LIST OF SNAKES TAKEN IN TRA VANCORE. 69 



did so much to extend the knowledge of these and other earth snakes) 

 which should be found in Travancore. Of these we have secured six, 

 and it is possible we may yet come across the other two, for these 

 snakes are very local and are not easy to find at any time though, 

 when one has been met with, others of the same species may generally 

 be found near the same locality. 



Family TYPHLOPIDiE. 



These are small worm-like snakes, which are entirely subterranean 

 in habit and can only be obtained by digging. In excavating a tank 

 in the public gardens I got a number, but with a single exception all 

 of one kind. 



Typhlops hraminus. Fairly common in Trevandrum. 



f This has only been recorded from North 



] India hitherto ; but a single specimen was 

 Typlilops porrectusA , , , , , . • ,i t> •,• i 



[ brought to me and is now m the ontisn 



^_ Museum. 



Family BOID^. 



Python molurus.-^-llhis is a fairly common snake about the foot of 

 the hills. Specimens are often brought in alive for the zoological 

 collection in the public gardens (at present we have three, but none 

 over ten feet). The largest I have heard of was one of eighteen feet 

 killed on a coffee estate in the Ashambu hills. 



On one occasion I was considerably startled by one. I was walking 

 from one coffee estate to another, when I took a wrong road and 

 coming to a stream I sat down and took my breakfast. Before retrac- 

 ing my steps I took a nap and suddenly woke to find a python 

 gliding along within a yard of me. Needless to say I hurriedly 

 departed in the opposite direction. One was killed not long ago near 

 the regimental butts at Quilon, which are close to the sea ; it was 

 about eight feet long and had killed a kid. 



In captivity, as a rule, they feed well, but one we had fasted abso- 

 lutely for a year and ten days. Contrary to what I have always 

 believed, I find that they will eat a dead rat, or rabbit, just as readily 

 as a live one. They make no attempt at constricting it but proceed 

 to swallow it at once. At one time all the pythons that were kept in 

 a particular cage died, and a post mortem examination showed that they 



