54 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



found in the act of swallowing some animal captured in broad 

 daylight. On the other hand, it is frequently on the move at 

 night, for on many occasions, where it has entered a poultry 

 run, its depredations have been committed under cover of 

 darkness. 



{/) Hibernation The python in all parts of India where 

 there is an attempt at a cold season hibernates, retiring for 

 some months to any convenient retreat, a hollow tree, or 

 hole in a bank, or, in the hills, any natural crypt or cave of 

 convenient size. 



In Dibrugarh once I found one in February beneath a log 

 on the banks of the Brahmaputra. It was extremely som- 

 nolent. Sometimes one hears of several congregating in the 

 same retreat. In the Pioneer (February 19, 1906) is an 

 account of six pythons being discovered in a cavity in the 

 bank of a stream in Mysore. One after another was seized 

 and dragged out, and all ranged between 10 and 12 feet in 

 length. I have also read of a similar occurrence in the 

 Himalayas, though I cannot now lay my hands on the refer- 

 ence. A python was observed in a cave, and the raconteur 

 with his Gurkha orderlies succeeded in extricating several, 

 three or four, if I can rely on my memory. 



It seems to me remarkable that in Southern India the 

 python does not hibernate in the Plains, at least Colonel 

 Dawson tells me it does not in Travancore, and Dr. J. R. 

 Henderson says it does not in Madras in captivity, yet in 

 Bombay, which can lay no better claim to a cold season, a 

 specimen caged in the Bombay Natural History Society's 

 rooms hibernated for some months. Phipson made some 

 very interesting observations on this specimen at this period. 

 Between December 21 and April 13, a period of 113 days, 

 the snake refused food, and remained in a very sluggish, 

 sleepy condition. It was noticed that its temperature fell 

 from 82° F. (which had previously been the normal) to 73°. 

 Two rats eaten on December 21 were retained undigested 

 until February 28, when they were disgorged. On ordinary- 

 occasions in the hot weather it had been recorded that a 

 similar meal took about eight days to digest. Desquamation 

 during these months of lowered vitality did not occur, an 



