810 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVII.. 



embryo was found. In colour they were distinctly orange, and not dead white 

 as the eggs of Bungarus cceruhus are. (3 eggs shewn in bottle.) 



As far as I know this is the 6r8t time that the actual birth of a Russell's 

 viper from the egg has been recorded, and the question arises. — Is this the 

 actual normal sequence of events, or an abnormality due to confinement in 

 a case. 



The breeding season, judging from these three events, is in the months of 

 June and July in Bombay when food is plentiful on account of the onset of 

 the monsoon. The period of gestation must be a long one, for the second 

 viper had been in a cage by itself for over six months before the birth of the 

 young ones. The young ones which were beautifully marked and about 9 

 inches long were kept alive by feeding with milk administered through a 

 pipette with a rubber ball at the end such as one fills a fountain pen with. 



The poison gland does not appear to be active at birth, for with two vipers 

 the experiment was tried of allowing it to bite a mouse the day after its birth, 

 and then at weekly intervals thereafter. In one case, the mouse bitten by a 

 viper a fortnight old died, in another case not till the viper was three weeks 

 old did a fatal result follow the bite. 



In going through the Society's Journal, the following reference have been 

 found : — 



In Volume XII, page 765, Mr. Cholmondeley, writing from Indore on 1st 

 July, reports examining a Russell's viper which contained 63 mature young 

 from 9 to 10 inches long. 



In Volume XIV, page 614, Mr. Millard notes that a Russell's viper in one 

 of the Society's cages, gave birth to 33 young ones on the 20th June. No 

 mention is made of eggs. 



In Volume XV, page 134, Lieutenant Mosse reports having killed a Russell's 

 viper at Mahissa, Guzerat, on 5th March, containing 55 eggs, 3 or 4 of which 

 were not fully formed. In none was there any trace of embryo. 



In Volume XV, page 729, Mr. Miller of St. Joseph's College, Darjeeling, 

 records the receipt of 10 eggs of Lachesis monticola from Kurseong, from 

 two of which the young ones issued while being examined by some of the 

 Fathers of the Seminary there. This viperine snake then is oviparous. 



In Volume XVI, page 374, Captain F. Wall, has a note on the breeding of 

 Russell's viper with a record of one sent from the Parel Laboratory contain- 

 ing one embryo measuring 9£ inches and which he thinks would probably have 

 been born in November. With this exception, all the Indian ones were, he 

 notes, born in the months of May, June, July or August. 



It may be taken as settled then that the time when the young vipers are 

 born is during these months. 



I have not been able to find any record of the duration of gestation. 



That the Russell's viper, at least in captivity, is sometimes oviparous, is, from 

 the above, beyond doubt, and I have been unable to find any observations 

 showing that any one has seen the actual birth of eggs or young in this 



