284 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI. 



me on June 1st, 1910. I think this is worthy of publication in the Journal. 

 Length 4 ft. 6f inches ; tail 7^ inches ; scale rows 15 ; ventral scales 215 ; 

 sub-caudals (entire) 50 ; anal entire ; sex male ; weight a little over 12 oz. 

 First complete double white ring (or bars) commences about 11 inches from 

 snout. Length of claspers about half an inch each. Colour ordinary 

 plumbaceous madder brown, white of vent slightly yellowish. 



Mr. Hayes, a Mine Manager, killed a Banded Krait {Bungarus fasciatus) 

 a little while ago some miles from Koderma, E. I. Ry., which measured 

 7 ft. in length. 



O. A. SMITH, Major, 27th Punjabis. 



Koderma, E. I. Ry., IWi July 1911. 



No. XLVII.— THE DEVELOPMENT OF EMBRYO IN THE EGGS 

 OF THE OVIPAROUS VIPER, LACHESIS MONTICOLA, 

 PRIOR TO OVIPOSITION. 



I am sending you some eggs I removed from a gravid Lachesis monticola 

 that was killed in Shillong in July this year. They are specially interest- 

 ing, because they contain as you will see embryos. 



The fact that this vijper is oviparous has been known since 1904 when 

 our Society received deposited eggs containing embryos about six inches 

 in length from Mr. G. A. Millar, St. Joseph College, from Kurseong. The 

 observation has been confirmed by the Revd. C. Leigh who wrote a most 

 interesting article on this snake in the Field (1st January 1910). He 

 mentions therein two clutches of deposited eggs, but though he adds 

 three records of eggs removed from gravid parents after death, he does 

 not a'llude to any of these containing embryos. 



The parent snake in my case measured 2 feet 2 inches. She contained 

 7 eggs, 4 in one ovary, and 3 in the other. These eggs were flattened 

 where the poles met in opposition, and measured about If X | inches. 

 When cut open I found an embryo coiled up in a chamber at the side of 

 the yolk lying just beneath the ovicular membrane. The head was dis- 

 tinctly observed with a large boss at the back (primary cerebral vesicle). 

 The eye is distinct, the upper jaw slightly beaked, and the mandibles 

 much shorther than the latter, and not joined symphysially. The heart is 

 distinct, and the whole foetus measures a shade over one inch unravelled. 

 How much longer these eggs would have been retained it is impossible to 

 conjecture, but it is probable that the embryos may grow larger before the 

 eggs are ripe for discharge. 



The condition of the egg and embryo is exactly that recorded by me in 

 this Journal with regard to the snakes TypMops diardi, DendrelopMs tristis, 

 and Dendrophis proarchos. 



