138 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



(c) Nocturnal or Diurnal : It is completely diurnal in 

 habit. 



(d) Progression : It is a vivacious little reptile, active in 

 movement, and as alert as any snake I know. When alarmed 

 it raises the fore body well off the ground and flattens the neck 

 like the cobra, but to a much less degree. It is this posture 

 which, I think, has misled some who have pronounced it 

 fierce. 



(e) ^Estivation : It appears to me to retire during the hot 

 weather, and is little, if at all, in evidence until the monsoon 

 breaks and vegetation springs up afresh. 



Food. — Specimens I had in captivity fed on frogs, and Mr. 

 Ingleby found the frogs that he offered were taken . Gunther 

 includes fishes in its dietary. I cannot recall ever having got 

 a specimen that had recently fed in a state of liberty. 



Breeding. — (a) The Sexes : As far as I can judge from my 

 notes, the sexes in Fyzabad and Bangalore are evenly balanced. 

 Females attain a considerably greater length than males, but 

 .males have relatively much longer tails, and, therefore, more 

 numerous subcaudal shields. The males of the South Indian 

 variety appear to have a brighter red dorsal line, and females 

 appear to be able to flatten themselves more noticeably. The 

 male claspers are cylindrical, not bifid, and beset from base 

 to apex with small falciform processes. 



(b) The Act of Mating : A pair were brought to me in 

 Bangalore in coitu. These were observed united, reclining on 

 a bamboo stem 8 or 10 feet above the ground. On the evening 

 of the 26th an attempt was made to capture them, but not 

 pressed, as the snake men feared they would not earn their 

 reward of Rs. 5 if they separated. They were successfully 

 captured next morning, and brought to me still united, and 

 I had them under observation for some time. As far as I 

 know, they did not disengage for at least 25J hours. During 

 this time I repeatedly examined them, and found the left 

 clasper of the male engaged with the right orifice of the 

 female. The ventral apposition of the two was so limited 

 that nobody seeing them together would have suspected that 

 they were coupled . They each lay in sinuous courses, without 

 their bodies or their tails being enwreathed, and there was 



