THE COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 467 



Mr. Jausz told me had all its fat carefully collected for use in cuts 

 and abrasions, sprains, etc. Colonel Dawson tells me that in 

 Travancore the fat is used locally for sprains, fractures, bruises and 

 rheumatism, and internally for leprosy. In Burma the gall 

 bladder is prized, and its contents used medicinally. 



Breeding (a) season. — From what is known of the period of 

 gestation, and the season when eggs are deposited, the mating season 

 is in December, January and February, the coldest months of the 

 year when we know that the python, at any rate in ISIorthen India, 

 is hibernating. We have already seen the effect on the vitality 

 of the snake during this period, which is reduced to the extent 

 that the body heat is sensibly diminished, and the capability for 

 digestion lost. Under the circumstances it is most remarkable 

 that the inclination for sexual indulgence is retained, and yet this 

 conclusion is in perfect agreement with that observed by me in 

 other snakes that hibernate. One must assume that pythons 

 retire in pairs, and that the female is gravid when the term of 

 hibernation is spent. In Paris in 1841 the pair that mated were 

 observed " in copula" several times during the month of January 

 and February and eggs were deposited in May, i.e., the season 

 when eggs are laid in India. 



Period of gestation. — From the foregoing it will be seen that the 

 period from mating to the deposition of eggs is about 3 or 4 

 months. 



Our Indian python is oviparous* and lays from 8 to 100 

 eggs, 107 being the largest brood I have any knowledge of. These 

 are discharged in the hot months, March, April, May and June. 

 The eggs are usually described as being the size of goose 

 eggs, but the only accurate measurement I have been able to 

 procure is from the Director of the Berlin Aquarium who tells me 

 they are 12 c. m. x 6 c. m. (4| x 2^ inches), no doubt they vary 

 somewhat. They are white in colour, soft, and equally domed at the 

 poles. 



After deposition the female coils herself around them, and has 

 been observed so in captivity, and in a state of nature. As far as 



*The African species regius is viviparous. 



