SNAKES OF CEYLON. 181 



writhing, except for the anterior quarter. Their heads were 

 raised from the ground for 1 foot to 18 inches and appeared 

 to be sparring at each other like two young cockerels. Their 

 movements were active and vigorous." In Fyzabad two were 

 observed courting or mating. The native writer at the Club 

 sent to inform me there were two large snakes playing in the 

 compound. Unfortunately I arrived too late, for the tennis 

 boys had raised a hue and cry and the snakes had fled. 

 They were described as " playing very nicely " for many 

 minutes, their bodies erected and s'waying about, and their 

 heads facing one another. I went to the cover they were 

 reported to have entered, flushed one dhaman, which made off, 

 and killed a second, which proved to be a male 6 feet 9 inches 

 long. The next day at the same spot another was killed, which 

 proved to be a female 6 feet 1 inch long, which contained 

 twelve large eggs 1| inches long, and therefore in an advanced 

 state of development. 



On another occasion a pair were found disporting themselves 

 in a pool, and killed. The male was 6 feet 9| inches long, and 

 the female 6 feet 7-|- inches was found to contain eggs in an 

 advanced state of development. It is evident from these two 

 incidents that cohabitation continues for a long time after 

 fruitful union. 



When the eggs are laid the female coils up with them. The 

 female was with the eggs I acquired in Fyzabad, and one 

 embryo extracted at the time measured 7f inches in length. 



(c) Season : The breeding season varies with the climate. 

 In the plains of India the act of mating was witnessed twice by 

 Coleridge Beadon in June at the base of the Nallamallay Hills. 

 My pair reported in similar circumstances at Fyzabad were 

 seen in July. Major Frere's encounter with two in the act of 

 pairing, near Madras, occurred in July. Nicholson killed two 

 egg-bound females at Bangalore in May. I killed a similar 

 specimen at Banlgaore in May. I had two egg -bound females 

 at Fyzabad in June, ten in July, and one in August, and in 

 Assam three in May, June, and July. One gravid female was 

 killed at Rangoon in July. I acquired one example at 

 Cannanore far advanced in pregnancy in August, and another 

 in November. 



