456 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI 



and 1 2 feet in length. I have also read of a similar occurrence in 

 the Himalayas, though I cannot now lay my hands on the reference. 

 A python was observed in a cave, and the raconteur with his Gurkha 

 orderlies succeeded in extricating several, three or four, if I can rely 

 on my memory. 



It seems to me remarkable that in Southern India the python 

 does not hibernate in the Plains, at least Colonel Dawson tells 

 me it does not in Travancore, and Dr. J. R. Henderson says it 

 does not in Madras in captivity, yet in Bombay which can lay 

 no better claim to a cold season, a specimen caged in our Society's 

 rooms hibernated for some months. Phipson* made some very 

 interesting observations on this specimen at this period. Between 

 the 21st December and the 13th of April, a period of 113 days, the 

 snake refused food, and remained in a very sluggish, sleep}" 

 condition. It was noticed that its temperature fell from 82°F. 

 (which had previously been the normal) to 73°. Two rats eaten 

 on the 21st December were retained undigested until the 28th of 

 February when they were thrown up. On ordinary- occasions 

 in the hot weather it had been recorded that a similar meal took 

 about 8 days to digest. Desquamation during these months of 

 lowered vitality did not occur, an interval of nearly seven months 

 elapsing between the sloughing periods, though in the rest of the 

 year this process was observed four times. 



The movements of the python are very laboured and slow, in 

 fact its mode of progression cannot be called anything but a 

 crawl. This I believe to be due to the very narrow limits of the 

 ventral shields, to the extremity <>f which the ribs on which the 

 creature moves are fixed. The ribs are in consequence very much 

 I lowed, and only about half the body breadth — the middle two- 

 fourths — are supported, leaving one-fourth overlapping each side. 

 During progression waves of motion can be seen beneath the 

 skin following one another in quick succession, corresponding to 

 the movement of the ribs beneath, and reminding one of a 

 similar series of wave-like successions seen in the legs of centi- 

 pedes and millipedes whilst in motion. 



* Jourl., Bomb. N. H-Soc, Vol. II, p. ICC 



