SNAKES OF CEYLON. 259 



a stick it will sometimes strike and bite viciously, and under 

 such excitement emits a disagreeable odour not necessarily 

 accompanied by a discharge of the cloacal contents. When 

 picked up it wreaths itself with some force around the hand. 



(d) Nocturnal or Diurnal: It appears to be completely 

 diurnal. 



(e) Progression : Its mode of progression is curious. • The 

 body is thrown forward in a curve in advance of the head, and 

 the head subsequently advanced, the body being again thrown 

 forward before the snake quite extends itself. It gives the 

 impression of moving sideways. 



Food. — It feeds exclusively and voraciously on fishes . About 

 Rangoon on the mud flats, it frequently pursued a little fish 

 commonly called the walking perch, from its mode of active 

 progression on the mud by means of fins that are used as legs. 

 I once found a large fish 8 inches in length inside a specimen 

 measuring 3 feet 3 inches. I have also known an eel taken. 

 I frequently saw Cerberus wriggling at the end of a fisherman's 

 hook bated with a fish to the disgust of the angler. 



Breeding. — (a) The Sexes: I have failed to discover any 

 sexual differences in proportions or lepidosis. 



(b) Method of Reproduction : Like all the other homalopsids 

 I know it is viviparous in habit. 



(c) Season : I found eggs with no trace of embryo in a gravid 

 female in February at Rangoon. Three gravid females from 

 Moulmein, captured between March 26 and April 4, 1900, 

 contained sacs with embryos about 63 mm. (2| inches) in 

 length. A gravid female in Madras was found to contain many 

 embryos in April, 1917. I had young very recently born, viz., 

 193 and 200 mm. (7| and 7J inches) long in May and July, 

 respectively. 



(d) Period of Gestation : Nob known. 



Growth. — (a) The Young : Gunther extracted the brood 

 from a gravid female, and found them 178 to 190 mm. (7 to 7| 

 inches) in length. This taken with the lengths of my two 

 specimens mentioned above shows that the young are about 

 177 to 203 mm. (7 to 8 inches) when born. They number 

 from 8 to 26 in a brood. 



