ON THE COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 951 



I found the slough of one in a pine wood adhering some 5 feet 

 nigh to the trunk of a tree that was fully 18 inches in diameter. 

 This shows that it can climb deftly like its near relative milieus, 

 for the irregularities in the bark were very slight, and there were 

 no branches to aid it. 



Food. — I have found the skink Lygosoma indica in the stomach 

 once, and on another occasion a skink of similar dimensions and 

 probabfy of the same species. Mr. Hampton says his specimens 

 in captivity readily devoured lizards of the same species, and also 

 the Burmese slow worm Ophisaurus gracilis, but took no notice of 

 young rats or sparrows. Further, they evinced serpentivorous 

 tastes, being specially fond of the blind snake Typhiops diardi, but 

 if nothing else was handy the big ones practised cannibalism, 

 eating younger specimens of their own species. Another snake 

 which they devoured eagerly was Coluber porphyraceus* On one 

 occasion he saw one in captivity endeavouring to swallow a green 

 pit viper Lacliesis gramineus not quite so long but far more bulky 

 than itself. It had swallowed half of it, but had to give up the 

 attempt, the victim which was dead proving too large. There were 

 plenty of lizards in the cage when this happened. It wreathes its 

 body round its victim I am told. 



Foss. — Mr. Hampton says one of his was eaten by a cobra (Naia 

 toipudians). Recently I had one sent to me which had been 

 removed from the stomach of a hamadryad (Naia bungarus) by 

 Mr. Venning in Haka (Chin Hills, Upper Burma). 



Sexes. — Males and females appear to be equally abundant. Out 

 of 13 sexed in Shillong, 6 were J j , and 7 $ £ . I can dis- 

 cover no differences of sexual import. The relative lengths of the 

 body and tail seems to be the same in both, and so are the num- 

 bers of ventral and subcaudal shields. The secretion from the 

 anal glands is yellowish and custard-like, and as abundant in a 

 young specimen (a hatchling), as in mature examples. 



Breeding. — The species is oviparous, for Mr. Hampton has had 

 eggs laid on two occasions, once 10 and once 14. Unfortunately 

 the dates of deposition were not noted. A small example which I 



*As Mr. Hampton was uncertain of the identity of the snakes herein referred to 

 he sent me specimens- 



