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1903.

SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

CONSTITUTION OF THE FAUNA OF CEYLON.

By A. WILLEY.

A MONG the introductory paragraphs of Sir J. Emerson
Tennent’s ‘Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon”
(1861), the following quotation reproduced from his classical
*“ Account of the Island” (1859) contains a succinct statement of
the principal literature written in the English language in which
the Fauna of Ceylon had been dealt with ina more or less compre-
hensive or special manner before his time.

I will repeat in full the paragraph to which I am referring,
because Sir Emerson Tennent’s words will perhaps form a fitting
prelude to the quarterly record of observations and experiences,
of which this is the first number to issue from the Ceylon Govern-
ment Press :—

Regarding the Fauna of Ceylon, little has been published in any collective
form, with the exception of a volume by Dr. Kelaart, entitled Prodromus
Faune Zeylanice [1852]; several valuable papers by Mr. Edgar L. Layard
in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History for 1852 and 1853 ; and some
very imperfect lists appended to Pridham’s Compiled Account of the Island
[1849]. Knox, in the charming narrative of his captivity, published in the
reign of Charles II. [1681], has devoted a chapter tu the animals of Ceylon,
and Dr. Davy [1821] has described some of the reptiles ; but with these
exceptions the subject is almost untouched in works relating to the Colony.*
Yet a more than ordinary interest attaches to the inquiry, since Ceylon,
instead of presenting, as is generally assumed, an identity between its fauna.
and that of Southern India, exhibits a remarkable diversity, taken in
connection with the limited area over which the animals included in it are
distributed. The Island, in fact, may be regarded as the centre of a geo-
graphical circle, possessing within itself forms whose allied species radiate far
into the temperate regions of the north as well as into Africa, Australia, and
the Isles of the Eastern Archipelago.

In the light of our present knowledge of zoogeography it is, no
doubt, an exaggeration to claim Ceylon as an important centre of

* Of course this reproach no longer holds good since the issue, under the
editorship of Dr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., of many volumes of “The Fauna of
British India, including Ceylon and Burma,” a monumental work which was
commenced in 1888 under the authority of the Secretary of State for India in
Council, and is still in course of publication, new volumes being added to the
series periodically,

Bo 25-03

2 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

geographical distribution, since this would imply the existence in
the insular fauna of more primitive components than is actually |
the case. Indeed, in its present position angl configuration Ceylon
can hardly be regarded, in any instance, as the feeder of the
Indian Peninsula nor of any other zoological province,

Of the thirty-nine genera of indigenous Mammalia not one is ©
peculiar to the Island ; there is not even one peculiar Mammalian
species, although there may be some insular races of continental
species. The tailless lemur, locally known as the Ceylon Sloth
(Loris gracilis),* rarely seen on account of its nocturnal and
arboreal habits, though iiving in the outskirts of Colombo, is
confined to Ceylon and to the Carnatic Tractt of Southern India,
this being the most restricted range of any Indo-Ceylonese
Mammal.

All the other species of Mammals known to occur in Ceylon
have a much more extended range, though some few are restricted
to Ceylon and the Indian Peninsula, among the more notable
examples of this kind being the Ceylon bear, which is co-specific
with the Indian Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus), the Sealy ant-
eater or Indian pangolin (Manis pentadactyla),t and the mouse-
deer or Indian chevrotain (T'ragulus meminna).§

On tlie other hand, no fewer than fifteen genera of Mammals
occur in the Indian Peninsula, which are not represented in
Ceylon, the most prominent of these being four antelopes,
namely, the Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), the four-horned
antelope (Tetraceros quadricornis), the black buck (Antilope
cervicapra), and the Indian gazelle (Gazella bennetti). The
absence of antelopes from Ceylon may be looked uponas ranking
among the ‘famous deficiencies” of the Island, analogous, for
example, to the absence of snakes from Ireland, Iceland, and
New 4ealand. Other creatures whose presence in neighbouring
countries renders their absence from Ceylon the more conspicuous
are, for example, tigers, vultures, cranes, and hamadryads.|

The range of the hamadryad is approximately co-extensive
with that of the cobra di capello (Nata tripudians) upon which,
to a certain extent, it feeds. [See article by Vety. Capt. G. H.
Evans on “The King Cobra or Hamadryad” in J. Bombay Soc.,

* Unahapuluwa of the Sinhalese.

+ Blanford, W.T. The distribution of vertebrate animals in India, Ceylon, and
Burma. Phil. Trans. (Series B), vol. 194, pp. 335-436, 1901.

{ Kaballéw4, S.

§ Miminna, S.; sometimes called Wali-miya, S.

|| The Hamadryad or king cobra 1s named Vaia bungarus on grounds of priority
{see Boulenger,G. A. Fauna Brit. Ind. Reptilia and Batrachia, p. 392. 1890]. It
is also widely known as Ophiophagus elaps, its food consisting principally of other |
snakes, :

‘in ie with rund fom
University of Toronto

Fic. 1.-GAUTAMA BUDDHA AND THE SERPENT MUCALINDA.

s

From a wooden efign in the Colombo Museum. Height of original, 1 foot 2 inches.

To face p. 3|

a .
FAUNA OF CEYLON, a

vol. XIV., pp. 409-418, 1902 ; also in the same Journal on p. 629,a
note on the “Food of the King Cobra,” by E. H. Aitken]. But
whereas the cobra oceurs in Ceylon, where the manifold symbolic
uses to which it has been put have rendered it sacred and classical,
the more dreaded hamadryad is not found here.

