THE COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 41 



Haunts. — The many specimens brought to me in Chitral, Malakand 

 and Delhi were encountered on the hill sides or in open spaces, or 

 cultivated ground. There is no jungle worth the name in those 

 localities, and I think the same may be said of most of the countries 

 it inhabits. Several were killed inside our very congested little fort 

 at Drosh, and another inside the mess at Chitral where it was seen 

 in the roof. Another was killed in a house at Malakand where I 

 think it was seeking retirement for the winter. Major Magrath 

 tells me too that it is common about bungalows in Cantonment in 

 Peshawar. 



Habits and disposition. — I have met a good many during the day 

 time, either basking in the open close to cover into which they 

 quickly withdrew on my approach, or I disturbed them in the act 

 of swallowing a victim. On one occasion the victim which had 

 been swallowed proved so bulky that it seriously handicapped the 

 snake's movements, and it could not in consequence evade capture. 

 It is probably about at night too sometimes since it preys on 

 Stoliczka's gecko, a lizard I never saw except after dark. It is a 

 very active snake, but so far as a very limited experience of living 

 specimens is concerned I do not think it is fierce or aggressive. 

 Alcock and Finn who collected many specimens on the Perso- 

 Baluch border also remark that it is not fierce. Many specimens I 

 was unable to catch owing to the precipitate manner in which they 

 disappeared on my approach, and one that I liberated went off so 

 hurriedly that I had great difficulty in recovering it. 



Food. — On three occasions I found a lizard of the genus Calotes 

 had been taken. Twice this was the species versicolor, and on the 

 third occasion probably the same species. Twice I found Stoliczka's 

 gecko Gymnodactylus stoliczkce had furnished the meal. 



Breeding. — My three gravid specimens were captured in May and 

 June, so that it is probable that mating occurs in the early spring, 

 soon after they emerge from hibernation. The smallest dam was 

 2 feet 11 inches, a length which would be attained Irr about the end 

 of the third year of life. There were 3 eggs in one, 8 in another 

 and 9 in the third, so that the species cannot be considered prolific. 

 The largest eggs which measured from one, to one and a half inches 

 in length, contained no trace of an embryo, so that it seems probable 

 that the snake is oviporous, and that the embryo does not begin to 

 develope until after oviposition. The hatchlings probably emerge 

 from the egg in August and September. I have had young speci- 

 mens measuring 1 2g and 13^ inches in September. The rf claspers 

 in adults are studded with hook-like horny appendages. The 

 secretion of the anal glands is white, and looks like white paint. 



Growth. — The smallest specimen I have any record of is the one 

 mentioned by Stoliczka captured at Sobattoo which measured 11^ 

 inches, and I think this will prove to be about the length of a 

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