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



Breeding. — The krait is known to be oviparous. The exact mating 

 season I have not been able to ascertain with certainty, but it is 

 probably during the months of February and March. 



Period of gestation. — This is not known. 



Incubation. — The female, after discharging her eggs, remains coiled 

 up with them, at any rate until they are well advanced towards 

 incubation. In the case reported in this Journal by Bannerman* 

 the eggs which were found with the mother contained embryos 

 " about six inches long." In another instance eggs unearthed with 

 the mother in Bannu and sent to me were found to contain young 

 embryos. 



Eggs. — Specimens from two clutches that I have examined struck 

 me as being unusually large for the size of the snake. The measure- 

 ments in each case were the same, viz.. If inches in length and f inch 

 in breadth. When freshly discovered they were reported " like 

 pigeon's eggs and plump.'' They were white, the poles equally 

 rounded, the shape elongate, and the shell soft, yielding, and of a 

 leathery texture. 



This species is not very prolific as snakes go. In the gravid 

 female reported by Blanford f from Bilaspur there were 9 eggs. 

 With the specimen reported by Bannerman only 6 eggs were found. 

 In one clutch sent me from Bannu last year there were 10. 



Season of deposition. — The eggs are deposited probably in April 

 and May in holes in the ground a foot or two from the surface. Two 

 clutches were found in June last year at Bannu when removing the 

 old stopbutt. In Bannerman's example they were unearthed at 

 Parel on the 24th May . 



Period of incubation. — This is not known. 



Embryos. — The embryos hatch out in May, June and July and 

 measure about 10^ to llf inches as they emerge from the egg. 

 One in Cannanore measured 10^ inches in June, and four in Fyzabad 

 varied from 11-^ to llf inches in June and July. From this it would 

 appear that specimens in the South run smaller than those in the 

 North of India. They grow nearly a foot in the first year of life, 

 and a foot or more in the second and third years as may be judged 

 from the annexed table. 



• Vol. XVI, p. 743. f Jourl. Asiat. Soc, Bengal, Vol. XXXIX, p. 374. 



