SNAKES OF CEYLON. 393 



Habits. — Nothing special has been observed. As regards 

 progression I think it is not so helpless on dry land as most 

 of the seasnakes. 



Food. — No special notice has been taken of its diet. 



Breeding. — No breeding events have been chronicled, and 

 I have never seen a gravid specimen. 



Growth. — (a) Early Lije : A small specimen in the Colombo 

 Museum is 432 mm. (17 inches), and was killed at Mount 

 Lavinia on August 24, 1919. 



(6) Maximum Length : Boulenger gives 920 mm. (3 feet and 

 I of an inch) for a specimen in the British Museum. 



Poison. — -Nothing known. This has not been experimented 

 with, and there are no casualties on record. 



Lepidosis. — (a) Typical — Rostral: As broad as or broader 

 than deep ; the portion visible above half to two-thirds the 

 length of the suture between the nasals. Nasals : Two 

 sutures usually radiate from the nostril, one to the prse- 

 frontals, and one to the 2nd supralabials. Prefrontals : 

 Touching no supralabials. Frontal : Entire ; as broad as 

 or almost as broad as long ; the fronto -parietal sutures nearly 

 twice the fronto -supraoculars. Supraoculars : Length about 

 three-fourths the frontal, breadth half or less than half the 

 frontal. Parietals : Entire ; touching the upper postocular. 

 Preeoculars : One. Postoculars : Two. Temporals : Very 

 irregular and usually not differentiated. Two or three 

 superimposed scales anteriorly. Supralabials : Seven to 

 nine, very variable ; the third and succeeding shields very 

 prone to confluence or division ; 1st and 2nd touching the 

 nasals ; 3rd and 4th, 3rd, 4th,' and 5th, or 4th and 5th touching 

 the eye. Sublinguals : Two fairly well-developed pairs, the 

 fellows of each in contact. Infralabials : Four ; the suture 

 between the first equal to or longer than that between the 

 anterior sublinguals ; 4th largest and in contact w^ith 



