MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 1099 



No. XXXV.— EATE OF GROWTH OF A DHAMAN (ZAMENLS 

 MUCOSUS) HATCHLING. 



On the 15th September I received a clutch of 22 dhaman eggs. Some 

 of these were opened and found to contain fully formed embryos measuring 

 15'5 inches. Ten eggs Avere placed in wet straw and allowed to hatch 

 out. Of these, three hatched on the 20th September, one on the 21st, 

 three on the 25th and two on the 28th. One egg did not hatch, but when 

 opened contained a fully formed dead embryo. One of the snakes that 

 emerged on the 20th measured 16-1 inches, while one that hatched on the 

 28th measured 16*5 inches. 



Accounts of the hatching of dhaman eggs and observations on the egg 

 tooth have already appeared in the Journal (Vol. XVII, page 1033) ; so my 

 intentions were to ascertain the rate at which a hatchling grew and the 

 periods at which it sloughed ;' but as my subject only lived for a very short 

 period, I give my results for what they are worth. 



A hatchling of the 28th, which measured 16*5 inches, was tempted with 

 frogs and lizards, but it refused to eat ; nevertheless small frogs and 

 agamoids were carefully thrust down its throat, and by this means I was 

 able to keep it alive for over a month. In all it ate three young agamoids 

 and thirty-six small frogs, and one day, when no frogs were available, some 

 flesh of a rat was administered in small quantities. After two weeks it 

 measured 18 inches and after a month 19 inches, that is to say, in confine- 

 ment it had grown 2f inches in a month. It died after the fifth week, but 

 during the fifth week it did not seem to have grown at all. It sloughed 

 on the 5th October, i.e., about a week after leaving the egg, and it showed 

 signs of sloughing a second time on the 2oth October, for in handling, the 

 epidermis of the anterior half of the body came away in one piece. 



E. A. D'ABREU, r.z.s. 

 Nagpue, C.P., February 1912. 



No. XXXVI.-^THE RUPTURE OF THE EGG-SHELL IN THE 

 GENUS CALOTES. 



Before reading Capt. Venning's interesting note on the hatching of 

 Calotes jerdoni in the last Number of the Society's Journal, I had sent to 

 "Spolia Zeylanica " one on the same phenomenon in Calotes niyrilabris. 

 So far as the external appearance of the egg just before the young lizard 

 emerges is concerned, my observations agree closely with Capt. Venning's ; 

 but I can find no trace of an egg-tooth in my specimens, and indeed, it is 

 hard to see how a structure of that nature could produce the oblique 

 parallel slits and triangular flap so clearly shown in his figures. My own 

 opinion is that the slits are produced by the long claws of the forefoot. 



