CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

MAMMALIA.

• Neglect of zoology in Ceylon 3
• Labours of Dr. Davy 3
• Followed by Dr. Templeton and others 4
• Dr. Kelaart and Mr. E.L. Layard 4
• Monkeys 5
  • The Rilawa, Macacus pileatus 5
  • Wanderoos 5
  • Knox's account of them 5
  • Error regarding the Silenus Veter (note) 6
  • Presbytes Cephalopterus 7
  • Fond of eating flowers 7
  • A white monkey 8
  • Method of the flight of monkeys 9
  • P. Ursinus in the Hills 9
  • P. Thersites in the Wanny 10
  • P. Priamus, Jaffna and Trincomalie 10
  • No dead monkey ever found 11
• Loris 12
• Bats 13
  • Flying Fox, Pteropus Edwardsii 14
  • Their numbers at Peradenia 16
  • Singularity of their attitudes 17
  • Food and mode of eating 18
  • Horse-shoe bat, Rhinolophus 19
  • Faculty of smell in bat 19
  • A tiny bat, Scotophilus foromandelicus 20
  • Extraordinary parasite of the bat, the Nycteribia 20
• Carnivora.—Bears 22
  • Their ferocity 23
• Singhalese belief in the efficacy of charms (note) 24
• Leopards 25
  • Erroneously confounded with the Indian cheetah 25
  • Curious belief 26
  • Anecdotes of leopards 27
  • Their attraction by the smallpox 28
  • Native superstition 28
  • Encounter with a leopard 29
  • Monkeys killed by leopards 31
  • Alleged peculiarity of the claws 32
• Palm-cat 32
• Civet 32
• Dogs 33
  • Cruel mode of destroying dogs 33
  • Their republican instincts 34
• Jackal 34
  • Cunning, anecdotes of 35
  • The horn of the jackal 36
• Mungoos 37
  • Its fights with serpents 38
  • Theory of its antidote 40
• Squirrels 41
  • Flying squirrel 41
• Tree-rat 42
  • Story of a rat and a snake 43
• Coffee-rat 43
• Bandicoot 44
• Porcupine 45
• Pengolin 46
  • Its habits and gentleness 47
  • Its skeleton 48
• Ruminantia.—The Gaur 49
  • Oxen 50
  • Humped cattle 51
  • Encounter of a cow and a leopard 51
  • Draft oxen 52
  • Their treatment 53
  • A Tavalam 53
  • Attempt to introduce the camel (note) 53
  • Buffaloes 54
  • Sporting buffaloes 55
  • Peculiar structure of the foot 56
• Deer 57
• Meminna 57
• Elk 59
• Wild-boar 59
• Elephants 60
  • Recent discovery of a new species 60
  • Geological speculations as to the island of Ceylon 61
  • Ancient tradition 61
  • Opinion of Professor Ansted 61
  • Peculiarities in Ceylon mammalia 63
  • The same in Ceylon birds and insects 63
  • Temminck's discovery of a new species of elephant in Sumatra 64
  • Points of distinction between it and the elephant of India 65
  • Professor Schlegel's description 66
• Cetacea 68
  • Whales 68
  • The Dugong 69
  • Origin of the fable of the mermaid 70
  • Credulity of the Portuguese 70
  • Belief of the Dutch 70
• Testimony of Valentyn 71
• List of Ceylon mammalia 73

CHAP. II

THE ELEPHANT

Its Structure.

• Vast numbers in Ceylon 75
• Derivation of the word "elephant" (note) 76
• Antiquity of the trade in elephants 77
• Numbers now diminishing 77
• Mischief done by them to crops 77
• Ivory scarce in Ceylon 78
• Conjectures as to the absence of tusks 79
• Elephant a harmless animal 81
• Alleged antipathies to other animals 82
• Fights with each other 86
• The foot its chief weapon 87
• Use of the tusks in a wild state doubtful 88
• Anecdote of sagacity in an elephant at Kandy 89
• Difference between African and Indian species 90
• Native ideas of perfection in an elephant 91
• Blotches on the skin 92
• White elephants not unknown in Ceylon 93

CHAP. III.

THE ELEPHANT

Its Habits.

