320 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



{d) Period of Gestation : This is not known, and the diffi- 

 culties in investigating the point are great, as seasnakes do 

 not thrive well for long in captivity, even in capacious tanks. 



(e) The Brood : The various species seem to vary much 

 in their fecundity. Some give birth to one or two at a time, 

 and others up to as many as sixteen. 



Growth. — (a) The Young: These vary in their measure- 

 ments with the species. In some the young are retained 

 until they attain to a length half that of the mother. 



(b) Early Life : From a small material at my disposal, 

 I am able to say that in some cases the young double their 

 length in the first year of life. 



(c) Maturity : In some species I have observed maturity 

 is attained in a remarkably short time, even as little as a year ; 

 in other species it appears to be considerably longer, two or 

 three years. Without wishing to be at all emphatic it 

 appears from my notes that the species that are least prolific 

 show the most precocious attainment to sexual maturity. 



(d) Maximum Length: The largest measurement I am 

 aware of is 2,745 mm. (9 feet). This was for a spiralis killed 

 by Mr. Stone at Penang. 



Poison. — Beyond the fact that all are poisonous, and 

 apparently very fatal, little is known. I can only find one 

 record in which the snake causing a bite in the human subject 

 was killed, and identified. This is mentioned under Hydrus 

 platurus. The poison of two species only, viz., Enhydrina 

 valakadyen and Enhydris curtus, has been worked with in the 

 laboratory, and in the case of the former the venom is shown 

 to be much more potent than cobra venom. Russell caused 

 a few other species to bile fowls, all of which succumbed in a 

 few minutes, so that the venom of all appears to be extremely 

 virulent. It is rather a reflection on Indian Zoologists, that 

 for a glimmering appreciation of the toxicity of some of the 

 venoms, one should have to hark back one hundred and 

 twenty years to Russell's experiments for information ! 



Foes. — Gunther mentions among the chief foes the sea 

 eagles of the Genus Halisetus and sharks. I have never 

 witnessed a seasnake borne off by any raptorial bird, but 