The shelter attributed to the Lord ot Lanka beneath the mant-
ling hood of the sacred Naga, cobra di capello, is a picturesque
example of the ancient interpretation of divine influence in the
East. The effigies which commemorate this miracle are executed
in brass and wood (see Fig. 1), and are described as the “ Serpent-
canopied Buddha” [cf. Sir M. Monier-Williams, “ Buddhism,”
London, 1889, p. 480, and frontispiece ]. ;

The examples of distribution selected from the Mammalian
section of the fauna seem to indicate that Ceylon is an outlier of
India rather than itself a centre of distribution, and that it
bears the same relation to India that Tasmania does to the island
continent of Australia or the British Isies to the continent of
Europe. From this point of view the Fauna of Ceylon may be
regarded as a Relict Fauna, the members of which have been
separated from their continental allies by subsidence of land and
encroachment of sea since the Tertiary Epoch.

Excluding the category of Oceanic Islands, it is a generally
accepted axiom that the terrestrial fauna of any island has reached
its destination by means of former land connections between the
island and neighbouring continental areas. Thus it is calculated
that at least ninety-five per cent. of the British species of animals
have reached the British Isles by previous land-connections with
Scandinavia and the Arctic Continent in the north and with France
and Belgium to the south-east.*

Before proceeding further with our analytical sketch of the
Fauna of Ceylon, it will be interesting to consider more closely
(with the assistance of Dr. Blanford’s Memoir to which I have
referred above) the relation of Ceylon to the Indian Peninsula.

The Indian region is divided into two main sub-regions by the
Indo-Gangetic Plain, which extends from the Arabian Sea to the
Bay of Bengal and “forms a geological boundary of the highest
importance.”

The Transgangetic sub-region includes the Himalayas, Assam,
Burma, &c. The Cisgangetic sub-region includes the Indian
Peninsula proper and Ceylon.

The Indian Peninsula is again divided into two very unequal
parts by the Western Ghats or Sahyadri mountains which separate

*Scharff,R.F. The History of the European Fauna. London, 1899. (Contemp.
Sci. Ser.)

4 SPOLIA ZRYLANICA.

the Malabar Coast Tract from the Central Provinces and the
Carnatic.

The investigation of the fauna of Ceylon may be approached
from at least three standpoints (excluding, for the moment, the
economic side of the question), namely, zoogeographical, faunistic,
and local or insular. Moreover, from whatever point of view the
subject be regarded, the fauna of Ceylon presents a dual character.

From its purely faunistic aspect the dual character of the fauna
depends upon the fact that, in addition to the relict or continental
types, to some of which allusion has already been made, Ceylon
possesses an extensive series of endemic or peculiar types.

Considered zoogeographically, it has been shown by Captain
Legge* and by Dr. Blanford that the Ceylon area comprises two
tracts, namely, the Northern Ceylon Tract, including the Northern
and Kastern Provinces, with an average rainfall of about 50 inches ;
and, secondly, the Hill Ceylon Tract, comprising the Central,
Western, and Southern Provinces, with an average rainfall exceed-
ing 100 inches. The Northern Tract is defined by Dr. Blanford
as being “in fact a part of the Carnatic with higher rainfall
and with much more forest,” while the Hill Tract “must be
regarded as a part of the Malabar Tract.”

From the local or insular standpoint, the faunal elements are
grouped under the two headings of low-country and up-country
types. As might be expected, there is a great amount of over-
lapping in the local distribution of particuiar species, and the
special characteristics of the fauna of the various Provinces of
the Island have yet to be ascertained with such precision, for
example, as that with which the birds of Sabaragamuwa have
been dealt with by Mr. F. Lewis.t It may be hoped that, in
course of time, we shall obtain further information on this matter
of local distribution by means of a system of careful records of
the occurrence of species in different localities and at different
times and seasons.

Of the 360 species of birds which have been recorded from
Ceylon, 7s many as forty-nine, or nearly one-seventh, are peculiar
to the island. The number of genera in which the species are
grouped is 240, of which, as noted by Dr. Blanford, eighty-two, or
rather more than one-third, belong to one order, namely, the
Passeres. Only six genera of birds are peculiar to the island, and
five of these are pasSerine.

.

*Legge, W. V. A History of the Birds of Ceylon (vide Introduction, p. xiii.
London, 1880.)

+ Lewis, F. Field-notes on the Land Birds of the Province of Sabaragamuwa,
This, 1898, Part I., pp. 334-356 ; Part IT., pp. 524-551

+

ee

aed iets Uh FH

Fics. 2 AND 38.—OPHIOCEPHALUS STRIATUS (FROM ABOVE AND FROM BELOW).

Photographed from a specimen in the Colombo Museum.
To face p. 5)

—

FAUNA OF CEYLON. 5

Certain genera and species of birds, reptiles, and batrachians
are restricted to Ceylon and the Malabar Tract. Again, the
distribution of some animals points to the existence of a decided
Himalayan affinity in the fauna of Ceylon, in so far that certain
genera, which are represented by isolated species in Ceylon, only
occur otherwise in Transgangetic conntries, in some cases also in
Malabar.

Thus, the chestnut and blue magpie of Ceylon (Cissa ornata*)
and the yellow-fronted barbet (Cyanops flavifrons +), inhabitants
of the upland forests, are peculiar to the island, while their
congeners are Transgangetic and Himalayan species (Oates and
Blanford).

The remarkable legless Batrachian, Ichthyophis glutinosus,
which is frequently dug out of its burrows in the plantations of
Ceylon, and may be described as an eel-like, scale-bearing
salamander, nearly black in colour with a bright yellow band
running along each side of the body, occurs in the “ Mountains of
Ceylon, Malabar, Eastern Himalayas, Khasi Hills, Burma, Siam,
Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Java” (Boulenger, Fauna
Brit. Ind. Reptilia and Batrachia, p. 516).

