118 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVIII. 



remarkable. Instead of moving evenly forward by a series of bilateral 



undulations like most 

 snakes, progress is ef- 

 fected by a unilateral 

 effort, the body about 

 its second quarter be- 

 ing thrust forward on 

 one side. This done 

 the head and body an- 

 terior to this fold 

 are advanced, and the 

 fold thus straightened, 

 when a repetition of the act occurs, the fold being continually thrust 

 forward on the same side. This curious manoeuvre makes it appear 

 that the snake is moving sideways as will be seen by the diagrammatic 

 illustration attached (figure A). 



If hustled, the vehemence with which the coil is thrown forward, 

 makes progression appear to consist of a series of leaps, and I believe I 

 was not mistaken in supposing that the effort was sometimes so vigorous 

 that the body actually cleared the ground. If repeatedly irritated as by 

 tapping the tail smartly, a game which amused me considerably, the 

 little reptile would erect itself, poise with head averted and jaws open, 

 exactly as a pup would do under similar circumstances in anticipation of 

 he next blow, and the resemblance was so strong I almost expected to 

 hear an accompanying warning growl. It strikes with great pluck and 

 determination, and I had to be very smart to avoid being bitten. 



Another specimen when not anticipating repeated blows, but acting 

 on the defensive, lay closely crouched to the ground, especially in the 

 hind part of the body. It then lay and dilated itself with its head on 

 the ground retracted into a side loop touching the first coil of the body. 

 When teased it struck upwards very fiercely, retracted the head almost 



instantaneously, and whisked its body 

 round so as to lash with its tail, and 

 then took up an exactly reverse posi- 

 tion. A repetition after some time 

 caused a reversion of the same man- 

 oeuvre and the body then resumed its 

 original position. This I have shown 

 Fig.— B. diagramatically (figure B). 



