ON COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 99 



Gro7(>th. — Tt is very difficu't to iV.low the growth after the 2n(l year 

 from the fif^ures to hand in my note books. It is cpr'ain however that 

 wh( no teyear old the young have at least donhled their length being 

 over 1 foot Ih inches long but they hatch over such a long period 

 of the year that the lengths become hopelessly mixed, leaving no gaps 

 to indicate successive broods. An unusual number ot specimens 

 between 1 foot G inches and I foot 8 inches in length at the same 

 period of the year, seems to indicate that this length is reached at the 

 end of the '2nd ami beginning of the 3rd year. Again a large 

 number measuring from ] foot 9 inches to 2 feet, seems to point to the 

 termination of the third year's growth. 



])idr'ihatim. (a) Geograp'i'nal — Its range of habitat is very 

 extensive. It occurs throug'nout Peninsular India to Ceylon and the 

 Maldives. Westward it extends throughout the Punjab to the lower 

 slopes of the Hinialayas. I can find no record of it from Sind how- 

 ever. To the East it ranges through the Bramaputra, and Irrawaddj^- 

 Salween Basins (including tl;e Andaman and Nicobar Islands), to 

 the Eastern limits of Indo-Ciiina in the continental part of the 

 iMaiayan sub-region, and through the iMalayan Archipelago to the 

 Philippines. 



[h) Local — It is essentially an inhabitant of the Plains, I have 

 known it fairly common on the lower slojies of both Western, and 

 Eastern Himalayas up to about 2,000 feet, but it appears to rarely 

 wander above this altitude. Ferguson* in this Journal says though 

 common in the low country in Travancore he has not recorded a sino[le 

 specimen from the Hills. Flowaif remarked on a specimen he 

 obtained at Penang at an altituc'e of 2 200 feet. Willeyjtoo says 

 that though common in the low country in Ceylon it does not appear 

 to ascend to o.OOO ftet. 



In the Plains it is common everywhere, and hardly a collection 

 of snakes amounting to half a dozen specimens made anywhere will 

 fail to show at least one representsitive. I cannot recall ever 

 having ^een or hei.r J of a specimen in or close to water, or in damp 

 places. 



LepiJosis. Ro.Hml. — Touches six shields, the rostro- nasal sutures 

 largest. I'dernasals. — Two the suture between them one-half to thiee- 

 quarters that between the prgefrontal fellows, eijual to or rather 

 • Vol. X. i.-Tl. t P. Z. ?., ISO'J, p. UI54. + Spol., Zeyhin., Vol. I, p. Il7. 