The large tank fish “ lula” (plural “ lullu’’) of Ceylon (Ophio-
cephalus striatus{), which belongs to a distinctively Oriental
family, the Ophiocephalidex, occurs “throughout the plains of
India, Ceylon, and Burma to China and the Philippines” (Day,
Fishes of India, p. 366); but a nearly related fish (Channa
orientalis §) of the same family, said to be common in the low-
country paddy fields (Haly, M.S.), affords an excellent example
of discontinuous distribution, occurring only in the fresh waters
of Ceylon and China, being absent from the intervening countries
(Day and Blanford).

Besides the Himalayan or Transgangetic element in the fauna
of Ceylon, there are other foreign representatives which deserve
special mention, namely, the Malay, Mascarene (Madagascar and
neighbouring islands), and Australian elements.

* This bird is called the Ceylonese Jay by Legge [Birds of Ceylon. p. 353], and
the Ceylonese Magpie by Oates [Oates, E. W. Fauna Brit. Ind. Birds, vol. I..
p. 29, 1889], the explanation being that the genus Cissa is as nearly related to Pica,
the Magpie, as it isto Garrulus, the Jay, neither of which cross the Ganges. The
Ceylonese Jay or Magpie is not to be confounded with the common black and
white Magpie-robin (Copsychus saularis) of Colombo and the low-country, the
“Polli-cha” of the Sinhalese. The Magpie-robin also occurs in the Kandy
District and elsewhere.

{Described under the synonym of Megalema flavifrons by Legge [Birds of
Ceylon, p. 212].

{ Known as the “ Murrel” to Indian anglers (see Thomas, H.S. The Rod in
India. Mangalore, 1873).

§ Kanaya, 8S. Common at Kesbewa and in the Wellawatte canal.

os

SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

Many of the characteristic forms of the Malay Peninsula and
the Sunda Islands are conspicuous by their absence from Ceylon,
e.g., the flying lemur (Galeopithecus volans) among Mammals,
the flying lizard (Draco maculatus) among reptiles, the robber
crab* (Birgus latro) among Crustacea, and the singular Proto-
tracheate genus Peripatus. Itis therefore remarkable to learn that
it is none the less possible to recognize a special Malay affinity in
the fauna of Ceylon, exemplified by certain rare denizens of the
dense forests and luxuriant gorges of the interior. Captain Legge
has drawn attention to this point in the case of two birds, namely,
Bligh’s whistling thrush (Arrenga blighit) and the red-faced
malkoha or ground cuckoo (Phenicophaés pyrrhocephalus), both
peculiar to Ceylon, but presenting near affinities to species from
Java, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula.

Even the elephant, “ the lord paramount of the Ceylon forests,”
has to be considered in this connection. Sir E. Tennent, who was
one of the first to recognize a Malayan affinity in the fauna and
flora of Ceylon, records the fact, established independently by
the Dutch anatomists Temminck and Schlegel, that the Céylon
elephant is identical withthe Sumatran elephant, which Temminck
named Hlephas sumatranus, and “differs as much from the
elephant of India as “the latter from its African congener.’}
The specific distinction of the Sumatran from the Indian elephant
is not commonly upheld now. The former is probably no more
than an insular race of the Asiatic species, H. indicus.

Several reptilian genera which are represented in Ceylon and -
the Eastern Archipelago are wanting in the Indian Peninsula.
An interesting example of this kind is furnished by a small
burrowing snake, Cylindrophis maculatus, one of those to which
the term “depatnaya” is applied. It is common in Colombo,
Balangoda, and elsewhere, and may be easily recognized by its
glistening skin adorned with a network of dense black markings.
The broad meshes of the network are occupied by brown pigment
above and brilliant white below. A small tract on the upper lip
below the eye on each side of the head, a pair of oblique tracts
behind the eyes and the areas immediately behind the large
triangular black patch on the head, separated from one another by
a narrow median black stripe, are also dense white in colour.

*The robber crab is*found locally all over the Eastern Archipelago from
Christmas Island to the Loyalty Islands, but west of the Straits it only occurs on
the South Sentinel, an islet of the Andaman Group less than one square mile in
extent, and in the Nicobar Islands (see Alcock, A. A. Naturalist in Indian Seas,
1902, pp. 83 and 151).

+ Syn. Myiophoneus blight [Legge, Birds of Ceylon, p. 463).

{ Tennent, op. cit., pp. 64-68.

FAUNA OF CEYLON. 7

These points are not very well shown in Fig. 4. This earth-snake
attains a length of about one foot with an even diameter of some
five-sixteenths of an inch. As a species it is peculiar to Ceylon,
but the genus is represented in the Malay Peninsula and Archi-
pelago by a closely related species, Cylindrophis rufus.

srmpisere te ee: ee eee le

Fig. 4. Cylindrophis maculatus.

From a specimen in the Colombo Museum, found in Colombo. About half natural size.

Perhaps even more remarkable than the evidence of Himalayan
and Malay components of the Ceylon fauna is that which relates
to the Mascarene element. Madagascar is well known as the
headquarters of lemurs and of chameleons,* harbouring more
species of these animals than occur in any other quarter of the
Old World. Ceylon possesses a single species of lemur, the
Loris gracilis referred to above, and asingle species of chameleon
(Chameeleo calearatus). True chameleons are characterized by
the great length of the tongue, by the mobility of the eyes
(ensheathed within a circular eyelid which’ accompanies the
eyeball in its rolling movements, each eyeball moving inde-
pendently), and by the structure of the feet, which are specially
adapted for climbing along the branches of the trees, having the
toes closely webbed together into two groups. In the forefeet
the two outer and the three inner toes are respectively united
together, forming two divergent, opposable groups, while in the
hind feet it is the three outer and the two inner toes which are
thus united.

