546 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVI II. 



Perso-Balnch frontier many specimens of which were collected 

 by Sir A. H. McMahon in which the head was sooty black, 

 especially in the young, and suggested the name melanocephalus 

 for it. 



Breeding. — My own notes supply all the information on this point, 

 and though the incidents within my experience are few, a good deal 

 may be inferred from the scanty material available. 



My smallest prospective mother was 1 foot 8§ inches in length in 

 June. This length would be attained in the third year of age, and 

 from an ophidian point of view the age is an unusually early one for 

 breeding. My other gravid specimens were four years old at least. 



It is fairly obvious that the species is not a very prolific one from 

 the snake stand point. 10 was the largest number of eggs found 

 in abdomina, and in three other cases there were 3, 5 and 6 respect- 

 ively. The eggs are probably discharged as such in August and 

 September. I am fairly certain the species is ovoviviparous, and have 

 good reason to believe that at the time of deposition the eggs contain 

 embryos in a very early stage of development, but of this I cannot 

 speak positively yet. The eggs are long white ovals, the poles of 

 each equally domed, the shell white and leathery. I have measured 

 them in one case §• inch long by 2 mcn broad, in a Bangalore 

 specimen ; date of capture not known. In another killed in August 

 they were J£ of an inch, and in a third in August |§ of an inch. 

 Both the last were obtained in Fyzabad. In the Bangalore 

 specimen, which had been preserved in spirit, the 10 eggs 

 lay in a single string, which occupied 8h inches of a body 2 feet and 

 f of an inch long (i. e., exclusive of tail). The poles of each were 

 flattened against one another from pressure. The young it may be 

 presumed from analogy emerge from the egg two months or so after 

 deposition, but of this I can only speak hypothetically. If I am 

 correct in my belief that the embryo is partly developed when the 

 eggs are extruded, the usual term of incubation may be curtailed. 

 Hatohlingsare, I believe, about 9 inches in length. Blyth, too, gives 

 this measurement for the young. It is perhaps remarkable that of 

 more than 30 specimens collected by me I have only had one young 

 one. This measured 9g inches on the 13th March in Trichinopoly. 

 My next largest specimen was 1 foot 3^ inches. 



The young appear to grow about 6 inches a year. 



