EAST AFRICAN SNAKES. 895 



Most were taken lying on paths, but some in clearing or burning 

 grass. 



The largest males were 43g and 40f inches from Kilosa, the 

 largest females 41 1 and 39 inches from Morogoro, but none of 

 these exceeded Catalogue dimensions. It is interesting to note 

 that the slcin of the largest when dried measured 52 in. 



The coloration is extremely A-ariable in East African Puff 

 Adders, which may be lemon-yelloAV, chocolate-brown, or biick-ied,, 

 or intermediate between these three main types. A young reddish 

 Puff Adder cast its skin on Nov. 7th and appeared in a cream- 

 and-brown skin; exactly three months later, i. e. Feb. 9tb, he 

 sloughed again. On IT.viii. 21, I made a comparison of two 

 young local snakes. A nut-brown one had a black spot on the 

 lateral portions of each 5th ventral scale approximately. The 

 reddish viper, on the other hand, had the whole of the under- 

 surface chequered with black like a Tessellated Snake. 



The smaller of the two males whose measurements are given 

 above was most unusually coloured : the black Y-shaped markings 

 had a lighter outer edge of old gold ; posteriorly there were 

 rectangular patches of the same colour. Another snake from 

 Kipera which was driven out by fire from a woodland of maiombo 

 bush, and which harmonised most wondei'fully Avith the reddish 

 soil and fallen brown and yellow leaves, had the V-shaped 

 markings vermilion, black, and cream, the rest of the back being 

 brown. 



Some small boys informed me that two Puff Adders, which are 

 known to the Swahili as " Moma " or " Pilipili," were mating in 

 the scrub not far from where I was. Theie was only the male 

 to be seen when I arrived, a very fine one, and it lay with hemi- 

 penes extruded perfectly motionless, nor did it move when 

 I quietly placed a forked stick on its neck, not till I picked it 

 up did it commence to struggle. Pairing was taking place on 

 Aug. 20th. A female very heavy in young was killed on 

 IS.i. 21. 



The Mpanira Adder had swallowed a largish bird whose quills 

 were undigested. A younger specimen had an orthopteran in 

 its stomach in addition to a, young toad. Toads {Bufo regularis), 

 but more often rats (7?. c. microdon), aie their principal food ; so 

 many persons have kept and recorded the feeding habits of this 

 species that there is no object in my doing so here. 



Three notes on the effects of their bite may not be amiss. 

 A fine conditioned male Bushbuck was picked up at Kilosa on 

 26, iii. 21. There Avas a single puncture on one haunch, and from 

 the fluid condition of the blood and general hsemorrhage 1 should 

 certainly say that the buck had laid upon (?) and been bitten by 

 a Puff Adder that morning. 



When in the bathroom, my wife saw a rat entering by a hole 

 which drains away the bath-water. "When just clear of the hole, it 

 struggled violently as if to free itself, and she thought she saw a 

 snake's head and called to me that there was a snake there. The- 



