to be sometimes asleep whilst the other is vigilant and active one will assume a green tinge whilst the opposite one is red; and it is said that the chameleon is utterly unable to swim, from the incapacity of the muscles of the two sides to act in concert.

Ceratophora. A unique lizard, and hitherto known only by two specimens, one in the British Museum, and another in that of Leyden, is the Ceratophora Stoddartii, distinguished by the peculiarity of its having no external ear, whilst its muzzle bears on its extremity the horn-like process from which it takes its name. It has recently been discovered by Dr. Kelaart to be a native of the higher Kandyan hills, where it is sometimes seen in the older trees in pursuit of sect larvæ.1

Geckoes. But the most familiar and attractive of the class are the Geckoes 2, which frequent the sitting-rooms, and being furnished with pads to each toe, are enabled to ascend perpendicular walls and adhere to glass and ceilings. Being nocturnal in their habits, the pupil of the eye, instead of being circular as in the diurnal species, is linear and vertical like those of the cat. As soon as evening arrives, they emerge from the chinks and recesses where they conceal themselves during the day, in search of insects which retire to settle for the night, and are to be seen in every house in keen and crafty pursuits of their prey. In a boudoir where the ladies of my family spent their evenings, one of these familiar and amusing little creatures had its hiding-place behind a gilt picture frame, and punctually as the candles were lighted, it made its appearance on the wall to be fed with its accustomed crumb; and, if neglected, it reiterated its sharp quick call of chic, chic, chit, till attended to. It was of a delicate grey colour, tinged with pink; and having by accident fallen on a work-table, it fled, leaving its tail behind it, which, however, it repro

1 Dr. Kelaart has likewise discovered at Neuera-ellia a Salea, distinct from the S. Jerdoni.

2 Hemidactylus maculatus, Dum. et Bib., Gray; H. Leschenaultii, Dum et Bib.; H. frenatus, Schlegel.

duced within less than a month. This faculty of reproduction is doubtless designed to enable the creature to escape from its assailants: the detaching of the limb is evidently its own act; and it is observable, that when reproduced, the tail generally exhibits some variation from its various form, the diverging spines being absent, the new portion covered with small square uniform scales placed in a cross series, and the scuta below being seldom so distinct as in the original member. In an officer's quarters in the fort of Colombo, a Geckoe had been taught to come daily to the dinnertable, and always made its appearance along with the dessert. The family were absent for some months, during which the house underwent extensive repairs, the roof having been raised, the walls stuccoed, and ceilings whitened. It was naturally surmised that so long a suspension of its accustomed habits would have led to the disappearance of the little lizard; but on the return of its old friends, at their first dinner it made its entrance as usual the instant the cloth had been removed.

Crocodile. The Portuguese in India, like the Spaniards in South America, affixed the name of lagarto to the huge reptiles which infest the rivers and estuaries of both continents; and to the present day the Europeans in Ceylon apply the term alligator to what are in reality crocodiles, which literally swarm in the still waters and tanks throughout the northern provinces, but rarely frequent rapid stream, and have never been found in the marshy elevations among the hills. Their instincts in Ceylon present no variation from their habits in other countries. There would appear to be two well-distinguished species in the island, the Allie Kimboola 2, the Indian crocodile, which inhabits the rivers and estuaries throughout the low countries of the coasts, attaining the length of sixteen or eighteen

1 Brit. Mus. Cat. p. 143; KELA- 2 Crocodilus biporcatus, Cuvier. ART'S Prod. Faun. Zeylan., p. 183.

feet, and which will assail man when pressed by hunger; and the Marsh crocodile1, which lives exclusively in fresh water, frequenting the tanks in the northern and central provinces, and confining its attacks to the smaller animals: in length it seldom exceeds twelve or thirteen feet. Sportsmen complain that their dogs are constantly seized by both species; and water-fowl, when shot, frequently disappear before they can be secured by the fowler.2 The Singhalese believe that the crocodile can only move swiftly on sand or smooth clay, its feet being too tender to tread firmly on hard or stony ground. In the dry season, when the watercourses begin to fail and the tanks become exhausted, the Marsh crocodiles are sometimes encountered wandering in search of water in the jungle; but generally, during the extreme drought, when unable to procure their ordinary food from the drying up of the watercourses, they bury themselves in the mud, and remain in a state of torpor till released by the recurrence of the rains. At Arne-tivoe, in the eastern province, whilst riding across the parched bed of the tank, I was shown the recess, still bearing the form and impress of the crocodile, out of which the animal had been seen to emerge the day before. A story was also related to me of an officer attached to the department of the Surveyor-General, who, having pitched his tent in a similar position, had been disturbed during the night by feeling a movement of the earth below his bed, from which on the following day a crocodile emerged making its appearance from beneath the matting.*

1 Crocodilus palustris, Less.

2 In Siam the flesh of the crocodile is sold for food in the markets and bazaars. "Un jour je vis plus de cinquante crocodiles, petits et grands, attachés aux colonnes de leurs maisons. Ils les vendent la chair comme on vendrait de la chair de porc, mais à bien meilleur marché."-PALLEGOIX, Siam, vol. i. p. 174.

