96 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



subsequently discharging eggs in my vivarium. My notes 

 contain records of 27 egg-bound females, with eggs in various 

 stages of development in the months of November to May 

 (November, three in Cannanore ; December, two in Dibru- 

 garh (Assam) ; January, one in Cannanore, one in Rangoon, 

 one in Fyzabad, and three in Dibrugarh; February, one in 

 Rangoon, one in Poona, one in Fyzabad, and three in Dib- 

 rugarh ; March, one in Mandalay ; April, eight in Dibrugarh ; 

 May, one in Dibrugarh). Mr. D'Abreu has informed me 

 of an egg-bound female at Nagpur in December. 



My gravid female deposited eggs in Rangoon in March, 

 and I had clusters of eggs brought to me in January at Can- 

 nanore, May in Dibrugarh, and August in Shillong. A 

 clutch was deposited in captivity in February at Madras, 

 I was told by Mr. Thurston, Superintendent of the Museum. 



Begbie reported eggs hatching in May at Cawnpore, and 

 I had eggs hatching out in June at Dibrugarh, and in 

 September at Shillong. 



I have had hatchlings in March at Cannanore ; in May from 

 the Andamans; June in Rangoon, Dibrugarh, and the Nilgiris ; 

 July from Fyzabad and the Nilgiri Hills ; August in Shillong 

 and the Nilgiris ; and September in Shillong. 



(d) Period of Gestation : This is one of the very few snakes 

 whose period of gestation is known. In Rangoon a snake 

 was brought to me on January 3, said to have been found 

 in conjunction with another. I kept this alone in my 

 vivarium, and fifty-five days later, on March 9, fourteen eggs 

 were laid between 9 and 11 a.m. Ten more eggs were 

 discharged between March 9 and 23. I think it probable that 

 the enfeebled health of the parent, consequent upon her 

 incarceration, may have caused this protracted and 

 spasmodic discharge of her ova, for on another occasion a 

 specimen in my vivarium laid all her fifty-seven eggs within a 

 few hours. 



(e) Period of Incubation : This is not known. All my 

 attempts to imitate nature and bring the ova to fruition 

 have failed. Where clusters of eggs have been brought to 

 me in a state approaching hatching I have been sometimes 

 successful. 



