294 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORYSOCIETY, Vol. XIX 



Disposition. — I have liad very little experience of it in life, but 

 it is obviously a plucky and vicious reptile from an incident, 

 recorded by Theobald* who says : " The following illustrates its 

 ferocious nature. I once remarked a Ptijas {= Zamenis) mucosiis, 

 some five feet in length, in the hedge of the Circuit House of 

 Bassein.: On running downstairs, the snake had vanished, but in 

 searching I saw its tail sticking out of a hole beneath a wooden 

 plant-case. Do what I might I could not drag it out, as it seenjLed 

 held fast within. I therefore with some trouble overturned the plant- 

 case, and then saw that the unlucky Ptyas was firmly pinned by a large 

 Xenopeltis into whose hole it had unwittingly entered. The Xeno- 

 peltis seemed about four feet in length, but on perceiving itself un- 

 covered, released its hold of the Ptyas, and made its escape.'' 

 Flower says : " A young snake of this species that I kept alive . was 

 fairly quiet from the first, and after one day's captivity never attempt- 

 ed to bite when handled. An adult specimen when excited would 

 twist itself into an irregular pile of tight coils, except the tail, wdiich 

 was held on one side, raised from the ground, and the tip kept 

 vibrating at a great speed." Colonel G. H. Evans tells me of one that, 

 flattened itself, drew back, and several times snapped at a stick 

 advanced towards it. 



Habits. — The Iridescent Earth Snake is said to be nocturnal in 

 habit. Whether this is strictly speaking true I am not certain. 

 Under cover of subterranean darkness it appears to be very alert, 

 during the day judging from the hasty and determined way the one, 

 mentioned by Theobald, attacked and secured its Dhaman intruder. 

 On one occasion in Rangoon one was sent to me in the act of 

 devouring a snake during the day time. The one found in the 

 General Hospital verandah in Rangoon was seen abroad in 

 daylight. 



Most of my specimens were met with in the months of July, 

 August and September. 



Food. — One in Rangoon had eaten a rat, another a mouse, and a 

 third was eating a snake, the buff striped keel back (T^'opidonotus 

 stolatus). Giintherf says it feeds on small mammals which it hunts 

 for in their subterranean holes. Colonel G. H. Evans tells me the 



* Cat. Kept. Brit. Burma, 1868, p. 37. 

 t Kept. Brit. Ind., 1864, p. 181. 



