THE COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 453 



in Assam was originally reported in this Journal * as a Malayan 

 python (P. reticulatus). Captain Percival f says he saw one in 

 Ceylon 22 feet long, and the specimen mentioned by John Ray, 

 and stated by him to be in the Leyden Museum was, he states, 25 

 feet (I have not been able to get confirmation of this from Lej^den, 

 but notice that Dumeril and Bibron refer to one in that Institution 

 20 feet). Elliot % claims that it grows to a length of 30 feet, and 

 if this opinion were confirmed I think India could lay claim to the 

 two largest species of the genus, for reticulatus is also reported to 

 attain to a length of 30 feet. Within quite recent times (1905) a 

 specimen of the latter in the possession of Mr. John Hagenbeck 

 was, as far as could be ascertained, in life 28 feet. The African 

 species sebae is also a very large reptile which is recorded up 

 to 23 feet. 



The weight of a python is remarkable, the specimen of molurus 

 killed by the Maharajah of Cooch Behar, which measured over 19 

 feet, scaled 200 pounds (over 14 stone). Mr. John Hagenbeck's 

 reticulated python just alluded to weighed 250 pounds. 



Haunts. — For the most part the Indian python is a jungle in- 

 habitant. It may be met with in the interior of the densest forest 

 tracts, or in sparser forest growth such as that which clothes the 

 rocky slopes of many low hills. Where jungle is not available 

 it most usually attaches itself to rivers and jheels, especially the 

 former. In jungle areas it is frequently observed in trees and at 

 times at some considerable elevation aloft. It climbs stealthily 

 but well, and having established itself in the branches secrets 

 itself so well that it is no infrequent event for a monkey to come 

 within striking distance, and forfeit its life. By means of its 

 prehensile tail it is capable of suspending itself from branches, 

 nearly all of its body remaining free, and there is no doubt that 

 many an incautious animal comes within reach, and is victimised. 

 Mr. Sharpe, D. S. P., in the Fyzabad District, told me in 1906 

 that he once climbed up into a banyan tree in dense jungle with 

 his shikari, who told him that at that season when the fruit was 



• Vol. XIII, p. 718. 



t The Island of Ceylon, 1805, p. 311. 



X Rept. Brit. Ass., 1870, Trans., p. 115. 



