146 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA, 



Lylindrophis maculatus is ovoviviparous, and in April I 

 found three well-developed foetuses inside a dead specimen. 



Tropidonotus asperrimus lays from May to August ; the 

 almost identical species T. piscator is said to incubate its 

 eggs, and lay in one clutch containing as many as forty, but 

 as none of my T. asjjerrimus have ever laid, I have had no 

 opportunity of observing this habit. 



According to Major Wall the Dendrophis pidus is ovovivi- 

 parous. 



The period between the impregnation of the female snake 

 and the hatching of the eggs is between four and five months — 

 the hatching usually occupjdng a month or six weeks. 



The eggs are usually laid in a hole where decaying vegetation 

 gives off warmth and moisture, and, contrary to common 

 belief, are well protected from the sun, which would soon 

 shrivel vip the eggs through their soft skin. The young snake 

 cuts two cross slits in the envelope with" a sharp-edged tooth 

 attached to the prsemaxillary (in the front of the mouth between 

 the upper jaws). A young Tropidonotus stolakts, which I saw 

 hatched, withdrew its head after first seeing daylight, and 

 remained in the egg for about two hours, though it kept 

 looking out at intervals. Young snakes are quite active 

 directly after birth, and retain for some time a distinct sht in 

 the abdomen, covered only by a thin skin, but the ventral 

 shields soon close over it. 



To pass on to a few other reptiles. A " talagoya " ( Varanus 

 hengalensis) caught a week ago has laid (June) seven soft- 

 shelled §ggs, of oval shaj)e, while a Testudo elegans, in the 

 middle of April, laid four hard-shelled eggs, kicking each egg 

 out of the waj with its hind legs as it laid it, to prevent it 

 being broken by the others. The eggs resembled fowls' eggs, 

 but were rounder in form and slightly smaller. 



The crocodile lays its eggs in a hole in moist sand at the edge 

 of the water, or in a deep hole in a bank, large enough to 

 contain itself. When the vicinity of the " tank " it frequents 

 is much disturbed by human beings, it will often travel far to 

 rock holes and lay its eggs there. The hatching period is 

 very irregular, and varies from July to September, and the 

 eggs are laid with a hard shell, which gradually softens to a 