3 HERODOTUS records the observations of the Egyptians that the crocodile of the Nile abstains from food during the four winter months. Euterpe, lviii.

4 HUMBOLDT relates a similar story as occurring at Calabazo, in Venezuela.-Personal Narrative, c. xvi.

The species which inhabits the fresh water is essentially cowardly in its instincts, and hastens to conceal itself on the appearance of man. A gentleman (who told me the circumstance), when riding in the jungle, overtook a crocodile, evidently roaming in search of water. It fled to a shallow pool almost dried by the sun, and, thrusting its head into the mud till it covered up its eyes, it remained unmoved in profound confidence of perfect concealment. In 1833, during the progress of the Pearl Fishery, Sir Robert Wilmot Horton employed men to drag for crocodiles in a pond which was infested with them in the immediate vicinity of Aripo. The pool was about fifty yards in length, by ten or twelve wide, shallowing gradually to the edge, and not exceeding four or five feet in the deepest part. As the party approached the bund, from twenty to thirty reptiles, which had been basking in the sun, rose and fled to the water. A net, specially weighted so as to sink its lower edge to the bottom, was then stretched from bank to bank and bank to bank and swept to the further end of the pond, followed by a line of men with poles to drive the crocodiles forward: so complete was the arrangement, that no individual could evade the net, yet, to the astonishment of the Governor's party, not one was to be found when it was drawn on shore, and no means of escape was apparent or possible except descending into the mud at the bottom of the pond.1

TESTUDINATA. Tortoise. Of the testudinata the land tortoises are numerous, but present no remarkable features beyond the beautiful marking of the starred variety 2, which is common in the north-western province

1 A remarkable instance of the vitality of the common crocodile, C. biporcatus, was related to me by a gentleman at Galle: he had caught an unusually large one on a baited hook, which his coolies disembowelled, the aperture in the stomach being left

expanded by a stick placed across it. On returning in the afternoon with a view to secure the head, they found that the creature had crawled for some distance and made its escape into the

water.

2 Testudo stellata, Schweig.

around Putlam and Chilaw, and is distinguished by the bright yellow rays which diversify the deep black of its dorsal shield. From one of these which was kept in my garden I took a number of flat ticks (Ixodes), which adhered to its fleshy neck in such a position as to baffle any attempt of the animal itself to remove them; but as they were exposed to constant danger of being crushed against the plastron during the protrusion and retraction of the head, each was covered with a horny case almost as resistant as the carapace of the tortoise itself. Such an adaptation of structure is scarcely less striking than that of the parasites found on the spotted lizard of Berar by Dr. Hooker, each of which presented the distinct colour of the scale to which it adhered.1

The marshes and pools of the interior are frequented by the terrapins 2, which the natives are in the habit of keeping alive in wells under the conviction that they clear them of impurities. The edible turtle is found on all the coasts of the island, and sells for a few shillings or a few pence, according to its size and abundance at the moment. At certain seasons the turtle on the south-western coast of Ceylon are avoided as poisonous, and some lamentable instances are recorded of death which was ascribed to their use. At Pantura, to the south of Colombo, twenty-eight persons who had partaken of turtle in October, 1840, were seized with sickness immediately, after which coma succeeded, and eighteen died during the night. Those who survived said there was nothing unusual in the appearance of the flesh except that it was fatter than ordinary. Other similarly fatal occurrences have been attributed to turtle curry; but as they have never been proved to proceed

1 HOOKER'S Himalayan Journals, vol. i.

37. p. 2 Emyda Ceylonensis, GRAY, Catalogue, p. 64, tab. 29 a; Mag. Nat. Hist. p. 265: 1856. Dr. KELAART, in his Prodromus (p. 179), refers this to the common Indian species, E. punctata; but Dr. Gray has shown it to be a

distinct one. It is generally distributed in the lower parts of Ceylon, in lakes and tanks. It is put into wells to act the part of a scavenger. By the Singhalese it is named Kiri-ibba.

3 Chelonia virgata, Schweig.