• Water, but not heat, essential to elephants 94
• Sight limited 95
• Smell acute 96
• Caution 96
• Hearing, good 96
• Cries of the elephant 97
• Trumpeting 97
• Booming noise 98
• Height, exaggerated 99
• Facility of stealthy motion 100
• Ancient delusion as to the joints of the leg 100
• Its exposure by Sir Thos. Browne 100
• Its perpetuation by poets and others 102
• Position of the elephant in sleep 105
• An elephant killed on its feet 107
• Mode of lying down 107
• Its gait a shuffle 108
• Power of climbing mountains 109
• Facilitated by the joint of the knee 110
• Mode of descending declivities 111
• A "herd" is a family 112
• Attachment to their young 113
• Suckled indifferently by the females 113
• A "rogue" elephant 114
• Their cunning and vice 115
• Injuries done by them 115
• The leader of a herd a tusker 117
• Bathing and nocturnal gambols, description of a scene by Major Skinner 118
• Method of swimming 121
• Internal anatomy imperfectly known 122
• Faculty of storing water 124
• Peculiarity of the stomach 125
• The food of the elephant 129
• Sagacity in search of it 130
• Unexplained dread of fences 131
• Its spirit of inquisitiveness 132
• Anecdotes illustrative of its curiosity 132
• Estimate of sagacity 133
• Singular conduct of a herd during thunder 134
• An elephant feigning death 135
• Appendix.—Narratives of natives, as to encounters with rogue elephants 136

CHAP. IV.

THE ELEPHANT

Elephant Shooting.

• Vast numbers shot in Ceylon 142
• Revolting details of elephant killing in Africa 142
• Fatal spots at which to aim 143
• Structure of the bones of the head 144
• Wounds which are certain to kill 145
• Attitudes when surprised 148
• Peculiar movements when reposing 148
• Habits when attacked 150
• Sagacity of native trackers 150
• Courage and agility of the elephants in escape 151
• Worthlessness of the carcass 153
• Singular recovery from a wound (note) 154

CHAP. V.

THE ELEPHANT.

An Elephant Corral.

• Early method of catching elephants 156
• Capture in pit-falls 156
• By means of decoys 157
• Panickeas—their courage and address 158
• Their sagacity in following the elephant 159
• Mode of capture by the noose 160
• Mode of taming 161
• Method of leading the elephants to the coast 162
• Process of embarking them at Manaar 162
• Method of capturing a whole herd 163
• The "keddah" in Bengal described 164
• Process of enclosing a herd 165
• Process of capture in Ceylon 165
• An elephant corral and its construction 166
• An elephant hunt in Ceylon, 1847 167
• The town and district of Kornegalle 167
• The rock of Ætagalla 168
• Forced labour of the corral in former times 170
• Now given voluntarily 171
• Form of the enclosure 172
• Method of securing a wild herd 173
• Scene when driving them into the corral 174
• A failure 176
• An elephant drove by night 177
• Singular scene in the corral 178
• Excitement of the tame elephants (note) 178

CHAP. VI.

THE ELEPHANT.

The Captives.

• A night scene 180
• Morning in the corral 181
• Preparations for securing the captives 181
• The "cooroowe," or noosers 181
• The tame decoys 182
• First captive tied up 183
• Singular conduct of the wild elephants 184
• Furious attempts of the herd to escape 186
• Courageous conduct of the natives 187
• Variety of disposition exhibited by the herd 189
• Extraordinary contortions of the captives 190
• Water withdrawn from the stomach 191
• Instinct of the decoys 191
• Conduct of the noosers 194
• The young ones and their actions 194
• Noosing a "rogue." and his death 196
• Instinct of flies in search of carrion (note) 196
• Strange scene 197
• A second herd captured 199
• Their treatment of a solitary elephant 200
• A magnificent female elephant 201
• Her extraordinary attitudes 201
• Wonderful contortions 203
• Taking the captives out of the corral 204
• Their subsequent treatment and training 205
• Grandeur of the scene 205
• Story of young pet elephant 206

CHAP. VII.

THE ELEPHANT.

Conduct in Captivity.

