108 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVII I. 



Food. — 7 examples had fed recently. A single frog had formed the 

 meal in three cases, two frogs in one case, one frog and three toads in 

 another, and one toad in another. A hatchling 10£ inches long was 

 distended with tadpoles, of which I counted 8 or 9. 



Colour. — All the specimens were with black or blackish spots. In 

 some these spots were very large, in others about the size of the intervals, 

 whilst in others they were much smaller. Every variation hetween these 

 three types was met with. In some the spots were very black, 

 giving off a bluish sheen on reflected light, in others they were 

 sombre black, and in others again very obscure. The intensity of the 

 black appears to be chiefly, if not entirely, dependent on the 

 interval which has elapsed since the last desquamation. In no in- 

 stance was there a suspicion of red adornment. 



Tropidonotus stolatus. 



156 specimens came iuto my hands. I sexed 118, and found 57 

 males and 61 females. They were most abundant in the rains, but 

 during the hot season of 1905 I got 2 in March, 3 in April, 4 in May, 

 and 10 in June. 



Breeding. — I obtained in all 18 gravid females — 14 in the month of 

 July and 4 in August. 11 was the maximum number of eggs, 3 the 

 minimum. One of these specimens brought alive I kept, and she 

 deposited a single egg on the 7th, and 10 more on the 13th of July. 

 In all the other cases the mothers were dead, and the eggs found 

 in abdomina. 



On the 30th of July 1906 some sepoys in my regiment brought 

 me two specimens which they told me they had found fighting. 

 JThey proved to be a male and a female, the latter heavily gravid 

 with 10 eggs in an advanced degree of maturity. Whether this young 

 gentleman was pushing his attentions too far, and really provoking the 

 expectant dame to a righteous indignation and exhibition of temper, 

 must remain a matter of conjecture, but it seems to me the probable 

 explanation of the incident. They were described as confronting one 

 another, and rearing up their bodies, and this behaviour had been 

 witnessed some minutes before they were rushed upon and captured. 



Food.— Several specimens had freshly fed. One contained a small toad 

 IBufo andersonii), and all the rest frogs. One I found had swallowed 

 3 small Microhyla ornata, and another a single frog of the same 

 species. Another had dined off Rana tigrina, and another was discuss- 



