538 JOURNA L, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV1IJ 



gained exit, increasing in size, and expanding the cloaca till the 

 rest of the bag containing the coiled embryo escaped. The youno- 

 were " proximately 4^ inches long." They drank water given 

 them at the end of a penholder. The mother died a week or 

 so later. 



Sloughing. — Fayrer* says, referring to some specimens he had had 

 in captivity, " it is a remarkable thing that none of these Echis 

 have shed their epidermis since they came here three months ago ; 

 not a trace of a slough is found in their cage." The remark was 

 made on the 15th October. 



Distribution (a) Local. — It is essentially a creature of the plains 

 but may be met with up to probably 6,000 feet elevation. I have 

 seen a specimen from Suleik (Aden Hinterland 2,000 feet) in our 

 Society's Collection. Nicholsonf records a single example among 

 1,225 poisonous snakes brought for rewards in 1873 at Bangalore 

 (circa 3,000 feet). I met with it about the Malakand (2,000 to 

 3,000 ft.). Mr. C. H. Whitehead sent me a skm from Paraohinar, 

 N.-W. F. (5,760 feet), and says they are common there. 



(b) Geographical.- — I attach two maps to indicate the habitat of 

 this snake. In Map 1, I have shown the limits of its distribution 

 as at present known in Africa and Asia. The red lines are the 

 boundaries of regions (uninterrupted) and subregions (dotted) as 

 laid down by Blanford in lb'66 and 1880. In making a comparison, 

 however, one must bear in mind that his delimitations w T ere based 

 upon the distribution of mammals, and that the knowledge derived 

 during twenty-eight years since he wrote may have modified the 

 confines of these boundaries, but of this 1 am not in a position to 

 speak authoritatively. 



So far as Africa is concerned, Boulenger \ records the habitat as 

 follows: — Desert, and sandy districts north of the Equator. The most 

 southern record on this continent is Somaliland on the East Coast 

 (British Museum specimen) ; the southern boundaries elsewhere 

 are, I believe, not exactly known. 



In Asia it occurs in Arabia, Persia, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and 

 India. It is probably found throughout Arabia, as Gunther § records 

 specimens from Midian on the north-eastern shores of the Red Sea, 



* Loc.cit.. p. 141. % Cat. Snakes, Brit. Jlus., Vol. Ill, 1896, p. 505. 



T Loc. cit,, p . 173. § P. Z. S., 1878, p. 978, 