- * During the last century, precisely between the years 1800 and 1900, eighty-
two species of ehameleons have been described. Of these, Madagascar possesses
thirty-three species, thirty of which are peculiar. This is the highest percentage
(91 per cent.) of endemicity in any zoological province in which chameleons occur.
They : are confined to the Old World, and the Indo-Ceylonese species marks the
Eastern limit of the family (see Werner, F. Prodromus einer Monographie der
Chamileonten. Zool. Jahrb. Syst., XV., 1902, p. 332).

8 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

All chameleons possess the faculty of changing colour, but all
lizards which change colour are not chameleons, those which are
commonly seen along the roadside in Ceylon belonging to a genus
of Oriental lizards named Calotes by Cuvier. The true chameleon
seems to be rare in Ceylon, and I have not seen one in the jungle
hitherto, though the Colombo Museum possesses four specimens
from four different localities, namely, Mullaittivu (W. Ferguson),
Chilaw (H. Nevill), Puttalam (F. A. lairlie), and finally, one which
is said to hail from Colombo (A. Haly, Report on Reptilia in
Col. Mus., 1891).

The distribution of a genus of skinks (the family of lizards to
which the Brahminy lizard, Mabuia carinata, belongs) named
Acontias, also points to a marked Ethiopian (Mascarene and
African) affinity in Ceylon. Four species of Acontias are endemic
in Ceylon, “none in any other part of the Indo-Malay region, two
or three have been brought from Madagascar, four from South
Africa” (Blanford, op. cit., 1901, p. 395).*

Among the birds, the Drongos or king crows (Dicruride) point
in the same direction, the black drongo (Dicrurus ater), which
may be met with in the wayside jungle between Chilaw and
Puttalam, being regarded by Oates as synonymous with the
Edolius for ficatus of Madagascar, of which the term “ Drongo” is
the original native name.

Fig. 5. Ltroplus maculatus.
From the Colombo Lake.

A small fresh water fish which occurs in the Colombo lake,
ealled “ Rallia” in Sinhalese (Htroplus maculatus), belongs to a

* Dr. Alcock (A Naturalist in Indian, Seas, 1902, see p. 140) mentions a small
though gorgeously coloured Tree-gecko, Phelswma andamanense, which is peculiar
to the Andamanese jungles, while its congeners are confined to Madagascar and the
neighbouring islands, the Comoros, Mauritius, and the Seychelles.

; Newton, A. A. Dictionary of Birds, London, 1893-1896.

FAUNA OF CEYLON. 9

strictly Indo-Ceylonese genus (7.e., confined to Ceylon and the
Indian Peninsula), whose nearest relative is the genus Paretroplus
of Madagascar (Day, F., Fishes of India, 1878, p. 414).

The Land Mollusca of Ceylon are highly peculiar, and the
largest of them are the species of the genus Acavus, which is
confined to Ceylon, but exhibits close relationship with the genus
Helicophanta of Madagascar.*

The earthwormsf of Ceylon inelude no fewer than thirty
endemic species, of which seventeen belong to the genus Mega-
scolex, whose headquarters are in Australia, while eight other
species of the same family (Megascolecide) belong to genera
which, until recent years, had only been met with on the
Australian Continent, namely, the two genera Cryptodrilus and
Megascolides. One Ceylon species of Megascolex (M. armatus)
occurs also in Madagascar, Zanzibar, and several other localities,
though there is some doubt as to how far this species may have
been accidentally conveyed from place to place by shipping.

The second family of Ceylon earthworms (Moniligastride) is
represented by four species of Woniligaster, which is a dominant
East Indian or Malayan genus.

The Ceylon earthworms therefore afford an indication of the
existence of an Australian element in the fauna, which might be
further illustrated by examples taken from other groups of terres-
trial invertebrates. Thus, the snail Acavus appears, from the
large size of the egg and of the embryonic shell which forms
within it, to be as nearly related to the Australian genus Panda
as to the Mascarene genus Helicophanta (Cooke, op. cit.).

The application of these facts to the theory of geographical
distribution can only be indicated here in the briefest manner.
The Island of Celebes is to the Oriental region what New Zealand
is to the Australian region. The Fauna of Celebes is one of the
most peculiar insular faunas in the world. Professor Semon has
voiced a widely held opinion that Celebes has received the most
characteristic members of its fauna, such forms as the monkey
(Cynopithecus), the deer (Anoa), the pig (Babirussa), the lemur
(Tarsius), &c., from the west, either from Asia or from a huge
continent or archipelago which spread far to the West, of which
Madagascar is perhaps the last remnant.t Of course Ceylon must
also have formed part of this continent, the Lanka of the ancients,

* Cooke, A. H. Molluscs. Cambridge Nat. Hist., 1895, see pp. 303 and 355.
The genus Acavus comprises the common Ceylon snails which are seen adhering
to the trunks of trees and to fences in most parts of the Island.

Tt Michaelsen, W. Die Terricolenfauna Ceylons. Mt. Mus. Hamburg, XIV.,
1897, 94 pp., 1 plate.

{Semon, R. In the Australian Bush. London, 1899,

C 29-03

10 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

and the hypothesis may serve as a provisional guide to the
interpretation of the composite nature of the fauna of the
Island.

