336 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



bands are well denned, expand vertebrally, and are extensively 

 confluent vertebrally and ventrally on the slender part of the 

 body, leaving oval yellow lateral patches. As age advances 

 the yellow fades to dull- grayish or bluish, and the black to 

 dull- greenish, the bands become less and less denned, disappear 

 first ventrally leaving dorsal bars, and finally may disappear 

 completely. The head in the young is black, with a complete 

 or a disconnected horseshoe mark, the convexity of which lies 

 across the prefrontals. As age advances this becomes more 

 and more obscure, and the black resolves into a dull-bluish or 

 olivaceous hue. 



Habits. — Dr. Annandale, who is intimately acquainted with 

 it, remarks that it is mainly, but not exclusively, an inhabitant 

 of brackish water. I have had it from Watiya, Burma, 40 

 miles up river. It frequents both open water and the shallow 

 weedy edges of the Chilka Lake. "Dr. Annandale frequently 

 observed it with its head and forebody thrust vertically out 

 of the water. 



Food. — Dr. Annandale says among other fish it will swallow 

 Triacanthus brevirostris, a species that bears a pair of long 

 and stout spines on the belly, which it can thrust out and 

 maintain so rigidly that they cannot be bent back without 

 being broken. It sometimes happens that when this fish has 

 been swallowed, the spines become locked in the stomach, and 

 pierce that organ or the intestine, and work their way out 

 through the tissues and skin, without imperilling the life ot 

 the snake ! 



Breeding. — (a) The Sexes: Both sexes grow to a similar 

 length. The male in its adult state is a rougher snake from 

 the development of its keels. 



(b) Method of Reproduction : It is definitely known to be 

 viviparous. 



(c) Season : Not known. 



(d) Period of Gestation : Not known. 



(e) The Brood : From five to ten young are produced at a 

 time. The type contained nine young, and I have examined 

 three other gravid females, one with five sacs, one with six, 

 and a third with ten young. 



