SNAKES OF CEYLON. 11 



consternation were evinced by timid residents when a living 

 specimen appeared through the tap supply. It sometimes 

 invades houses in considerable numbers from the garden or 

 pot plants. Captain Stevenson, I. M.S., told me that in 

 Manipur it is extremely common in houses. He has found 

 three in a single evening wriggling about the floor when he was 

 dressing for dinner, and one subaltern in his regiment collected 

 about one hundred in his house in about a month. 



Food. — Most of those that I have dissected have had full 

 stomachs, and the contents when investigated proved to be 

 the larvae, pupae, and imagines of ants, and probably beetles, 

 and other insects. Dr. Annandale discovered one in the 

 burrow eaten by a caterpillar in a stalk of sugar cane. The 

 caterpillar had vacated or, perhaps, had been eaten by the 

 snake, and subsequently in captivity the snake was observed 

 to eat the caterpillar droppings. 



Foes. — It is very frequently preyed upon by young kraits 

 (B. c&ruleus) . I have recovered many in this manner. Fowls 

 and other birds will readily eat them. 



Breeding. — The brahminy snake is believed to be oviparous, 

 but I am not aware of any certain evidence in this direction. 

 All the gravid females I have known were in Assam, and these, 

 eight in number, were collected in the hot weather from April 

 to July. In length they ranged between 152 to 162 mm. 

 (6 inches and 6f inches). Six of these were brought to me on 

 the same day by the same boy, who had evidently unearthed 

 a colony, and only one male was brought with them. The 

 eggs, which whilst in the abdomen resemble grains of cooked 

 rice, varied from 2 to 7 in number, the largest measuring 

 13 mm. by 4 mm. (18/32 by 5/32 of an inch). 



Growth : (a) Maturity. — My smallest gravid female was 

 152 mm. (6 inches). 



(b) Maximum Length. — It grows to about 150 to 170 mm. 

 (6 to 6J inches). 



Parasites : Entozoa. — The nematode worm Kallicephalus 

 willeyi has been found infesting the stomach by Von 

 Linstow. 



Lepidosis. — Rostral : About one-third the breadth of the 

 head opposite the eyes, not reaching as far back as the eyes. 