The instances quoted above by no means exhaust the list of
the heterochthonous* elements in the fauna of Ceylon, but they
serve to illustrate the fact that the Island has special zoogeographi-
cal relationships indicative of former geological connections, either
directly or indirectly, with the Malay Peninsula and Eastern
Archipelago, with the Indian Peninsula, and with Madagascar.

Turning now to a brief consideration of that portion of the —
fauna which is peculiar to Ceylon, the great class of the Arthro-
poda, comprising the Millipedes and Centipedes, Insects, Crusta-
ceans, and Spiders, naturally furnishes the most abundant, though
perhaps not the most striking evidence of endemicity. In fact,
with the exception of the highest and of the lowest classes of
animals (Mammalia and Infusoria respectively), all the principal
divisions of the animal kingdom are represented by various
percentages of endemic types.

Besides those which have been incidentally referred to above,
it is well known that the Ceylon jungle fowl (Gallus stanley*),
which is such a familiar feature of jungle life, is a peculiar
species found only.in Ceylon, while the equally familiar peafowl
(Pavo cristatus) ranges over the whole of the Indian Peninsula,
being replaced in Burma, Malacca, and Java by the Burmese or
Javan peafowl (Pavo muticus).

Of all the vertebrates of Ceylon, it is the order of Reptilia
which best illustrates, within a small compass, the distinguishing
characteristics of the insular fauna. Although the degree of
endemicity in the fauna of Ceylon does not extend beyond the
possession of peculiar genera, yet there is a group of burrowing
snakes, the Uropeltide (generally known as earth-snakes), which
is restricted to Ceylon and the India Peninsula, and is therefore to
be noted, in a special sense, as a peculiar Indo-Ceylonese family.
These snakes are called “depatnaya”t in Sinhalese, on account
of the similar appearance of both extremities of the body, and of
their faculty of gliding with equal facility forwards and back-
wards. Reverse locomotion is occasionally met with in other
animals, and it always exercises a somewhat weird effect upon the
imagination of the onlooker.

ca

* Perhaps such archaic forms as Channa orientalis and Ichthyophis glutinosus
are to be regarded as truly autochthonous species which have survived fluctuations
of time, climate, and topography, having inhabited the regions in which they
are now found from remote periods preceding the arrival of later immigrants.

7 As mentioned above, the genus Cylindrophis is also called “depatnaya,” but it -
belongs to a different family, the Zlysiide.

Fic. 6.—~SCOLOPENDRA BICOLOR, HumsBert.

A brilliant black and yellow centipede (the lighter portions are bright yellow, the head orange-coloured ).
Found in the sandy jungle bordering the sea from Puttalam to Trincomalee, It has a wid:
distribution in the East Indies.

To Face p. 10

|
t

' eas *

(FROM NuwaRA ELIYA)

Fic. 7.~CERATOPHORA STODDARTII

t the Colombo Museum.

specimen a

ing

Photographed from « liv

Jace p17)

o

7

FAUNA OF CEYLON. 14

Some forty species of Uropeltide have been described, of which
seven are known to be peculiar to Ceylon, but it is probable that
more species remain to be recorded,

Three genera of lizards are peculiar to Ceylon, namely, Cerato-
phora with three species, the horned lizards of Nuwara Eliya,
Lyriocephalus, the hump-nosed lizard of the Kandyan District,
and Chalcidoseps a rare skink allied to Acontias, not represented
in the Colombo Museum.

There are still two other categories of animals which play their
part in the life of the island, and should therefore be mentioned
before concluding this essay, namely, animals which have been
introduced by human agency, and secondly, the domesticated
animals.

Of the introduced animals the most important is the so-called
hog-deer (Cervus porcinus), also Known as the paddy-field deer
(Wil-muwa in Sinhalese), which is said to have been introduced by
the Dutch into the Kalutara District of the Western Province, but
I have not succeeded in finding any record of the date or motive
of its acclimatization. It is normally an inhabitant of the Indo-
Gangetic Plain, but not of the Indian Peninsula in the strict sense.
Hence it is assumed by some authorities* that its presence in
Ceylon is not an example of natural discontinuous distribution
but of artificial introduction.

First in importance of the domesticated animals (apart from
the elephant) are of course the draught-bulls which are of the
three familiar kinds, the small Ceylon Bulls, the stately Brahminy
Bulls which figure in procession with elephants, horses, and lions,
upon the ancient moonstones of Anuradhapura, and lastly, the
shaggy Indian Buffaloes, with which the wild buffaloes associate
while grazing at the borders of the jungle.

The present position of Ceylon relatively to the Asiatic
Continent and to the world in general has been roughly defined
in the preceding lines in terms of its terrestrial fauna, and a brief
reference has been made to a distribution of land and water in
ancient geological times differing completely from that which we
now know. On the first pages of Dr. Alcock’s new and richly
illustrated bookft the same subject is touched upon from the
marine side. After premising that the seas of India are three—to

‘wit, the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Andaman Sea—

* Eg., Mr. R. Lydekker and Dr. W. T. Blanford. :

tAlcock, A. A Naturalist in Indian Seas: or, Four Years with the Royal
Indian Marine Survey Ship “Investigator.” London (John Murray), 1902.
Iam indebted to the courtesy of the Hon. Mr. John Ferguson for my first
acquaintance with this charming narrative.

