612 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



disappearing for some months during the drought of a hot weather/ 

 to re-appear with the first heavy rains that announce the inaugura- 

 tion of the monsoon. This fact has evidently been noted by the 

 observant native hence the names " wana kukroo," " wanna pam," 

 and " wanna cogli. " Only recently too (February) Mr. Millard 

 tells me he has offered rewards for them in Bombay but the 

 natives say they cannot guarantee getting them except in the rains 

 when they are plentiful. 



In Rangoon, Evans and I got no single example in 1900 before 

 the 30th of April — the day the rains broke, — but from the 2nd of 

 May to the 2nd of August no fewer than 2 1 specimens were brought 

 in. Similarly in Oannanore in 1904, during the drought between 

 the 1st of January and the 18th of March I got only 1 specimen 

 out of a total of 60, but from the 19th March to the 4th June 

 between which dates a few desultory showers fell there were 3 out 

 of 71 snakes collected, and from the 5th June — the day the big mon- 

 soon burst — to the end of July out of 81 specimens, no fewer 

 than 38 were stolatus. In Fyzabad in 1906 during the drought 

 between the 1st of January and the 18th of June — the day the rains 

 broke — I had received a solitary specimen, but after this I obtain- 

 ed 6 out of 21 specimens in June, and no fewer than 87 in July 

 and August out of a total of 485 snakes of all kinds. 



In Northern India it disappears during the cold months of the 

 year, hibernating beneath the soil. In December 1904 several 

 were unearthed by the sepoys of the 62nd Punjabis when out in 

 camp near Rae Bareilly in December. They were found singly at 

 a depth of from 9 to 1 8 inches below the surface, chiefly in the roots 

 of clumps of giant grass, and when dislodged were dull, and in- 

 active. I have never known it climb into bushes, trees, or habit- 

 ations, though 1 have seen it in masonry crevices a yard above the 

 ground, and one was found at Chakdara basking in a chink of 

 rock at about the same elevation. 



It is very curious studying my notes that so very few hatchlings 

 and young specimens are brought to me. Why nearly every 

 specimen should be mature or nearly so I cannot suggest an expla- 

 nation for. 



Food. — Its diet is almost entirely batrachian in character, and 





