ON THE COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 939 



be swallowing a fish. In every other instance where I have found 

 anything in the stomach a snake had been devoured, and in 

 many other examples, where the stomach was empty, an examina- 

 tion of the cloacal contents made it certain that a snake had pre- 

 viously been victimised as the very distinctive ventral shields 

 floated up to the surface after softening the mass in water. 



The victim in every instance lay fully extended within the 

 krait, and, even when small, was never folded or collected into a 

 mass. Although the stomach is remarkably elongate in this, and 

 other kraits being 9^ inches long* in one which measured 4 feet 

 and ^ an inch, it is not long enough to accommodate most of the 

 snakes preyed upon. Often a considerable length of the victim 

 lies in the gullet, and may even protrude for some distance beyond 

 the mouth ; in fact, inevitably must do so when the quarry is of a 

 length nearly equal to its vanquisher, or as sometimes happens 

 even greater. A specimen I had in Assam, probably about 5 feet 

 long, had been pickled in the act of eating a dhaman (Zamenis 

 'imicosiLs), which from the length of its tail must have been about 

 5 feet long and no less than 1 foot 4f inches were protruding from 

 the mouth. In another instance, a banded krait measuring 4 feet 

 2jj inches was killed in the act of swallowing an Indo-Malayan 

 rat-snake (Zamenis Jwrros), which measured 4 feet 2^ inches. In 

 such cases, a considerable length of the victim must remain un- 

 swallowed until that portion already in the stomach is liquified by 

 digestion, and this organ capable of accommodating a further 

 instalment. It is probable that there is some protrusion beyond 

 the jaws for a day or two, and that the whole length of a relative- 

 ly large snake is not completely digested for a week. 



The victim is at first seized anyhow, often being grasped in the 

 middle of the body, but as its struggles grow feebler under the 

 masterful grip of its captor, and the more powerful influence of its 

 poison, it is released and siezed by the head. It would appear 

 that sometimes the quarry is seized at first by the head, and swal- 

 lowing commenced forthwith, for the most violent struggles ensue, 

 in which the overpowered snake, although partially swallowed, has 

 wreathed itself around its foe with a strength that refutes any idea 

 of being enfeebled by the paralysing action of the krait's venom. 



