CONTENTS OF VOLUME IL.

Parr I.—AprRIL, 1903.

Willey, A.—

Constitution of the Fauna of Ceylon

Manders, N.—

Variation in Catochrysops pandava

Mackwood, F. M.—

Nyctalemon patroclus in Kandy oss

Manders, N.— .

Note on Mycalesis subdita...

Willey, A.—

The Mahseer and the Murrel in Ceylon

Part Il.—Jvne, 1903.

Reports and Correspondence concerning the Acclimatization of

Ceylon Crows in the Malay Peninsula

Camerano, L.—

Gordians of Ceylon

Green, E. E.—

Notes on the Habits of the Green Whip-snake

Notes and Reviews oe aa

Part IJI.—NoveEMBER, 1903.

Shipley, A. E.—

Some Parasites from Ceylon

im Thurn, E.—

Sketch of the Ceylon Pearl Fishery of 1903

Lewis, F.—

Nidification of Gallinago stenura

Green, E. E.—

Nesting Habits of Trypoxylon intrudens and Stigmus niger...

Manders, N.—

Further Note on Species of Mycalesis

Notes.—

1. Loris Gracilis and Pentatomid Bug. E. E. Green

2. Pups of the Red Ant (@cophylla smaragdina). E. E.

Green ose Ay

A Case of Protective Mimicry. E. E. Green

Habits of Whip-snake. E.E. Green ...

Food of the Whip-snake. C. Drieberg

Se oP

2Y910.

PAGE

6. Hedgehogs in Ceylon. A. Willey

7. Dwarf Eggs of Domestic Fowl. A. Willey

8. Heralds of the Monsoons. A. Willey ...

9. Moths of Ceylon, Ed.... au

10. Some Rare Snakes of Ceylon. A. Willey

Part IV.—Fepruary, 1904.

Linstow, O. von—

Nematoda in the Collection of the Colombo Museum

Coomaraswamy, A. K.—

Crystalline Rocks of Ceylon oe

Notes.—

1. Uraninite. A. K, Coomaraswamy

2. Peregrine Earthworms. Ed.

; Rhynchota of Ceylon. Ed. re

Dendrophis bifrenalis. Ed. 7

Symbiosis between Bees and Mites. Ed.

PAGE

105

112

113

114

116

117

PREFACE.

rerae| HE issue of the first volume of a new periodical publi-

| cation seems to require afew words of introduction by

way of apology. It may appear rash or even reckless

to launch a new journal upon the already crowded sea

of scientific literature and thereby increase, though to an infini-

tesimal extent, the confusion of mankind. The experiment has

nevertheless been sanctioned by Government, and it must be left

to the future to decide with regard to its success or failure. Its

justification will depend upon its success, and the latter will be

determined not so much by the number of local subscribers as by

the length of years during which it may be continued.

It will be seen from the nature of the contents of the first

volume that “ Spolia Zeylanica” contains matter of interest and

intelligence to residents in the Island who are willing to give and

take information of the kind vouchsafed to them in these pages. In

a progressive Colony like Ceylon, where the aspect of the country

is undergoing rapid change, records of apparently trivial observa-

tions often acquire a cumulative importance in the course of years,

and it should be considered an advantage to have the means of

rendering permanent and available for future reference, notes

‘ on the habits of creatures which become more shy and difficult

to procure as time goes on and the new order of things replaces

the old.

This is especially the case with those unapproachable people,

the Veddas of Ceylon, and it is greatly to be hoped that those

who have the opportunity of holding intercourse with this folk

will rescue their vanishing traits from oblivion. A subject of

this kind can never be exhausted, and the theory that the study of

the manners and beliefs of primitive races belongs to the “ history

of the folly of mankind” has long been exploded. The same

principle applies to the Rodiyas and the Gypsies and to all who

hold aloof from the great game of destiny.

Ce. ¢ mee

In addition to its function of conveying intelligence of local

significance, this first volume is fortunate in having secured

original contributions which constitute a distinct increase in our

knowledge of the forms with which they deal. Other papers

of an expert nature are in hand and will appear in the second

volume. Of course it cannot be pretended that these articles will

appeal very strongly to the personal proclivities of every reader

of this journal. In such cases it can only be suggested that

subscribers should rest content with the assurance that they are

receiving good measure for their money and be satisfied with the

crumbs which fall from the specialist’s table.