• Alleged superiority of the Indian to the African elephant—not true 207
• Ditto of Ceylon elephant to Indian 209
• Process of training in Ceylon 211
• Allowed to bathe 213
• Difference of disposition 214
• Sudden death of "broken heart" 216
• First employment treading clay 217
• Drawing a waggon 217
• Dragging timber 218
• Sagacity in labour 218
• Mode of raising stones 218
• Strength in throwing down trees exaggerated 219
• Piling timber 219
• Not uniform in habits of work 220
• Lazy if not watched 220
• Obedience to keeper from affection, not fear 221
• Change of keeper—story of child 222
• Ear for sounds and music 223
• Hurra! (note) 223
• Endurance of pain 224
• Docility 225
• Working elephants, delicate 225
• Deaths in government stud 226
• Diseases 227
• Subject to tooth-ache 227
• Question of the value of labour of an elephant 229
• Food in captivity, and cost 230
• Breed in captivity 231
• Age 232
• Theory of M. Fleurens 232
• No dead elephants found 234
• Sindbad's story 236
• Passage from Ælian 237

CHAP. VIII.

BIRDS.

• Their numbers 241
• Songsters 241
• Hornbills, the "bird with two heads" 242
• Pea fowl 244
• Sea birds, their number 245
• I. Accipitres.—Eagles 245
  • Falcons and hawks 246
  • Owls—the devil bird 247
• II. Passeres.—Swallows 248
  • Kingfishers—sunbirds 249
  • The cotton-thief 250
  • Bul-bul—tailor bird—and weaver 251
  • The mountain jay 253
  • Crows, anecdotes of 253
• III. Scansores.—Parroquets 256
• IV. Columbidæ.—Pigeons 257
• V. Gallinæ.—Jungle-fowl 259
• VI. Grallæ.—Ibis, stork, &c. 260
• VII. Anseres.—Flamingoes 261
  • Pelicans 262
  • Strange scene 263
  • Game—Partridges, &c. 265
• List of Ceylon birds 265
• List of birds peculiar to Ceylon 269

CHAP. IX.

REPTILES.

• Lizards.—Iguana 271
  • Kabara-goya, barbarous custom in preparing the kabara-tel poison 272
  • Blood-suckers 275
  • The green calotes 276
  • The lyre-headed lizard 277
  • Chameleon 278
  • Ceratophora 279
  • Geckoes,—their power of reproducing limbs 281
• Crocodiles 282
  • Their sensitiveness to tickling 285
  • Anecdotes of crocodiles 286
  • Their power of burying themselves in the mud 286
• Tortoises.—Curious parasite 289 x
  • Terrapins 290
  • Edible turtle 291
  • Cruel mode of cutting it up alive 291
  • Huge Indian tortoises (note) 293
  • Hawk's-bill turtle, barbarous mode of stripping it of the tortoise-shell 293
• Serpents.—Venomous species rare 294
  • Tic polonga and carawala 296
  • Cobra de capello 297
  • Tame snakes (note) 298
  • Anecdotes of the cobra de capello 298
  • Legends concerning it 299
  • Instance of land snakes found at sea 300
  • Singular tradition regarding the robra de capello 300
  • Uropeltidæ.—New species discovered in Ceylon 302
  • Buddhist veneration for the cobra de capello 303
  • The Python 303
  • Tree snakes 305
  • Water snakes 306
  • Sea snakes 306
  • Snake stones 312
  • Analysis of one 315
  • Cæcilia 317
  • Frogs 317
  • Tree frogs 320
• List of Ceylon reptiles 321

CHAP. X.

FISHES.

