch in length. The season for the birth of 

 the young is evidently between July and December or perhaps even Janu- 

 ary. This is borne out by a specimen 18^ inches long, being killed in 

 August, and the fact that one specimen late in Septeniber contained very 

 immature eggs. 



Growth. — Young of the year were not well represented. Three examples 

 only were acquired, all in August, and these ranged between 15 and 18^ 

 inches. The variation in the length of the young at birth, also that be- 

 tween the sexes, and the long season for birth make it very difficult 

 to follow the broods of successive years. However, 20 males ranging 

 between 39^ and 46f inches, and 14 females varying between 41 and 48f 

 inches are almost certainly about completing their second year of life, and 

 it is probable that the 8 males between 23^ and 34 inches represent those 

 completing their first year of life. 



Females acquire a greater length. Thus my largest ^ was 51 inches, 

 and I had three $ exceeding this, their respective measurements being 

 56, 57 and 70 inches. 



The tail is decidedly longer in the males. 



Colours. — 1 made many observations on the colour, and it is a surprising 

 fact that the very beautiful chlorophyll-green hue is not caused by a green 

 pigment. The only pigment to be derived from the skin is a fairly bright 

 yellow. The scales viewed i;nder a good lens are seen to be studded with 

 minute yellow points. I had frequently noticed that the spirit in which 

 specimens had been preserved, acquired a yellow tinge and the skins 

 became more and more bluish. Having carefully washed six freshly- 

 removed skins with soap and water in my bath, 1 placed these in water 

 and boiled them . The result was that the skins acquired a bluish tinge, 

 and a decided yellow tinge was imparted to the water. 



As I boiled this away the yellow became more pronounced and I had 

 great hopes of obtaining a powder eventually. In this however I was 

 disappointed, as the final stage simply left the tin coated with a thickish 

 varnish of yellow. This I had great difficulty in dissolving again, trying 

 chloroform, ether, and rectified spirit cold, and brought to the boiling point. 

 Finally a 70 per cent, boiling solution of rectified spirit proved successful. 

 The skin is really a light blue, and the minute peppering with yellow pig- 

 ment produces the green eft'ect. Some specimens are more heavily pig- 

 mented than others, and correspondingly more of a yellowish-green. If one 



