SNAKES OF CEYLON. 179 



attacking a nest of young birds. It had already swallowed a 

 gecko {Hemidactylus gleadovi), and was in the act of devouring 

 one fledgling. That it must be considered both gourmand and 

 gourmet may be inferred from the following bills of fare. A 

 specimen brought to me in Cannanore had eaten a large frog 

 (Rana tigrina), a large toad (Bufo melanostictus), and a half- 

 grown lizard (Calotes versicolor) ; another acquired in Fyzabad 

 with a very tight-fitting waistcoat was found to contain a large 

 toad (Bufo andersoni), a lizard of the skink family {Mabuia 

 dissimilis), and a young tortoise (Trionyx), and, as though 

 dissatisfied with this 3-course luncheon, had endeavoured 

 to include a large lizard, probably of the Genus Calotes, since 

 some 5 inches or more of its tail had been devoured. 

 The specimen alluded to above, which bit Mr. Hampton, 

 subsequently disgorged six frogs. A specimen in Almora had 

 eaten six bats. Ferguson comments upon the gluttony of this 

 species, and says its favourite food is a medium-sized frog, of 

 which a fair -sized snake will eat about twenty-two at a meal. 

 Mr. Hampton says if at all hungry it will not disdain the 

 meal afforded by another snake, including even its oWn species. 

 This 1 know to be true, and quite a common event in captivity, 

 which is vouched for by Mr. Millard, Ferguson, and others, but 

 I think it is a rare exhibition of depravity in its natural state ; 

 however. Assistant Surgeon Robertson told me he once cut 

 open a large dhaman and found it contained another dhaman 

 3 feet H inches in length in its stomach. Flower * mentions 

 one eating a snake {Ghrysopelea ornata). Mr. Green tells me of 

 one which disgorged several snakes of the Genus Rhinophis in 

 its death throes, and Lightfootf has lately presented a speci- 

 men to the Bombay Natural History Society preserved in the 

 act of swallowing a Psammophis condanarus. The stomach, 

 as will be seen if distended with a meal, lies more in front of 

 the middle point of the body than in some other snakes, 

 notably the Krait and Hemibungarus, where it lies wholly 

 behind this point. 



Breeding. — (a) The Sexes : It is the rule with snakes that the 

 female exceeds the male in length. Darwin, on the authority 



* Proc. Zool. Soc. 1899, page 684. 



t Bombay Natural History Journal, Vol. XVI., page 530, 



