SNAKES OF CEYLON. 473 



does the cobra on occasion practise polyandry ? Mr. Fitz- 

 gerald once told me that he saw three large snakes go into a 

 hole in his compound within a few minutes. He had possessed 

 himself of his gun, as speedily as possible, and shot the third 

 snake before it had quite disappeared, and this proved to be 

 a cobra. He assumed the others to have been of the same 

 species, but, unfortunately, did not verify his suspicions. 



I can discover no difference in the lepidosis of the sexes, 

 nor in the relative lengths of the tails. There is no constant 

 difference either in the ranges of ventrals and subcaudals. 

 The male clasper is narrow and long and surmounted with 

 very small claw-like tentacles. It is not bifid. Females 

 appear to be more numerous than males in Bangalore, as Dr. 

 Nicholson found 410 of the former, against 308 of the latter, 

 in 718 cobras sexed by him. In Cannanore, however, I got 

 eight males to a single female. In Chitral out of 18 sexed, 

 11 were females and 7 males. In Fyzabad I collected 

 18 males to 15 females. 



(b) The Act of Mating : Colonel Dawson had captive cobras 

 in Trivandrum which were observed " in copula " in January. 

 Mr. H. Hampton wrote to me of a pair he had in captivity in 

 Burma that were observed in the act of mating at the end of 

 March. Mr. Foulkes told me of a pair he found coupled in 

 June at Rajamundry. 



The act of mating has been witnessed by Colonel Dawson 

 and Mr. H. Hampton, to whom I am indebted for the following 

 details : In Trivandrum the pair remained coupled from 

 11 a.m. until 4.20 p.m. on January 17. In Mr. Hampton's 

 vivarium coitus lasted intermittently for three days. He 

 observed that the pair nodded their heads continually, and 

 their bodies quivered. They did not take the slightest notice 

 of anybody in front of their cage. They did not expand their 

 hoods, neither did they wrap themselves around one another. 

 Each turned the vent upwards and sideways to effect engage- 

 ment. 



(c) Method of Reproduction : Eggs are produced by the 

 cobra. 



(d) Season : Flower in Siam had a gravid female with eggs 

 fit for discharge, judging from their measurements, in the 