12 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

Dr. Alcock gives expression to the opinion that these seas were
formerly part of a great inland ocean, “ of which the present
Mediterranean is the shrunken remains. Peninsular India and
Ceylon then formed a great island-continent, connected by a
chain of large islands—of some of which the Maldives and Chagos
and Seychelles are the tombstones—with Madagascar and South
Africa, and separated from the present heart of Asia by a deep
channel—a channel perhaps traversed, much as now the West
Indies traverse the Caribbean, by a series of islands, which may
have been lowly precurscers of the Himalayas ; for these gigantic
mountains are of quite recent origin.”

The distribution of certain deep-sea fishes and other animals
can (so far as our present knowledge of the abyssal regions of the
ocean extends) only be rendered intelligible by some such inference
as that just quoted. A fish belonging to the family of the Weevers
or Trachinide was first discovered in Japanese waters and named
Bembrops caudimacula by Professor Steindachner of Vienna in
1877. Three years later it was again discovered in the Gulf of
Mexico, and several years afterwards it was found by the “ Investi-
gator” to belong also to the fauna of the 100-fathom line in the
Bay of Bengal, having been trawled in 128 fathoms off the Coro-
mandel Coast.*

From a depth exceeding 700 fathoms near the Laccadives a
gigantic Crustacean named Bathynomus giganteus, belonging to
the same order (Isopoda) as the common wood-louse, was brought
to the surface by the “ Investigator.” It was first obtained about
twenty years ago at a depth of 955 fathoms in the Gulf of Mexico
to the north-east of Yucatan, and was described by the late Pro-
fessor A. Milne-Edwards of Paris. A specimen of this wonderful
abyssal Isopod, measuring 12 inches in length and 4 inches across,
has been more recently dredged off the north-east coast of Ceylon
in 594 fathoms.f

Many other examples of similar distribution of marine animals
which live and feed on the sea-bottom are known. Of these, one
of the most notable instances is afforded by the so-called King
Crabs of the genus Limulus, which are found living in shallow
water at certain localities on the Japanese, Moluccan, Malaccan,
and Indian coasts, and also off the east coast of New England and
in the West Indies.

The genus Limulus, of which a number of fossil species dating
back to the Carboniferous and Jurassic formations have been

* Alcock, op. cit., p. 120.
{ Alcock, op. cit., pp. 127 and 271, Itisa matter for regret that the Colombo
Museum does not profit by these new discoveries.

Fic. 8.—LIMULUS (From DutcH Bay).

From a dried specimen in the Colombo Museum

19

FAUNA OF CEYLON. 13

unearthed, while four species are still living, is one of those
animal types which are of peculiar interest to the morphologist
on account of their ancient lineage (a record of which has been
preserved in the sedimentary rocks), their primitive or generalized
organization, and their manifold affinities.

There is an imperfect specimen of Limulus moluccanus* in the
Colombo Museum, labelled “ Dutch Bay,” but no further informa-
tion is available, and the fishermen of Karativu know nothing
about the creature.

Colombo, February 5, 1903.

* For the most recent account of the classification and distribution of the
Limulide, see Pocock, R. I. The taxonomy of recent species of Limulus. Ann.
Nat. Hist. (7th series), vol. IX., pp. 256-266, pl. V.-VI., 1902. For an account of
the morphology and affinities of Limulus, Professor E. Ray Lankester’s article
“Arachnida” in the first of the new volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica
(1902) should be consulted.

14 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA,

VARIATION OF “GATOCHRYSOPS PANDAVA,”
Hors/field.
By N. MANDERS, Major, R.A.M.C.

SERIES of five males and ten females of this Lyczenid

Butterfly, reared by Dr. Willey, and submitted to me with

the remark that they were hatched on July 4, 1902, from larve

collected from a species of Cycas in the Museum grounds, show

an aberration which is especially noticeable in the females, and
is worthy of record as an example of non-seasonal variation.

The five males are of the ordinary rain season form, and do not

vary on the upper side of the wings beyond an intensification of
the dark pigment inside the posterior border in three of them,
giving rise to dark lens-shaped spots, which are not conspicuous in
the other two specimens.
The females are also of the rain
season form, and present an interesting
series showing gradual diminution of
pigment in the posterior margin of the
hind wing. Two of them may be
regarded as typical examples of the
species C.pandava ; four of the others
show a whitish suffusion of the pos-
terior margin on the upper surface
between the veins and above the black
lunules, but separated from them by
some blackish seales.

In the remaining four females the
black lunules are entirely replaced by
white, the veins however remaining
black ; the whitish suffusion above the
lunules has become concentrated into

Figs. 9 and 10. Catochrysops ‘ .
pandava, 2, showing extremes definite white lunules, though not of so

of variation in thesubmarginal ¢]ear a white as the marginal lunules ;

pigment spots of the hind ; . ?

wing. the blackish line between the series of
outer and inner lunules still persists. In all these specimens the

black lunule or ocellus external to the tail-like appendage of the

CATOCHRYSOPS PANDAVA. I Ls

hind wing persists as a much reduced black spot almost circular,
crowned internally with a few orange scales; in two individuals
a few black scales represent the lunules internal to the tail.

On the under surface in both sexes the changes, as regards the
presence or absence of the marginal spots, are the same, except
that the ocellus and anal spots persist more conspicuously.*

Colombo, December 17, 1902.

* For an account of the seasonal variations of Catochrysops pandava see
Marshall and De Nicéville, “The Butterflies of India, Burma, and Ceylon,” Vol.
IIL., Calcutta, 1890, p. 183, pl. XXVIL., figs. 187 and 188.

16 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

“NYCTALEMON PATROCLUS” IN KANDY.

By F. M. MACKWOOD.

YCTALEMON PATROCLUS is a moth of large size belong-

ing to the family Uraniide. The colour of the wings is

a varying shade of smoky brown or sepia, speckled with black
and with a straight whitish band across the middle.