The following libraries and bodies receive copies of “Spolia

Zeylanica”’:—

British Museum ; Natural History Museum, London; Royal

Society, London ; Zoological Society, London ; Linnean Society,

London; Entomological Society, London; Royal Colonial In-

stitute, London; Editor of ‘“ Nature”; Editor of “‘ Athenzenm ”;

Bodleian Library, Oxford; University Library, Cambridge ;

Marshall Library, Owen’s College, Manchester; Manchester

Museum; University College, Liverpool ; University of Birming-

ham; Museums Association, Sheffield; Marine Laboratory,

Plymouth.

Library of Congress, Washington: U. S. National Museum,

Washington ; Smithsonian Institution, Washington; Columbia

University, New York; American Museum of Natural History,

New York; Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.; Field

Columbian Museum, Chicago ; Leland Stanford Junior University,

California ; Carnegie Museum, Pittsburg; Philippine Museum,

Manila.

Australian Museum, Sydney ; Linnean Society of New South

Wales, Sydney ; Entomological Branch, Department of Agricul-

ture, Sydney; National Museum, Melbourne; Queensland

Museum, Brisbane; South Australian Museum, Adelaide ; Tas-

manian Museum, Hobart; Colonial Museum, Wellington, N. Z.;

New Zealand Institute, Dunedin.

Indian Museum, Calcutta; Government Museum, Madras ;

Natural History Society, Bombay ; Raffles Museum, Singapore ;

Sarawak Museum, Borneo.

South African Museum, Cape Town ; Albany Museum, Grahams-

town, Cape Colony ; School of Medicine, Cairo.

Muséum histoire naturelle, Jardin des Plantes, Paris ; Muséum

océanographique, Monaco.

(=i)

Kgl. Museum fiir Naturkunde, Berlin: Zoologisches Institut,

Leipzig; Zool.-Zoot. Institut, Gottingen; Naturhistorisches

Museum, Hamburg.

Stazione Zoologica, Naples; R. Museo Zoologico, Turin : Museo

civico di Storia naturale, Genoa.

Kais, Akademie der Wissenschaften, St. Petersburg.

Zoological Institute, University of Tokyo.

ARTHUR WILLEY,

Director, Colombo Museum.

Colombo, January 2, 1904.

ERRATA.

Page 2.—Paragraph 2: for “there is not even one peculiar Mammalian

species” read ‘there are not more than two or three peculiar Mammalian

species.”

Page 8.—Footnote : for “ Newton, A. A.” read “ Newton, A.”

Page 18.—For “ Mycalesis subdita” read “M. rama.” See also page 71.

Page 65.—Line 2: for “ chafering” read “ chaffering.”

Page 78.—Paragraph 4: for “ Fregata aquila”’ read “‘ f, ariel.”

SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

CONSTITUTION OF THE FAUNA OF GEYLON.

By A. WILLEY.

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

Fauune 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 IT. [1681], has devoted a chapter to 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.

B 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 and 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 Scaly ant-

eater or Indian pangolin (Manis pentadactyla),{ and the mouse-

deer or Indian chevrotain (T’ragulus meminna).§

On the 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 Zealand. 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.

t Kaballéwa, S.

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

‘|| The Hamadryad or king cobra is named Naia bungarus on grounds of priority

{see Boulenger,G. A. Fauna Brit. Ind. Reptilia and Batrachia, p. 392, 1890]. It

is also widely known as Oyhiophagus elaps, its food consisting principally of other

snakes,

OTT SR

wu i -

. re

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

From « wooden effigy in the Colombo Museum. Height of original, 1 foot 2 inches.

To face p. 3)

FAUNA OF CEYLON, 3

vol. XIV., pp. 409-418, 1902 ; also in the same Journal on p. 629,a

note on the “Food of the King Cobra,” by H. H. Aitken]. But

whereas the cobra occurs 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 of 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

Kast. 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 ZRYLANIGCA.

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 Eastern Provinces, with an average rainfall of about 50inches ;

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 particular 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.f 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, as 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

Fias. 2 ANo 3.—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 ornaia*)

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, Kastern 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 t), which belongs to a distinctively Oriental

family, the Ophiocephalide, 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.8.), 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].

t Known as the “ Murrel” to Indian anglers (see Thomas, H.S. The Rod in

India. Mangalore, 1873).

