THE SNAKES OF BANGKOK. 11 



on wet nights, It lias a curious habit when molested of coiling itself up 

 with the head hidden beneath a fold of the body and the tail curled, 

 \ip over its back, somewhat after the ma,nner of a scorpion. This 

 attitude to one who does not know it, is highly intimidating, and has 

 given rise to its vernacular name, '* ngu kon khop," the snake that 

 bites with both ends. The tail is extremely short and blunt, and the 

 body being of almost uniform diameter throughout, it is easy for a 

 casual observer to mistake one end for the other. To the Malays it is 

 known as the " ular dua kepala," the two-headed snake. It is con- 

 sidered highly poisonous, but is. as a matter of fact, a most inoffensive 

 creature. I have never yet known one to bite — even when newly 

 caught. 



Food. Eels and other snakes. Its appetite is gargantuan. 

 It seems to prefer a meal at least as large as itself, if not larger, and 

 the manner in which it can pack its food away and appear but little 

 bigger afterwards is extraordinary. One I had in captivity, itself 400 

 millimetres in length, overcame and devoured a Keel- back {Tropi- 

 donotus pit--cator) of 500 mm. (20 inches), the latter snake being well 

 known for its activit}- and aggi-essiveness. Another was found having 

 just swallowed a water-snake (Homalopsis buccata), the former 780 mm. 

 long and the latter 925 mm. Two other specimens were caught in 

 the water in the act of swallowing eels, their prey on each occasion 

 being several inches longer than themselves. 1 could quote many 

 other instances only a little less voracious. 



In captivity it is an uninteresting creature, burrowing at once 

 into the soil of its cage, and never re-appearing except under cover of 

 darkness. At the same time it would appear to be by no means 

 nocturnal in its habits, as the records of its appetite show, all of which 

 events took place in broad daylight. 



Length. Boulenger gives it up to 825 mm. The largest speci- 

 men I have seen measured 865 mm. (34 inches) in total length, the 

 tail contributing 15 mm. onl3^ 



Colour (in life). Irridescent black to dark purple-brown, the 

 latter colour being found only in adults. The bell}^ is marked with 

 a series of dull white or pinkish cross-bands, about as broad as their 

 corresponding inter-spaces, and interrupted at the mid-line. In the 

 young, another series of narrower bands travels upwards on to the 



