SNAKES OF CEYLON. 65 



remained there for six weeks without taking food, only leaving 

 the eggs once for a few hours. In Paris, too, in 1841 it was 

 reported that the dam refused food and drink during the 

 whole period which lasted 58 days. Her task accomplished, 

 it was noted that she took little or no notice of the young 

 brood. 



(c) Season: From what is known of the period of gesta- 

 tion, and the season when eggs are deposited, the mating 

 season is in December, January, and February, the coldest 

 months of the year, when we know that the python, at any 

 rate in Northern India, is hibernating. We have already 

 seen the effect on the vitality of the snake during this period, 

 which is reduced to the extent that the body heat is sensibly 

 diminished, and the capability for digestion lost. In the 

 circumstances it is most remarkable that the inclination for 

 sexual indulgence is retained, and yet this conclusion is in 

 perfect agreement with that observed by me in other snakes 

 that hibernate. One must assume that pythons retire in 

 pairs, and that the female is gravid when the term of hiber- 

 nation is spent. In Paris, 1841, the pair that mated were 

 observed " in copula" several times during the month of 

 January and February, and eggs were deposited in May, i.e., 

 the season when eggs are laid in India. Mr. V. A. Herbert, 

 I.F.S., told me he once encountered two pythons coiled 

 together in the Terai on May 2, which he believed were 

 "in copula," and which he shot. The eggs are deposited in 

 the months of March, April, May, and June in India. A 

 gravid female containing large eggs was killed at Pasyala in 

 Ceylon on August 2, 1918. 



(d) Period of Gestation : Some three or four months 

 elapse from the act of mating to the deposition of the 

 eggs. 



(e) Period of Incubation : Though several pythons have 

 laid eggs in captivity in various Institutions, the eggs have 

 frequently been sterile, or when fertile, for some cause have 

 failed to hatch. In Paris, however, in 1841 the incubation 

 was brought to a successful conclusion, the period being 

 fifty-eight days. The 15 eggs were laid on May 6, and on 



14 6(6)20 



