ON THE COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 727 



caused the fatality, in the case of the keeper reported herein. The 

 krait was unearthed while the man was digging. He picked it 

 up, and tied a piece of cloth round its head, which the snake got 

 rid of several times on the road from his house to Trivandrum 

 Gardens. Arrived at the gardens the snake again freed its head, and 

 it was whilst trying to bind it on again that the bite was inflicted. 

 Dr. J. R. Henderson writes to me: "I have frequently kept this 

 species living but could make little of it, except that it appeared 

 sluggish, and not easily irritated." 



The behaviour of a specimen placed by Russell with a cobra bears 

 out the above opinions. He says, " The nest subject opposed to the 

 cobra, was a Gedi Paragoodoo ' : (common krait) " which, in all its 

 movements, was much tamer than either of the former two" (i.e., 

 Zamenis fasciolatus and Vipera russellii), " and seemed solely intent 

 on escaping out of the room, or retreating into a dark corner. When 

 pushed roughly on the cobra, and consequently struck by him, he made 

 no resistance, nor snapped in return ; he did not even offer to retreat, 

 but laid himself close to the cobra, whose body he often touched in 

 his convolutions, without any apparent offence being taken." Colonel 

 Dawson tells me that at Trevandrum when given a pot of sand or earth 

 he has seen them trying to bury themselves. 



Food. — This species, like others of this genus, is in the main ophio- 

 phagous in habit, but in a state of nature as well as in captivity will 

 partake of most other things offered. I have on eight occasions found 

 snakes eaten, once Bungarus walli and once Lycodon aulicus and on the 

 other occasions TypUops braminus. In every case where young 

 examples had fed Typhlops had been taken. Mr. Millard tells me that 

 " those kept in the Society's Rooms refused all food but snakes." 

 Dr. J. R. Henderson tells me, " I have frequently given a captured 

 specimen a living snake to eat, and in most cases the latter was 

 inside the krait by next morning. On one occasion one disposed of 

 a Dryophis longer than itself." Father Dreckmann writes to me, 

 " their food, as far as I can judge, consists exclusively of other snakes. 

 I have never found anything else in their stomachs, and a very fine 

 specimen disgorged three other snakes in different stages of digestion 

 during the first night of its captivity." There are at least 7 other 



records reported in this Journal where other snakes had been devoured. 

 3 



