234 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



(6) Disposition: I do not consider it a malicious snake, 

 though it will sometimes menace, or even inflict a bite when 

 molested or its liberty is jeopardized. I have had many 

 alive, picked up several in their natural haunts, and had 

 more than one in captivity, some showed great" timidity, 

 others faced round pluckily and menaced or struck without 

 inflicting an injm-y, or more rarely actually bit me. Russell 

 had one that he brought face to face with pigeons and chickens, 

 but which he could not induce it to bite. 



(c) Striking Posture : I have seen it inflate its body to 

 a remarkable degree under the influence of excitement. It 

 was noticed that the expansion affected a length of the body 

 considerably in excess of the limits of the lung, for it was 

 observed to reach to the 13th cross-bar. Subsequent dissec- 

 tion showed the lung ended at the 11th cross-bar. In addition 

 to this inflating effort, some specimens may be observed to 

 flatten the posterior part of the head on to the ground by the 

 action of the quadrates, and in so doing they make the neck 

 much more apparent than normal. 



{d) Nocturnal or Diurnal : It is diurnal m habit. I have 

 nearly always encountered it in motion in broad daylight, 

 but some specimens sent to me were killed in bungalows 

 after nightfall. 



(e) Progression : It is an active and vivacious little reptile, 

 easily taking alarm, and hastily attempting concealment. 

 It is often wonderfully adroit in evading swift movements 

 directed towards seizing it by the neck, and has made me 

 realize how cautious one should be in attempting the capture 

 of poisonous snakes in this manner. 



It climbs with facility as do most snakes that have their 

 ventrals angulate, this condition approximating to that of 

 the true keeled condition seen in the tree snakes DendropMs 

 and Ghrysopelea. Two were discovered in Pyzabad, evidently 

 a pair, in the act of scaling a mud wall, another fell off the 

 top of a doorway in Berhampur on to a lady when opening 

 a godown. The situation, some 6 feet from the floor, was a 

 remarkable one for any snake, and an inspection of the place 



