A POPULAR TREATISE ON INDIAN SNAKES. 267 



tail had boon devoured. The specimen allude J to above which bit. 

 Mr. Hampton subsequently d' gorged six frogs. Ferguson* comments 

 upon the gluttony of this species, and says its favourite food is a 

 medium-sized frog, of which a fair-sized snake will eat about twonty- 

 two at a meal. 



Mr. Hampton s.iys if at all hungry it will not disdain the meal 

 afforded by another snake, including even iis cwn sp<c'cs. This 1 know 

 to be true and quite a common event in captivity, which is vouched for 

 by Mr. Millard, Ferguson and ethers, but 1 think it is a rare exhibi- 

 tion of depravity in its natural state ; however, Assistant Burgeon 

 Robertson told me he onoe cut open a large dhaman, and found it con- 

 tained another dhaman, 3 feet 1 1 inches in length, in its stomach. 

 Floweif mentions one eating a snake (Chrysaj e'ea ornata). Mr. 

 Green tells me of one which disgorged several snakes of the genus 

 Rhino ph. is in its death throes, and LightfootJ has Mely presented a 

 specimen to the Bombay Natural History Society preserved in the act 

 of swallowing a Rsammophis condanarus. The stomach, as will be seen 

 if distended with a meal, lies more in front of the middle point of the 

 body, than in some other snakes, notably the Krait, and Hemibumjarw, 

 where it lies wholly behind this point. 



Breeding. — It is the rule with snakes that the female exceeds the 

 male in length. Darwin, on the authority of Gunther, makes this state- 

 ment^ Whilst fully agreeing with this remark, in this species I have 

 no doubt that the converse obtains. An average taken from he largest 

 males and females my notes rc-cord shows a disparity decidedly in 

 favour of the mate. Again, of specimens over 6 feet 6 inches, twelve 

 are miles and only two females. The longest female is 6 feet 7£ 

 inches. || T'.iough usually met with singly, they are sometimes found in 

 pairs at times other than the breeding season. On January 5th t 1 9(J(>, in 

 Rangoon, a mile and female were found coiled together beneath a 

 flooring. This date is one later than the normal hatching season. The 

 male was 6 feet 1£ inches and the female 5 feet ci^ inches. Again, in 

 Fyzibnd a pair was found disporting themselves in a small pool of 

 water some three or four yards across. The female, 6 feet 1\ inches in 



* Bombay Natural History Journal, Vol. X, p. 4. 

 t Proc. Zool Soc. l-9'.». p. M4. 

 + Pombay Natural History Journal, Vol. XVI, p. 530. 

 § Descent of .Man, p. 538. 

 || See addend a (3). 



