554 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIII. 
on the 14th instant, making a total of twenty-one. One egg typical of the 
rest measured 46 x28 mm. (1? 1} inches). The egg is a longish oval with. 
equally rounded poles, white in colour and the shell pliant like white kid. 
Knowing from past experience the difficulties of incubating snake’s eggs, F 
advised Mr. Flynn to place them on cotton wool in a tin box with closely fitting 
lid and to place a sheet of slightly damped blotting paper beneath the weol. 
Snake’s eggs require a slightly damp atmosphere or they dry up. If, on the 
other hand, the atmosphere is too damp they get mouldy in a day or two and | 
decompose. Every few days the box was opened to ascertain if the blotting 
paper needed further damping. 
I opened one of the eggs on the 19th of June, 38 days (possibly 36) after 
deposition, and found to my great satisfaction a living female embryo 
within, that measured 212 mm. (82 inches). The tissues were semi-translu- 
cent, and the epidermis showed no signs of pigmentation. The abdominal 
walls were completely sealed, and the heart was observed within, pulsating 
at the rate of 75 times a minute. There was a feeble attempt at movement 
on the part of the embryo, which was more pronounced when placed in spirit.- 
On the 23rd of June (42 days after deposition) I opened two eggs. One 
contained a male embryo 235 mm. (91 inches) in length, with plum-coloured 
genitalia extruded. This moved very distinctly, and also exserted the tongue. 
There was some pigmentation of the epidermis, revealing a distinct dark varie- 
gation more evident in the anterior part of the body, and a very perfect ‘‘ specta- 
cle” mark was visible on the hood. The second embryo was a female measuring 
241 mm. (9 inches). This also moved very obviously. The heart was pulsating 
74 times a minute. Investigation showed that the oodont or egg tooth was: 
perfectly developed. It was covered by a layer of mucous membrane. 
On June the 26th (45 days after deposition) I opened two more eggs. One 
contained a male 235 mm. (9} inches) long, with the genitalia apparent, and 
the other a female 254 mm. (10 inches) in length. Each tried to shake itself 
free from the forceps used to extract them, and emitted the tongue repeatedly. 
When placed in spirit both struggled violently but aimlessly. 
On the 29th of June (48 days after deposition) I opened another egg. The 
little cobra 279 mm. (11 inches) long, was very lively, erected itself, protruded 
the tongue, and hissed at me. When consigned to spirit it swam freely, and took: 
fifteen minutes to drown. On this same day inspection of the eggs showed that 
two were on the verge of hatching. One had several cuts in it, and an open 
window through which the snakeling could be seen to move. The other egg 
had two small cuts converging to an angle. 
The 30th of June was an eventful day. The windowed egg of yesterday was 
in process of hatching. The little cobra had about three inches of its length. 
outside the shell. When touched however it withdrew completely. 
On the Ist of July, 50 days (possibly 48) after deposition of the eggs, the first 
cobra of the brood hatched out. This little hatchling was extremely alert, 
erected itself, expanded the hood and hissed at me violently. It was observed: 
to be very distended, and, after death, the stomach was found to be full of the 
residual yolk of the egg, amounting to about an eggspoonful. The snakeling 
measured 260 mm. (10} inches). Many of the remaining eggs were obviously 
decomposed, and I extracted four males and one female varying in length from: 
190 to 228 mm. (74 to 9 inches) all dead. 
Only one more egg of this brood hatched out, and this happened on the 5th. 
of July, 54 (possibly 52) days after deposition. This hatchling had also eaten 
the remnant of its yolk. 
On the 19th of May another cobra in the Museum deposited twelve eggs, and: 
these were placed under the same conditions as the previous clutch. On the 
6th of July (48 days later) four were found hatched out, and a fifth had some 
inches protruding from the egg. As the box had not been opened the day before, 
