MISCELLAMIOUS NOTES. 307 



luilia is thus briil^'td ovou by thc-so rucords, and it now remains to tiiid out 

 how far it extends northward into the United Provinces. There were no 

 specimens of it in the Lucknow Museum, when I examined the snakes there 

 in December 1008. 



My specimen, which is deposited in the Nagpur Museum, is a typical one, 

 except that the scale rows reduce to 13 at about 3 inches before the middle 

 of the body. The ventrals are 193 and the sub-caudals in 12() pairs. 



K. A. D'ABUEU, k.z.s. 



Cbntual Museum, Nagpur, C. P., 

 8th June 1917. 



No. XIII.— NOTES ON THE RUSSELL'S VIPEK. 

 {With a Plate.) 



The following notes relate to the young ones which a Russell's viper pro- 

 duced in the Central College Museinu. An adult female specimen, measur- 

 in"- about 4 feet, was obtained locally towards the first week of December 

 1916, and on the 8th June 1917, the young ones were born. Assuming that 

 fertilisation took place in November, — there is no other evidence for this 

 assumption than the testimony of the snake charmers who are unreliable 

 in such matters — the period of gestation has occupied in this case roughly 

 seven months.' Of the six young daboiae that were produced, three were 

 still-born, and in addition three eggs were deposited. Except in one egg, 

 no trace of development could be made out in others and it is doubtful 

 whether these latter were impregnated at all.- The eggs are translucent, 

 reddish and are soft : the leathery shell of the eggs belonging to the Ela- 

 pinse group is replaced by a soft membrane. They are held together by a 

 gelatinous twisted cord which may be of immense length sometimes and 

 which hardens on exposure. Each egg measures .30 mm. along the longer axis. 



The young ones moult soon after rupturing the vitelline membrane. The 

 following are the measurements of the largest specimen : — 



Total length 225 mm. 



Round the thickest part . . . . 38 mm. 



Tail 30 mm. 



Fang along the outer curve . . . . 5 mm. 



The parent exhibits little concern about her oflFspring and interfer- 

 ence with them extorted from her nothing more savage than a prolonged 

 hiss. In the newly-born male specimens, the copulatory sacs are external 

 and are four coecal outgrowths.^ The colouration of the young ones difl'er 

 from the adults in certain particulars and the more interesting of them 

 refer to a large diamond-shaped mark on the head, edged with white. A 

 conspicuous white cross on the head behind this blotch is another interesting 

 feature. It may be noticed that in the adults, the former practically 

 disappears and the latter broadens out into a chocolate brown patch on the 

 occiput. The dark rings (thrown into relief by a white outer border) in 

 the adult enclose oval brown areas, but in the newly-born specimens, the 

 rings are solid, black, oval or circular patches edged with white or may 



'. Fitz Simons g-ives the same period in the case of the puflf adders of S. 

 Africa. {Vide p. 222, South Afr : Snakes). Major F. Wall grives the same period. 

 (.Tonrn. Bombay Nat. Hist. Sec, Vol- XVIII ) 



■^ . The occurrence of unfertilised efffrs anterior in position to those in advanc 

 ed state of development in the enlar<red oviducts (Uteri) is not uncommon in the 

 Daboia. Such a condition was noticed when a j^^ravid female was dissected .some- 

 time a$ro. 



*. S) ecimens illustrative of all these facts have been sent to the Director 

 Zoolop^.cal Survey of India, Calcutta. 



