202 THE HABITS OF MALAY REPTILES. 
python. Although the Indian Hamadryad is easily kept in 
confinement in England, I have never been able to keep one very 
long here. It retuses ail food, not only its natural food of snakes, 
but also eggs and milk, which almost every other snake will lick 
up. The Hamadryad is less common in Singapore now than 
formerly, I believe, but is occasionally taken. Four or five have 
been taken in the gardens within the past six or seven years, one 
about eight feet in length having been canght here last Septem- 
ber, but it is fairly abundant in other parts of the peninsula. 
The beautiful scarlet and blue Doliophis bivirgatus 1s not 
common in Singapore. I have only once seen it here, but it is 
plentiful in the hill woods, where it may be seen basking in the 
sun on the paths. It occurs in Penang, Malacca, Province Welles- 
ley, Selangor, the Pindings and Kedah, as well as Singapore. 
Of the Vipers, by far the commonest is Lachesis Waugleri, a 
vicious looking, but handsome snake, mottled with green, dark 
blue, yellow and black. Its large flat head, shaped like the ace 
of spades, and narrow yellow eyes, give it a wicked appearance. 
It is generally about two feet and a half in length when full 
grown, and is thick in proportion to its length. It isan arboreal . 
snake, sitting very quietly upon the boughs of trees or bushes, 
where it catches rats and birds. Young specimens are often 
plain dull green with a few distaut reddish spots, and do not at 
all resemble the common form. I have seen a female viper 
opened which contained several young ones, of which all but one 
were coloured like the adult, while the remaining one was of the 
plain green form. It occurs all over the peninsula. When an- 
noyed it opens its mouth exceedingly wide, showing its poison 
fangs, but it is very slow and stupid, creeping away in a leisurely 
manner. It hasa great reputation as a very deadly snake, which 
I have reason to believe is hardly justified. I have seen one 
strike a java sparrow on the thigh, producing a considerable flow 
of blood. The sparrow flew to the end of the cage but showed 
no signs of poisoning, and remained quite lively till the snake 
pursued it again and caught it by the head and killed it. A cooly 
stepped on a young green viper about a foot long, which bit him 
on the toe. I was not informed of this for over an bour, when 
I went to see him and found his leg a good deal swollen and he 
was suffering a good deal of pain, but after rubbing his leg and 
