404 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



sacs are 64 mm. (2 J inches) in length, and the dam with a 

 brood of nine is necessarily very considerably distended. 



Growth.— {a) Intraoval Life : The genitals in males are 

 extruded in the later stages of development, but some time 

 shortly before birth they are retracted within their sheaths, 

 and are no longer visible when born. The heart in unborn 

 young was found to beat about 26 times per minute. 



(b) The Young : The young at birth measure about 254 to 

 279 mm. (10 to 11 inches). Gunther mentions a young 

 specimen that measured 266 mm. (10J inches), and I have 

 extracted embryos that measured 279 mm. (11 inches). 



(c) Early Life : The young double their length in the first 

 year of life, and are then about 508 to 610 mm. (20 to 24 

 inches) long. At the end of the second year of life they appear 

 (from very meagre figures) to be about 762 mm. (30 inches). 

 Further observations are necessary to clear up this point. 



(d) Maturity : My smallest mother measured 965 mm. (3 

 feet 2 inches) in January, a length which indicates that she 

 was not more than three years old. 



(e) Maximum Length : Average adults range from 915 to 1 ,220 

 mm. (3 and 4 feet). I have had larger examples, viz., a female 

 1,310 mm. (4 feet 3J inches), and a male 1.398 mm. (4 feet 7 

 inches). 



Poison. — (a) Physical Characters : Fraser and Elliot report 

 that in its dried state it consists of " thin scales of a very pale 

 yellow colour." 



(b) Yield : Dr. Pinto, who collected the venom used by 

 Fraser and Elliot for their experiments, obtained *28 grammes 

 of an impure dried poison from 60 dry glands, or an average 

 of -0045 per gland, or -009 grammes of poison per snake. 



(c) Amount injected during a Bile : Rogers estimated that the 

 average amount injected at one bite represented *01 grammes 

 of dried residue. It is difficult to reconcile this estimate with 

 Dr. Pinto's average yield. Fraser and Elliot's estimate is 

 much lower, but could not be exactly stated owing to an 

 accident. 



(d) Toxicity : Russell caused one to bite a fowl, and the bird 

 succumbed in five minutes ! Rogers, experimenting on pigeons, 

 found that Enhydrina venom was ten times more potent than 



