474 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



month of January. Nicholson had several gravid females 

 with eggs about an inch long in February at Bangalore, and 

 I had one in a similar condition at Cannanore in the same 

 month. Mr. E. E. Green also had a gravid female in Ceylon 

 in February. Evans and I o btained gravid females in Rangoon 

 in July and August, one specimen in July showing but little 

 enlargement of the ovarian follicles. 



The usual months for the deposition of eggs are April and 

 May. Four cobras laid eggs in the Parel Laboratory in April, 

 and eight in May. Nicholson says that about Bangalore they 

 are laid in May and early June. Mr. Phipson remarked that 

 eggs are laid in the rains. Two eggs sent to me from our 

 Society's collection were deposited in June. Wall (A. J.) 

 mentions eggs laid in July, and Hampton's eggs were laid in 

 the middle of August at Mogok, Burma. 



(e) Period of Gestation : The period of gestation is accurately 

 known in Colonel Dawson's case. Sixty -two days after 

 coitus, i.e., on March 20, eight eggs were deposited, the first 

 at 8 a.m., six more almost immediately, and then after the 

 lapse of half an hour the last. In Mr. Hampton's case the 

 mating was observed towards the end of March, and eggs 

 were not deposited until the middle of August, nearly five 

 months. 



(/) Period of Incubation : Fayrer says, on the evidence of 

 his snakemen, that the cobra incubates her eggs, and that 

 they frequently dug out mother and brood. This is in accord- 

 ance with the habits of other snakes, and receives direct 

 confirmation from Colonel Dawson, who told me that at first 

 his dam coiled herself among her eggs. The period of incu- 

 bation has been ascertained at Parel. Eggs laid on May 12 

 hatched out on July 20, i.e., in sixty -nine days. The period 

 that elapses then between coition and the advent of the young 

 is rather over four months. 



(g) The Eggs : From over a dozen records, I find that the 

 usual number of eggs laid is 12 to 22. I find one record of 8, 

 and the only record of over 22 is Mr. Hampton's. In this case 

 45 eggs were deposited, 36 seemingly good, and 9 apparently 

 infertile. 



