SNAKES OF CEYLON. 109 



know. I cannot remember one ever having attempted to 

 bite even when caught in the open." Little " buffstripes " 

 is easily alarmed and when danger threatens, turns and 

 glides off as rapidly as possible to any protection the nature of 

 the ground may offer, and it is an adept in the art of concealing 

 itself in the smallest patch of scrub or grass, sometimes 

 vanishing in a most uncanny way. Probably it has found a 

 hole and secreted itself therein, but a careful and systematic 

 search sometimes fails to reveal the mystery of its disappear- 

 ance. When brought into the open it exhibits a lively 

 activity, making repeated attempts to escape. 



(c) Posture of Alarm: When irritated, some specimens, 

 but by no means all, erect themselves flattening the neck and 

 forebody ventro-vertebrally. This flattening process involves 

 a much greater length of the forebody than is seen in the 

 cobra, and I have seen the whole body flattened to the vent. 

 In the cobra the degree to which it is manifested laterally is 

 far greater than is seen in any of the keelbacks and their 

 allies. During this erection and flattening of the forebody, 

 stolatus distends itself by deep drawn inspirations, bringing 

 into view those beautiful ornamentations of blue or vermilion, 

 as the case may be, to which I have referred in dealing with its 

 colour and varieties. This behaviour is never anything more 

 than a demonstration of alarm, possibly a menace, the snake 

 looking as if it intended mischief, but though I have irritated 

 it as much as I knew how, I never had one attempt to bite me. 

 {d) Nocturnal or Diurnal : The buff -striped keelback is 

 essentially diurnal in habit. It is met with abroad at any 

 hour of the day, but is not usually encountered at night,, 

 though its relative piscator is frequently on the move under 

 cover of darkness. 



(e) Progression: Though agile and active, its movements 

 are not rapid. It always appears to me that its progression 

 is much smoother than that exhibited by many snakes. 



(/) Estivation: This snake evinces a very marked dis- 

 position to sestivate, disappearing for some months during 

 the drought of a hot weather, to re -appear with the first 

 heavy rains that announce the inauguration of the monsoon. 

 This fact has evidently been noted by the observant native 



