ON THE COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 611 



areas of open country, but does not favour arid plains, nor jungle 

 tracts. It is commonly to be met with in gardens, grass farms, 

 golf-links, and similar situations about cantonments, and further 

 afield in " khets " or any waste ground that has some sparse cover, 

 and might harbour frogs. 



It sometimes wanders into out-houses and bungalows, and espe- 

 cially in such of the latter where pot plants are available. In 

 Rangoon once I had as many as four sent to me in one moraine 

 by a neighbour who flushed them in his verandah whilst re-arrang- 

 ing his ferns, &c. 



The crepuscular gloom beneath the foliage of closely congre- 

 gated pot plants, and the humidity derived from daily watering- 

 furnishes an ideal environment for mosquitoes, and other insects 

 upon which frogs subsist, and there are always some pots with a 

 chip out of their basal rims large enough to act as doorways to 

 cosy quarters — from a batrachian standpoint — beneath. The same 

 environment offers effectual concealment for the little buffstripes, 

 and a plethora of its food supply. One of the four snakes above 

 alluded to had swallowed a single frog, and another was replete 

 with three inside. A specimen sent to our Society by Mr. Dwane 

 from Madras was discovered on the horn of a living buffalo, a very 

 curious situation for any snake. 



Habits. — The buffstriped keelback is essentially diurnal in habit. 

 It is met with abroad at any hour of the day, but is not usually 

 encountered at night, though its relative pisccdor is frequently on 

 the move under cover of darkness. 



Though agile and active its movements are not really rapid. It 



always appears to me that its progression is much smoother than 



that exhibited by many snakes. When not roaming about the 



country, it often secretes itself in holes in the ground, or takes 



refuge in the masonry of drains, culverts, wells, out-houses, and 



such situations. I have sometimes detected one with its head 



issuing from a hole in the ground, but the slightest movement on 



my part caused a sudden retraction below the surface, followed 



after a few minutes by its re-appearance, when if satisfied that the 



coast was clear it emerged, and glided off. 



This snake evinces a very marked disposition to aestivate, 

 9 



