114 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY._ Vol. XV 111. 



and but one a female, which was 6 feet 1\ inches long. 5 exceeded 

 7 feet, the largest taping 7 feet 5 inches. 



It is curious that so many adults should have come in and so few 

 young. Only 9 specimens were less than 4 feet long, and of these but 4 

 were less than o and none less than 2 feet. 



A large specimen 6'--5f" long was seen in broad daylight in 

 conflict with a mongoose, near the Cantonment Magistrate's Court. 

 Attention was drawn to the spot by the disturbance in the grass, and 

 the combatants were pursued, the mongoose disappearing, but the snake 

 passed from the frying pan into the fire. 



Food. — Many specimens had recently fed, and their choice in diet was 

 very varied. A single toad had been taken on four occasions, once 

 the victim was Cacopus systoma^ and thrice Bufo andersonii. A single 

 frog furnished the meal twice, on both occasions Rana tigrina. Re- 

 mains of frogs were found in another. One had swallowed o large 

 chicks, two of which were in the stomach and one in the gullet, and the 

 fledglings egrets judging from ingested shell. One contained a gecko 

 in aastro, and had just seized and killed a fledgling in a bush. Another 

 contained a frog and two toads {Bufo andersonii), and another glutton 

 had dined on a young tortoise, a lizard of the genus Calotes, and a toad 

 (Bufo andersonii). 



Breeding. — In Vol. XVII of this Journal (pp. 2G7 and 273), I 

 mentioned two incidents which occurred at Fyzabad which showed 

 that pairs were cohabiting, and enjoying one another's companionship, 

 though the female contained eggs in an advanced stage of development. 

 I obtained 12 gravid females which contained eggs in various stages of 

 maturity. One was captured on the 20th of June, ten in July, and 

 one in August. The maximum number of eggs in a clutch was 16, and 

 the minimum 8. A clutch of eggs obtained on the 8th of August, 

 found with a parent snake, hatched on the 1.1th September. The 

 details of this very interesting event formed the subject of a separate 

 noto in this Journal (Vol. XVII. p. 10oo). 



Scale characters. — It is interesting to note the variation in the 

 range of the ventrals, and subc;>udals, which occurs locally in the same 

 species. I have already alluded to this in dealing with other species 

 in this piper. 



In this species there is a very noticeable tendency for the subcaudals 

 in Fyzabad specimens to fall short of the number in Cannnnore 



