784 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL^HISTORY SOCIETY, Tot. XIX. 



and 31st March; another 94 frogs from the 1st April to the 21st 

 January following ; a third 18 frogs between the 13th February and 

 31st of March ; and a fourth 104 frogs, presumably during the year. 



Sloughing. — Some excellent notes on this little studied function 

 were made in the Madras Museum some years ago.* During the 

 official year 1896 one shed its skin on the 2nd April, 6th May, 

 28th June, 27th July and 29th October. Another on the 13th 

 May, 16th June, 21st July and 17th October. In a third instance 

 a specimen which was acquired on the 12th August sloughed on 

 the 24th October. Now it is very curious, and apparently some- 

 thing beyond coincidence, that in all three cases there was no 

 desquamation in the months of August and September, though in 

 the first two cases there had been a regular ecdysis in several pre- 

 ceding months. 



Breeding. — My notes are very meagre in this direction, but suffi- 

 cient to show that the species is ovoviviparous. I received a 

 gravid $ on the 29th February 1904 from Mr. Angus Kinloch 

 (Kil Kotagiri, Nilgiris). It measured 3 feet 4-| inches, and con- 

 tained 7 nearly mature eggs, from \\ to \\ inches long, and about 

 T 7 g inch broad. Mr. E. E. Green had a specimen which laid 4 eggs 

 in its cage on the 11th January 1908, and died next day when 2 

 more eggs were found in the oviduct. These were all sent to me. 

 The smallest measured 1| X | inches, and the largest If x V\ 

 inches. In cutting open egg I found an embryo coiled up in a 

 spiral fashion, lying in an elliptical chamber situated in the upper 

 part of the yolk substance, and midway between the two poles. 

 The embryo I judged might be an inch and a half long when 

 unravelled. Its head with the primary cerebral vesicle, eve and 

 lower jaw were well developed, as was also the heart, so that it was 

 in just about the same stage of development, that 1 noted in the 

 case of the Assam species Dendrophis proa/rchos, at exovation.f 



C@) 



Egg showing embryo of Dendrelaphh tristis from 

 a specimen from Ceylon. (Natural size.) 



* Administration Report, 1896-97. 



t Since writing this I have received another gravid $ from Mr. Green from 

 Peradeniya (Ceylon) killed at the end of January and containing 7 nearly mature 

 eggs. 



