510 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



one of its members dead, and another one missing, and on 

 examining the dead one I found the missing one inside him." 



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

 more numerous than males. Thus, out of 71 young born at 

 Par el, the aggregate of two broods which were submitted to 

 me, I found 25 were males and 46 females. In a Ceylon 

 brood of 26, 12 were males, 13 females, and 1 damaged 

 unsexable. From the same three broods it would appear that 

 males are a trifle longer at birth than females. The bodies in 

 the sexes are relatively of equal length, but the tails in males 

 are relatively longer. The male claspers are bifid. The main 

 stem is short, and the limbs are beset with large subcylindrical 

 cartilaginous white processes distally ; the proximal part of 

 the limbs and the stem being studded with minute recurved 

 hooks. In the invaginated state the clasper tube is seen to 

 bifurcate, and the two limbs to rejoin later. It is this peculiar 

 condition which causes the extruded organ to be bifid. The 

 secretion from the anal glands is custard-like, with an orange 

 tinge. 



(b) Method of Reproduction : It is viviparous in habit. 

 Often unfertilized eggs are discharged at the same time as the 

 young. At first the fertilized eggs are enveloped with the 

 same soft white coriaceous investment that one sees in 

 oviparous snakes. This envelope in course of time metamor- 

 phoses, until, in the latter stages of pregnancy, it is converted 

 into a delicate transparent membrane. Usually this mem- 

 brane is ruptured within the mother, and the young escape 

 alive, but it is not at all unusual for some of the sacs to be 

 discharged as such, and the young are born in a caul, within 

 which they frequently perish unless speedily liberated. This 

 metamorphosis of the investment does not occur in unfertilized 

 eggs, and this has given rise to reports that this viper is both 

 oviparous and viviparous. The sacs containing the young 

 in one instance measured 43 by 20 mm. (If by f of an inch). 

 I found one sac 53 mm. (2^ inches) in length. 



(c) Season: The sexes seek one another's company for 

 matrimonial intercourse during the months of December to 

 May. A male killed at the end of December at Cannanore 

 was reported to have been " in copula " when encountered. 