• Ichthyology of Ceylon, little known 323
• Fish for table, seir fish 324
• Sardines, poisonous? 324
• Sharks 325
• Saw-fish 325
• Fish of brilliant colours 326
• The ray 326
• The sword-fish 328
• Curious fish described by Ælian 330
• Salarias alticus 332
• Beautifully coloured fishes 332
• Fresh-water fish, little known,—not much eaten 335
• Fresh-water fish in Colombo Lake 336
• Perches 336
• Eels 337
• Immense profusion of fish in the rivers and lakes 339
• Their re-appearance after rain 340
• Mode of fishing in the ponds 340
• Showers of fish 341
• Conjecture that the ova are preserved, not tenable 342
• Fish moving on dry land 344
  • Ancient authorities, Greek and Roman 345
  • Aristotle and Theophrastus 346
  • Athenæus and Polybius 346
  • Livy, Pompomus, Mela, and Juvenal 346
  • Seneca and Pliny 346
  • Georgius Agricola, Gesner, &c. 347
  • Instances in Guiana (note) 347
  • Perca Scandens, ascends trees 348
  • Doubts as to the story of Daldorf 350
• Fishes burying themselves daring the dry season 351
  • The protopterus of the Gambia 352
  • Instances in the fish of the Nile 352
  • Instances in the fish of South America 353
  • Living fish dug out of the ground in the dry tanks in Ceylon 354
  • Molluscs that bury themselves 355
  • The animals that so bury themselves in India 357
  • Analogous case of 8
  • Theory of æstivation and hybernation 358
• Fish in hot water in Ceylon 358
• List of Ceylon fishes 359
• Instances of fishes falling from the clouds 362
• Note on Ceylon fishes by Professor Huxley 364
• Comparative note by Dr. Gray, Brit. Mus. 366
• Note on the Bora-chung 367

CHAP. XI.

MOLLUSCA, RADIATA, AND ACALEPHÆ.

• I. Conchology.—General character of Ceylon shells 369
  • Confusion regarding them in scientific works and collections 369
  • Ancient export of shells from Ceylon 370
  • Special forms confined to particular localities 372
  • The pearl fishery of Aripo 373
  • Frequent suspensions of 374
  • Experiment to create beds of the pearl oyster 375
  • Process of diving for pearls 377
  • Danger from sharks 379
  • The transparent pearl oyster (Placuna placenta) 380
  • The "musical fish" at Ballicaloa 381
  • A similar phenomenon at other places 383
  • Faculty of uttering sounds in fishes 384
  • Instance in the Tritonia arborescens 385
  • Difficulty in forming a list of Ceylon shells 386
  • List of Ceylon shells 388
• II. Radiata.—Star fish 395
  • Sea slugs 396
  • Parasitic worms 396
  • Planaria 398
• III. Acalephæ, abundant 398
  • The Portuguese man-of-war 400
  • Red infusoria 400
  • Note on the Tritonia arborescens 401

CHAP. XII.

INSECTS.

• Profusion of insects in Ceylon 403
  • Imperfect knowledge of 404
• I. Coleoptera.—Beetles 405
  • Scavenger beetles 405
  • Coco-nut beetles 407
  • Tortoise beetles 408
• II. Orthoptera.—Mantis and leaf-insects 408
  • Stick-insects 410
• III. Neuroptera.—Dragon flies 411
  • Ant-lion 411
  • White ants 411
  • Anecdotes of their instinct and ravages 412
• IV. Hymenoptera.—Mason wasps 416
  • Wasps 417
  • Bees 418
  • Carpenter Bee 418
  • Ants 420
  • Burrowing ants 424
• V. Lepidoptera.—Butterflies 424
  • The spectre 426
  • Lycænidæ 426
  • Moths 427
  • Silk worms 428
  • Stinging caterpillars 429
  • Wood-carrying moths 430
  • Pterophorus 432
• VI. Homoptera 432
  • Cicada 432
• VII. Hemiptera 433
  • Bugs 433
• VIII. Aphaniptera 433
• IX. Diptera.—Mosquitoes 434
  • Mosquitoes the "plague of flies" 434
  • The coffee bug 436
• General character of Ceylon insects 442
• List of insects in Ceylon 442

CHAP. XIII.

ARACHNIDÆ, MYRIOPODA, CRUSTACÆ, ETC.

• Spiders 464
  • Strange nets of the wood spiders 464
  • The mygale 465
  • Birds killed by it 467
  • Olios Taprobanius 469
  • The galeodes 470
  • Gregarious spiders 471
  • Ticks 471
  • Mites.—Trombidium tinctorum 472
• Myriapods.—Centipedes 472
  • Cermatia 473
  • Scolopendra crassa 474
  • S. pollippes 474
  • The fish insect 474
• Millipeds.—Julus 476
• Crustacæ 477
  • Calling crabs 477
  • Sand crabs 478
  • Painted crabs 478
  • Paddling crabs 478
• Annelidæ, Leeches.—The land leech 479
  • Medicinal leech 483
  • Cattle leech 484
• List of Articulata, &c. 485
• Note.—On the revivification of the Rotifera and Paste-eels 486