The species has been recorded from China, Sylhet, Burma,
Andamans, Malacca, Philippines, and Papuan sub-region.*

Last December (1902) a specimen was caught in Lady Horton’s
walk, Kandy, this being its first record for Ceylon. Since then
another example has been caught on the bank of the river near
Kandy, and was purchased by a tourist.

The span of the wings (7.e., from tip to tip of the fore wings) is
5+ inches, and the distance from the tip of the fore wing to the tail
of the hind wing is also 5} inches in the expanded condition.

[It is somewhat remarkable that such a large species should have
escaped notice for so long, especially when we take into consider-
ation the number of collectors who have worked in the Kandy
District. Fresh records of its occurrence will be awaited with
interest, and it must be left to the future to decide whether it is
an accidental immigrant or a normal incoline.—ED. ]

* Sir G. F. Hampson, ‘‘ Fauna of British India: Moths,” Vol. III., 1895, pp.
111-112, fig. 57.

NYCTALEMON PATROCLUS.

17

Fig. 11. Nyctalemon patroclus, Linn., é (Colln. F. M

Drawn from the original specimen lent to the Colombo Museum,

. Mackwood).

Natural size,

25-03

18 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

NOTE “ON MYCALESIS SUBDITA,” azoore.

By N. MANDERS, Major, R.A.M.C.

HIS species was originally described by Moore* from speci-
mens collected at Udugama near Galle by Mr. John Pole.
A pair is now in the Museum collection. So far as I know, very
few specimens have been taken, but it probably only requires to
be looked for at almost any time of the year in its particular
haunts amongst bamboos, on which the larva probably feeds.
With such few specimens to judge from, it is perhaps not quite
certain that it is a good species, but to my mind it looks distinct
enough.

In looking over Mr. Mackwood’s collection of South Indian
butterflies I was greatly interested to notice two specimens of this
insect, which agree exactly with the types in the Museum; the
insect therefore is of wider distribution than has been hitherto
supposed ; the specimens are unfortunately without labels, and the
locality of capture is doubtful.

Colombo, December 17, 1902,

* Described in Moore’s great iconographic work “ Lepidoptera Indica,” now being
issued in parts. It is also described briefly by L. de Nicéville and Major Manders
in their joint work, entitled “ A List of the Butterflies of Ceylon, with Notes on
the Various Species,” in Journ. Asiat. Soc., Bengal, Vol. LXVIII., Part IL., 1899,
p. 181.

THE MAHSEER AND THE MURREL IN CEYLON. 19

THE MAHSEER AND THE MURREL IN CEYLON.

By A. WILLEY.

HE Mahseer is probably the most admired game fish of India,
and, in the opinion of experts, shows more sport than the
salmon ; not that it sustains so long a contest, but makes amore im-
petuous rush.* It is known to occur in the perennial rivers of the
Bengal, Madras, and Bombay Presidencies, but anglers are not
altogether satisfied that it occurs in Ceylon, although ichthyologists
are aware that it does (cf. Day, “ Fishes of India,” p. 307).

Fig. 12. Barbus tov. Sketch based upon a figure in Day’s “ Fishes of India.”

The fact is that the mahseer is an exceedingly variable kind of
barbel, exhibiting both local and individual variations, and
different specimens may appear, at first sight, to be utterly dis-
tinct, owing to the circumstance that certain individuals possess
a curious bilabiate growth proceeding from the upper and lower
lips, while others, for some unaccountable reason, have no such
lobes.t| Whether or not this is a sexual character or a seasonal
variation or a mere sport, 1 am unable to say. The specimen
which I have examined, caught by Mr. C. A. Hartley in the
Sitala-ganga, in which the processes were well developed, was a
young male.

* Thomas, H.S., “The Rod in India.” Mangalore, 1873. I am indebted to this book
-for details concerning the habits of the Mahseer. I also take this opportunity of
acknowledging with thanks the receipt of specimens of the Ceylon mahseer from
Mr. C, A. Hartley of Maskeliya and from Mr, A. C. W. Clarke of Pundalu-oya.
+The bilabiate form of the mahseer bears a striking resemblance to a fish
recently described by Mr. G. A. Boulenger from the Kenya District in East Africa,
under the name Barbus labiatus, n. sp. (P. Zool. Soc., London, 1902, p. 225.
pl. XVIL., fig. 1.)

20 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

The Ceylon mahseer (Barbus tor)* is co-specitic with the Indian
mahseer, though, perhaps, if a sufficient number of specimens were
measured, weighed, and compared, it would be found to constitute
an insular race of the species.

With regard to dimensions, Mr. Thomas notes an interesting
correlation between the size of the Indian mahseer and that of
the rivers which these fishes frequent, unfortunately without
tabulating his observations nor even naming the rivers. “In
some rivers,” he says, “they do not run above 10 or 12 Ib.,
whereas in others they have been taken weighing 40 Ib. and 50 Ib.,
and even as much as 74 lb.”’t

It is instructive to learn that the size, or what comes to the same
thing, the importance of the fish caught, does not bear any sort of
relation to the size of the bait used to tempt him, very small fishes
being often captared upon very large spoons and vice versd.

