POPULAR TREATISE ON COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 561 



ing it " savagely attacked " him twice. It is a quietly disposed crea- 

 ture with sufficient spirit however to resent interference, and prompt 

 it to ma e active attempts to escape when encountered. 



Habits. — My acquaintance with the species in life is too limited to 

 give any information in this direction, but it appears to be diurnal 

 and of a r^iring habit. 



Food. — I have never found anything in the stomach. 



Breeding. — Of the specimens I have collected myself, and sexed only 

 two were $ , and in neither case was the subject gravid. My smallest 

 specimen which I believe to have been a hatchling measured 4±§ 

 inches and was obtained at Cannanore in March. I have had two 

 other small examples one from Dehra Dun measuring 64; inches in 

 July, the other from Cannanore measuring 6 T L 6 inches also in July. 

 These notes seem to indicate that the young appear (probably hatching 

 out from eggs) about March. 



Distribution. — As will be seen from the accompanying map it occurs 

 in Trans-Indus, in the Indus Basin, the whole of Peninsular India up 

 to the base of the Himalayas as far East as Purneah. and in Ceylon. 

 Variety A occurs throughout the area noted above, but Variety B 

 appears to be peculiar to the Island of Ceylon, and the hills skirting 

 the Malabar Coast as far North as Matheran. The exact localities are 

 as follows and are numbered in black on the map. 1 Khila Abdullah 

 (I. M.) 2 Malakand (I. M.), 3 Karachi (I. M. and B. M.), and Hydera- 

 bad (F. W.), 4 Rajanpur (I. M.), 5 Dehra Dun (I. M. and F. W.)and 

 Dhikala (Garhwal Dist.) (F. W.), 6 Delhi (F. W.), 7 Ajmer (B. M,), 

 8 Purneah (I. M.), 9 Barrakur (I. M.), 10 N. Godavery District (I. M.), 

 11 Chota Nagpur (I. M.), 12 Aska (B. M.), 13 Vizagapatam (Russell) 

 and Vizianagram (F. W.), 14 Ellore (Blanford), 15 Madras (B. M ), 

 16 Trichinopoly (F. W.), 17 Tutioorin (F. W.), 18 Trincomalee 

 (B. M.), 19 Colombo (Haly. Cat. Snakes, Colombo Mus., 1886, p. 8), 

 20 Trivandrum (Ferguson, Bomb. N. H. Jourl., Vol. X, p. 71), 21 

 Travancore Hills (Ferguson, Loc. Cit.), and Permade (I. M.), 22 

 Anamallays (B. M.), 23 Nilgiris (B. M.), 24 Cannanore (F. W.), 25 

 Bangalore and Koppa (I. M.), 26 Wynad (B. M.), 27 Karwar and 

 Goa Ghats ; Bo. M.), 28 N. Canara (Jerdon), 29 Matheran (Bo. M.j, 

 30 Poona (Bo. M.) 31 Deolali, Khandalla, Satara (Bo. M.), 32 Bom- 

 bay (Bo. M.), 33 Khandesh (Bo, M.), 34 N.-W. Provinces and Oudh 

 (Murray, Zool., Sind, p. 375). 



