552 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXII. 



lapse of time after deposition. It is curious from these two last 

 specimens to account for Phipson's hatchlings only measuring 7^ 

 inches. I have had young cobras brought to me measuring 10^ 

 inches in June at Oannanore and 11|-, 12^ and 12|- inches at 

 Fyzabad in July. Nicholson remarked that out of 1,000 cobras 

 brought to him in May to August 1873, 230 were young of the 

 season measuring from 12 to 16 inches, and of 1,220 in the year 

 50 were from eggs deposited. It seems to be a common belief 

 that young cobras newly hatched are not poisonous. This is cer- 

 tainly a mistake, as Mr. Phipson reported that the young cobras 

 that hatched out some years ago in our Society's rooms killed a small 

 Malay python (Python reticulatus) which was placed in their cage, a 

 few days after they were born. They attacked it at once, biting it 

 viciously across the back. 



Oroiuth. — Phipson referring to the hatchlings that were 7^ inches 

 when they emerged from the egg, says they grew an inch and 

 a half in about two months, but as these specimens appeared to 

 have died of inanition, having refused all food, one may be certain 

 this underestimates the normal growth. Similarly, I have had 

 specimens submitted to me from Parel which did not develop as 

 cobras usually do in a state of nature. Four of these born on the 1 8th 

 July 1910 were consigned to spirit on the 2nd of November. I 

 measured these, and found them llf*g, 12, 12, and 12|- inches. A 

 fifth specimen born on the 20th July 1910 died on the 7th Decem- 

 ber, and I find it is 12| inches long. 



Nicholson's observation shows that young measuring less than a 

 foot at birth attain a length of from 2^ to 3 feet by the end of their 

 first year of life. This rate of growth is out of all proportion to that 

 noted by me in connection with other snakes, and I expected to find 

 some error in his conclusions. My own notes, however, confirm 

 Nicholson's statements. I find that young averaging 12 inches in 

 July, average 2 feet 6 inches by the next July. At the end of 

 their second year they average 3 feet 8 inches, at the end of the 

 third 4 feet 2 inches, and at the end of the fourth 4 feet 10 inches. 

 The growth, it will be seen, is especially rapid during the first year, 

 and progressively diminishes in subsequent years. In other snakes 

 I find it the rule that the young proximately double their length in 

 the first year, 



Slougliing. — Fayrer* mentions a cobra that cast its skin on Octo- 

 ber 17th, and again on November the 10th, and December the 7th. 

 Another in his possession desquamated on the 1 5th of October and 

 on the 6th of November. In Trivandrumf a captive cobra shed its 

 skin on November 10th, 1902, and on February 1 9th, April 8th and 

 July 28th in 1903. I have been told by snakemen that ecdysis 



* Loc. cit, pp. 144 and 143. t ^^e Field, 16th April 1904. 