The mahseer is essentially a ground-feeding fish, preferring a
diet of crabs, molluscs, and small fish. Like all members of the
Carp family (Cyprinide), to which it belongs, its jaws are toothless
and it kills its victims by compression, afterwards crunching them
to fragments by means of teeth which are set far back in the throat,
borne upon the inferior pharyngeal bones; these are the pharyn-
geal or throat-teeth. The mahseer will also devour seeds which
fall into the water, or rice which may be thrown in, as well as
aquatic weeds and insects. Finally it is, to a limited extent, a
surface-feeder, and will take the fly. The barbels or feelers, four
in number,{ which fringe the mouth, are organs which are
specially characteristic of bottom-feeding fishes, such as the
barbels and catfishes (Siluride). The fleshy lips of the mahseer
are well adapted to exert a powerful suctorial action upon rocks
and stones, by which it is enabled to detach the molluscs which
adhere to them,

According to Mr. Thomas’s observations, the mahseer travels
long distances up stream during the monsoon rains for the
purpose of depositing its spawn in the more or less protected head-
waters of the rivers. It does not spawn all at once, as the salmon
does, but lays its eggs in batches, repeating the process several
times in a season. This, it should be added, is inferred from
examination of the ovaries, and is not the result of direct

* Synonymous with Barbus mosal. The Sinhalese name is Léla.

+ My. C. A. Hartley informed me last June (1902) that he had never taken one
weighing above 2 or 3 lb. from the Sitala-ganga, but that probably larger indi-
viduals would be met with in the main Maskeliya river into which the Sitala-
ganga flows. The largest specimen received at the Museum: measured somewhat
less than a foot in length.

{ A rostral pair and a longer maxillary pair.

THR MAHSEER AND THE MURREL IN CEYLON. 21

observation. The result of this graduated oviposition is that the
mahseer, unlike the spent salmon, never becomes so emaciated as
to be unfit for human food.

It may be useful to sportsmen and naturalists living in out-
stations to explain the manner in which the mahseer in
particular, and freshwater fishes in general, may be identified.

The mahseer may be recognized in the open by its fighting
qualities, and in the laboratory or museum by the arrangement of
its scales. Down each side of the body from the gill region to
the tail fin there is one row of scales, which exhibits a series of
minute perforations. These are the orifices of small tubular
sensory organs composing the so-called lateral line apparatus,
which is innervated by a special branch of the tenth cranial nerve
known as the lateral line nerve.

The number of scales in the lateral line is an important
diagnostic feature in the determination of ary species of fish,
taken, naturally, in conjunction with its other characters, ¢g.,
presence or absence of teeth, presence or absence of barbels,
number of fin-rays in the fins, especially in the dorsal and anal
fins. The mahseer has no jaw teeth ; it has two pairs of barbels,
twelve rays in the dorsal fin, of which the first three are osseous
(the first very small), seven or eight rays in the anal fin, of which
the first two or three are osseous, and twenty-four or twenty-five
seales in the lateral line.* The tail fin is forked. Inthe middle
line of the back there are nine scales in front of the dorsal fin.
The body is elongated, the height being equal to about one-fourth
of the length excluding the caudal fin.

Just as the mahseer, from an angling point of view, takes the
place, in India and Ceylon, of the salmon of the West, so the
murrel may be regarded as representing the pike in the economy
of the inland waters, although all these fishes belong to totally
distinct families.

The murrel or lula (Ophiocephalus striatus) is a large, nearly
black, somewhat flat-headed fish, with long, many-rayed dorsal
and anal fins and rounded tail fin (see fig. 2 facing p. 5). The
dorsal and anal fins end abruptly behind and are not continuous
with the tail fin. The lateral line does not extend in a straight
line from the gill region of the head to the tail, but is bent
downwards over two rows of scales at the level of the twelfth
dorsal fin-ray, and is thence continued to the base of the tail fin.
The Indian murrel attains a length of 2 to 3 feet. The Colombo
Museum has a specimen of the Ceylon murrel with total length of

* In the case of the Indian Mahseer the number of scales in the lateral line is
twenty-five to twenty-seven according to Giinther and Day.

22 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

2 feet 3 inches and maximum breadth across the head of 4 inches;
height of body behind pectoral fins 35 inches (without reckoning
the dorsal fin); weight (after removal of gut) nearly 4 Ib.

The Ophiocephalide are commonly known as walking fishes on
account of the fact that they are able to exist for lengthened
periods out of water and can travel in a serpentine manner
overland. . Day* witnessed the exhumation of some Ophiocephali
from the mud of a dried-up tank. They are capable of an
amphibious mode of respiration in virtue of the existence of air
cavities in the head (accessory to the true gill cavities), which
impart amore or less labyrinthine structure tothe pharyngeal bones
though not so complicated as the elaborate suprabranchial
apparatus of the Climbing Perch (Anabas scandens), the “ Kavaiya”
of the Sinhalese.

The climbing and burrowing fishes of Ceylon were treated at
considerable length by Sir E. Tennent, who reminded his readers
that these phenomena were known to the ancients. “It is an
illustration,” he says on p. 344 of his work on the Natural
History of Ceylon, “of the eagerness with which, after the
expedition of Alexander the Great, particulars connected with
the natural history of India were sought for and arranged by the
Greeks, that in the works both of Aristotle [De Respiratione]
and Theophrastus [De Piscibus in sicco degentibus] facts are
recorded of the fishes in the Indian rivers migrating in search
of water, of their burying themselves in the mud on its failure,
of their being dug out thence alive during the dry season, and of
their spontaneous re-appearance on the return of the rains.”

Last year I picked up a “ Kavaiya” which was toiling along the
wayside in the Southern Province, and on arrival at the next
resthouse placed it in a basin of water for the night. At
daybreak the fish was found healthy and active on the floor, while
the basin was tenanted by a drowned rat.

* Day, F., “ Fauna Brit. Ind.: Fishes,” Vol. II., p. 359.

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