538 JOURNA /,, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV1I1 



gained exit, increasing in size, and expanding the cloaca till the 

 rest of the hag containing the coiled embryo escaped. The young 

 were lt proximately 1A inches long." They drank water given 

 them at the end of a penholder. The mother died a week or 

 -it later. 



Sloughing. — Fayrer* says, referring to some specimens he had had 

 in captivity, " it is a remarkable thing that none of these Echis 

 have shed their epidermis since they came here three months ago ; 

 not a trace of a slough is found in their cage." The remark was 

 made on the 15th October. 



Distribution (a) Local. — It is essentially a creature of the plains 

 but may be met with up to probably 6,000 feet elevation. I have 

 seen a specimen from Suleik (Aden Hinterland 2,000 feet) in our 

 Society's Collection. Nicholsonf records a single example among 

 1,225 poisonous snakes brought for rewards in 1873 at Bangalore 

 (circa 3,000 feet). I met with it about the Malakand (2,000 to 

 3,000 ft,). Mr. G. H. Whitehead sent me a skin from Parachinar, 

 N.-W. F. (5,760 feet), and says they are common there. 



(b) Geographical. — I attach two maps to indicate the habitat of 

 this snake. In Map 1, I have shown the limits of its distribution 

 as at present known in Africa and Asia. The red lines are the 

 boundaries of regions (uninterrupted) and subregions (dotted) as 

 laid down by Blanford in 1866 and 1880. In making a comparison, 

 however, one must bear in mind that his delimitations were based 

 upon the distribution of mammals, and that the knowledge derived 

 during twenty-eight years since he wrote may have modified the 

 confines of these boundaries, but of this 1 am not in a position to 

 -peak authoritatively. 



So far as Africa i- concerned, Boulenger t records the habitat as 

 follows: — Desert, and sandy districts north of the Equator. The most 

 -out hern record <>n this continent is Somaliland on the East ("oast 

 I British Museum specimen) ; the southern boundaries elsewhere 

 are, I believe, not exactly known. 



In Asia it occur- in Arabia, Persia,, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and 

 India. It is probably found throughout Arabia, as Gunther § records 

 - -miens from Midian on the north-eastern shores of the Red Sea, 



* Loc.cit., p. 141. % Cat. Snakes, Brit. Mus., Vol. Ill, 1S9G, p. 505. 



T Loc. cit,, p . 173. § P. Z. S., 1S73, p. 978. 



