THE COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 753 



to flatten the posterior part of the head on to the ground by the 

 action of the quadrates, and in so doing they make the neck much 

 more apparent than normal. I have nearly always encountered 

 it in motion in broad daylight, but some specimens I have had 

 sent to me were killed in bungalows after nightfall. It climbs 

 with facilitv as do most snakes that have their ventrals annulate, 

 this condition approximating to that of the true keeled condition 

 seen in the tree snakes Dendrophis and Ghrysojpelea. Two were 

 discovered in Fyzabad, evidently a pair, in the act of scaling a 

 mud wall, another fell off the top of a doorway in Berhampur on 

 to a lady when opening a godown. The situation, some six feet 

 from the floor, was a remarkable one for any snake, and an inspec- 

 tion of the place gave no clue to its probable path of ascent. It is 

 more frequently met with in the rains than at other times during 

 the year. 



Food. — I have but rarely found anything in the stomach. A 

 specimen killed in Almora contained two sausaze-shaped gristly 

 masses of a yellow colour, the nature of which I could not ascertain 

 as the material appeared to have no structure. With these was 

 the flaccid envelope of a snake's or lizard's egg, which had been 

 extensively perforated at both poles. On another occasion I 

 found a plug of hair in the cloaca of considerable proportions. 

 This taken with the choice of an abode about habitations leads 

 me to think that it preys chiefly upon mice. 



The Sexes. — In Fyzabad out of 15 sexed, 8 proved to be ^5' and 

 7' 5 . In Almora of 12 sexed, 9 were c? and only 3 5 . The 

 female has a relatively longer body, and shorter tail as might be 

 inferred from the difference in the ventrals and subcaudals in the 

 sexes. There appears to be little, if any, difference in the growth 

 of the sexes, for although my two largest records of two feet were 

 both females, I have had males 1 foot lOf inches and 1 foot 11| 

 inches. 



Breeding. — The mating season in the plains is during the rains. 

 I have on two occasions — both in Fyzabad — acquired gravid females, 

 but both unfortunately were killed. One contained 5 eggs of very 

 considerable dimensions, the largest measuring 1^^ x -J^ inches. 

 There was no trace of an embryo within. My second gravid spe- 

 cimen obtained like the first in August had 4 impregnated ovarian 

 follicles enlarged to ^f^ of an inch. In the latter case a c? was 

 killed at the same time, both snakes being discovered within a 

 couple of yards of one another scaling the same wall. This adds 

 another instance to many already mentioned in these papers, to show 

 that the matrimonial bond does not abruptly cease after sexual 

 gratification. The smaller gravid $ measured 1 foot 9| inches, a 

 length which I estimate would be attained by the end of the fourth 

 year of life. It is not known for certain whether this species is 



