940 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



These conflicts are very disagreeable to watch, the strenuous 

 though futile contortions which are to be seen even to the last 

 inch or two of the victim's tail, must arouse the sympathy of the 

 most callous spectator. 



It is rather a pleasing reflection to my mind that the tables are 

 sometimes turned, and the banded krait has itself to suffer from 

 the same treatment it has probably meted out to scores of its 

 weaker relatives. Mr. Primrose has recorded an encounter in this 

 Journal, Vol. XII, p. 589, in which a banded krait had been over- 

 come, and swallowed by its more powerful rival the hamadryad. 



The Sexes. — My notes in Assam show that the sexes are evenly 

 balanced, for out of 11 specimens sexed, 5 were males and 6 

 females. There appears to be no difference in the relative lengths 

 of the bod}- or tail of sexual import. The anal glands in both 

 sexes secrete a blackish material reminding one of the blackened 

 oil caused by machinery in motion. 



Breeding. — Although over 50 specimens have passed through 

 my hands I have been singularly xmfortunate in gaining any in- 

 formation about the breeding, never having had a gravid § . All 

 that is known on the subject is contained in the most interesting- 

 record furnished b}' Colonel Evans which appeared in this Journal.* 

 The $ which measured half an inch less than 4 feet had retired 

 beneath the ground where some elephant tusks had been buried, 

 and had here deposited 8 eggs which she had evidently incubated 

 as she was still in attendance when on the 19th of May 4 of 

 them had hatched. She was thin as the result of her self- 

 imposed imprisonment, but though she evidently possessed strong- 

 maternal instincts, it is curious that she showed no concern when 

 her young brood were tampered with. The average dimensions of 

 3 eggs was 2-3 inches in length, and 1-5 in breadth. The young- 

 measured from 1 1 1 to 12^ inches but as only two were taped, it is 

 probable that these were not the extremes of length. They are 

 reported as having more pointed tails than adults, and a modified 

 colouring, the yellow being replaced by a dirty-white and the 

 black by a leaden-hue. It is noteworthy, too, that they were re- 

 markably active. Judging from the time of year when those young 



* Vol. XVI. p. .-.I'.'. 



