634 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXV. 



encountered it )3etrays little or no alarm, and even when given 

 a chance to burrow in loose earth only does so in a quiet leisurely 

 fashion if it does so at all. 



Habits. — It lives for choice beneath the soil but is sometimes 

 seen on the surface or only partially submerged. It burrows in 

 loose earth with facility using its snout only for this purpose. I 

 frequently observed specimens in captivity, and never saw the tail 

 used in any way as to suggest its aid in burrowing, and I failed to 

 discover any use for this curiously fashioned appendage. 



Food. — The many specimens I have dissected contained in the 

 stomach nothing but earthworms. These are rarely found whole, 

 but in many fragments, snggestiug that the M'orm when seized 

 breaks itself off by its contortions only to be seized again, and lose 

 another instalment. The intestines and cloaca of the snake are 

 invariably loaded with liquid mud derived from the alimentary 

 systems of the worms ingested, and I have no doubt that every 

 snake accounts for a large number of worms weekly. 



The sexes. — Of 21 specimens from the Wynaad sexed by me 

 13 were $ and 8 c? . The female attains to a greater length than 

 the male. The average of my six largest females from the Wynaad 

 was 14^ inches, against 11| inches for mj six largest males from 

 the same locality. The body is relatively longer, and the ventral 

 shields more numerous in the female, and the tail is relatively 

 shorter with fewer subcaudals in this sex. The tei-minal caudal 

 shield also shows slight sexual differences. It is rather broader in 

 the 2 5 ^^^^ the terminal spines less well developed than in 

 the S - 



Breeding. — I have latelj^ ascertained that it is viviparous in habit. 

 The season of birth apparent!}^ ends in July in the Nilgiris, and the 

 brood is a small one for an ophidian, viz., 3 to 5. I had two gravid 

 mothers in July measuring respectively 144 and 11 inches. The 

 former contained 5 foetuses seemingly fit for birth, the largest of 

 which measured 4^ inches. The latter had 3 embryos, the largest 

 measuring 4| inches. In both cases these were contained in trans- 

 parent membranous sacs, as one sees in vipers. No other females 

 subsequently received (some dozens) were in a gravid state. I re- 

 ckon that the smaller mother would be just about 3 years old. 



Growth. — The smallest specimens I have had were about 5 inches 

 and my notes make it appear that the young grew from 2 to 3 

 inches in the first j'ear of life. 



Bistrihution. — The Nilgiri Hills, Anamallays and conterminous 

 Hills to the South of India between about 2,000 and 4,500 feet 

 elevation. In the Nilgiri Hills this year I obtained 101 speci- 

 mens all of which came from the Wj'uaad. The slopes in this 

 locality face West, and it is perhaps remarkable that the slopes 

 facing Soutli and Kast furnished no single specimen. 



