412 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



specimens which after birth measured 330 mm. (13 inches). 

 The young then vary from 330 to 355 mm. (13 to 14 inches). 

 The embryo is retained until it has reached a very remarkable 

 degree of development, many extracted by me being fully half 

 and sometimes more than half the length of the mother. 



(6) Early Life : The young appear to grow about 6 to 8 

 inches in the first year of life, as proved by seven of my 

 specimens in June and July measuring 483 to 553 mm. (19 to 

 21| inches) long. If this rate of growth is maintained they 

 would be about 686 to 762 mm. (27 to 30 inches) at the end 

 of the second year of life. 



(c) Maturity : Most of my gravid females measured from 

 686 to 825 mm. (27 to 32i inches). Prom this it will be seen 

 that many are mothers b_y the time they reach two years of 

 age. Thus, compared with the majority ot land snakes, Shaw's 

 seasjiake shows a marked precocity in attaining to sexual 

 maturity. 



(d) Maximum Length : My largest specimens measured 846 

 mm. (2 feet 9-|- inches). One was a male, the other a female. 



Poison. — -(a) Physical Oh'^iraclers : Eraser and Elliot report 

 the dried product as consisting of thin scales of a very pale 

 yellow colour. 



(b) Yield : Dr. Pinto found the average yield from eight 

 fresh specimens represented -00284 grammes of dried 

 residue.* 



(c) Toxicity : The virulence of the poison, as ascertamed by 

 experiments on rats, was about one-seventh that of Enhydrina 

 venom. Fraser and Elliot, however, do not lay great stress 

 on the respective values of the two venoms experimented with, 

 as they have found considerable variations in the toxicity of 

 different samples of cobra venom collected under exactly 

 similar conditions. 



{d) Lethal Dose for Man : This can only be roughly guessed 

 at, for it does not follow that because the lethal doses of two 

 poisons are known for the rat, that for man they would bear 



Not -00275, as stated by Fraser and Elliot. 



