SNAKES OF CEYLON. 403 



In Cannanore I kept several of these snakes in a dry masonry 

 trough among my flower pots, where they lived many days 

 without any water. Here they crawled about in a clumsy 

 awkward fashion, but progression was far less hampered than 

 is the case in the very thin-necked seasnakes. All these 

 specimens were conspicuously gentle creatures, that I failed 

 to provoke to bite an offending object. This placid disposition 

 is well exemplified by the fact that the sepoys and others, 

 who habitually bathed at Cannanore, were never bitten, 

 plentiful as I have shown that the species is there. 



Food. — They live entirely on fishes. 



Breeding.— (a) The Sexes : Females appear to be more 

 numerous than males from the few notes at my disposal. In 

 Cannanore, of 13 specimens sexed, 8 were females. Again, 

 of 19 foetuses obtained in the same station, 12 proved to be 

 females. The tubercles on the scales are rather more 

 pronounced in males than in females. Each male clasper is 

 bifid with its extremities beset with villose papillae. A raphe 

 passes from the cloaca up the inner face, and then to the back 

 of the " stalk," where it divides to pass up each limb. 



(6) Method of Reproduction : Definitely known to be 

 viviparous. 



(c) Season : The young are born during the months of 

 February (? January), March, April, and May. I had a female 

 containing eggs with no trace of embryo in November, and 

 many others in various stages of pregnancy in December, 

 January, and February. One of these captured on January 

 29 contained foetuses 263 to 279 mm. (10f to 11 inches) long, 

 whose birth, judging from these measurements, must have 

 been imminent. Again, I have had young as small as 317 mm. 

 (12J inches) in the latter half of June, which were probably 

 born in May. 



(d) Period of Gestation : Not known. 



(e) The Brood : I have had many gravid females through 

 my hands, and I find the brood numbers from four to nine. 

 During the later stages of development the sacs are membra- 

 nous and transparent, and the foetuses lying in a bath of 

 pellucid oily fluid, are clearly visible within. Some of these 



57 6(6)20 



