116 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV1IJ. 



manner. It did so to a very marked extent, preserving the contour 



of its body in the effort, One could feel the resiliency offered 



by the column of air within, and this was abruptly defined at the 



l'dth cross bar. Subsequently on dissecting the snake the lung was 



found to extend to the 1.1th cross bar only, so that the inflating effort 



may be judged from this to be considerable. Whilst trying to 



catch it by the neck it very cleverly evaded my dashes at it, but 



without attempting to bite me, but when I had got hold of 



/ its neck it somehow made a vigorous twist and buried its teeth 



f into the soft of my thumb, producing two lacerations, the 



pattern of which I reproduce here. These bled freely. 



Scale characters. — One specimen had the anal shield entire. Two 

 others had fragments detached from the parietals, which some might 

 call temporals. This last abnormality I am familiar with in other 

 species of this genus. In one example the loreal was absent. All the 

 specimens had the under parts unspotted, and thus conformed to 

 Mr. Boulenger's variety A (Catalogue, Vol. I, 1894, p. 230). 



The cross bars were picked out with white or buff, and in one 

 instance at least were indented in the median line in front, and behind 

 so as to be nearly bisected. 



The trisaggitate marks on the head were not connected by a 

 median shaft as so commonly occurs in other species of the genus. 



Food. — None had recently fed. 



Breeding. — On the 22nd August two specimens were brought in, 

 reported to have been climbing the same wall at the same time, and 

 about two yards apart. They proved to be male and female. In the 

 latter's abdomen I found four imperfectly developed eggs, two in 

 each ovary. Two of these measured i of an inch, and the others 



12 ^ 



20 of an inch. One small and one large one in each ovary. The 

 disparity in size suggested the possibility of superfo3tation. 



Another captured on the 18th August contained 5 eggs in abdomina, 



8 7 



loo inches long by 2 5 of an inch broad. 



Two specimens, which appeared to be hatchlings, were obtained in 

 April, but I have little hesitation in supposing these to be last year's 

 progeny after hibernation. In temperate climates I have on other 

 occasions in the early spring found snakes little, if at all, larger than 

 at the time of their production late in the autumn months. Fyzabad 

 is blessed with an excellent cold season. 