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

6 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

erab* (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 EK. 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 Ceylon

elephant is identical with the 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, #. 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 Aleock, A. A. Naturalist in Indian Seas,

1902, pp. 83 and 151).

+Syn. Myiophoneus blighi (Legge, Birds of Ceylon, p. 463].

t Tennent, vp, 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.

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

(Chameleo calcaratus). '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

Chamaleonten. Zool, Jahrb. Syst., XV., 1902, p. 332).

io 2)

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, Mullaittiva (W. Ferguson),

Chilaw (H. Nevill), Puttalam (F. A. Fairlie), 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, Mabwia carinata, belongs) named

Acontias, also points to a marked Ethiopian (Mascarene and

African) affinity in Ceylon. Fourspecies 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.f

Fig. 5. Htroplus 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 Mollusea 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 earthworms} 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 (Jegascolecide) 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 Moniligaster, 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.{ 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.

7 Michaelsen, W. Die Terricolenfauna Ceylons. Mt. Mus, Hamburg, XIV.,

1897, 94 pp., 1 plate.

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

Cc ’ 25-03

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, Malacea, 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 Uvopeltide (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”} 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.

* 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.

+ As mentioned above, the genus Cylindrophis is also called “depatnaya,” but it

belongs to a different family, the Zlysiide.

Fie. 6.—SCOLOPENDRA BICOLOR, HumeBerrt.

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 Puitalam to Trincomalee. It has a wide

distribution in the East Indies.

[Vo sace p. 10

Fic. 7.—CERATOPHORA STODDARTII (From Nuwara ELIA).

Photographed from a living specimen at the Colombo Museum,

To face p. 11)

FAUNA OF CEYLON. 1]

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

IT 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

iu 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 bookf 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—

* Hg., Mr. R. Lydekker and Dr. W. T. Blanford.

y Alcock, 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 ZEYLANIGA.

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 precursers 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.t

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 DutTcH Bay).

From a dried specimen in the Colombo Museum.

[To face p, 12

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 “CATOCHRYSOPS PANDAVA,”

Horsfield.

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

SERIES of five males and ten females of this Lycenid

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 scales.

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

sles lee ; Pw kel definite white lunules, though not of so

of variation in thesubmarginal glear 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. 1s)

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.

ITI., 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

®o} inches, and the distance from the tip of the fore wing to the tail

of the hind wing is also 54 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. ]

111-112, fig, 57.

NYCTALEMON PATROCLUS.

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

Drawn from the original specimen lent to the Colombo Museum,

Natural size,

25-03

18 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

NOTE “ON MYCALESIS SUBDITA,” Moore.

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. LX VIII., Part II., 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 a more im-

petuous rush.* Itis known to occurin 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 tor. 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. 223.

pl. XVIL., fig..1.)

20 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

The Ceylon mahseer (Barbus tov’)* 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 lb.,

whereas in others they have been taken weighing 40 lb. and 50 Ib.,

and even as much as 74 lb.” f

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,{t which fringe the mouth, are organs which are

specially characteristic of bottom-feeding fishes, such as the

barbels and catfishes (Si/wridw). 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.

+ Mr. 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 any 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

scales 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

*Tn 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.

92 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 a more or less labyrinthine structure to the 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.

Pe eee Oe ee re ere UE

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

CEYLON CROWS IN THE MALAY PENINSULA. 23

ACCLIMATIZATION OF CEYLON CROWS IN THE

MALAY PENINSULA.

INTRODUCTION.

HE transportation of an experimental consignment of common

gray crows (Corvus splendens) to Penang at the request of

the Resident-General of the Federated Malay States was briefly

mentioned in the Administration Report of the Colombo Museum

for the year 1902. As thisis a matter of public importance besides

having a certain scientific interest, it has been decided to publish

the following correspondence, reports, and notes relating thereto.

ARTHUR WILLEY,

Colombo, March 30, 1903. Director, Colombo Museum.

The Resident-General, Federated Malay States, to the

Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Ceylon.

Resident-General’s Office,

Selangor, Malay Peninsula, July 30, 1902.

S1rR,—I HAVE the honour to ask you to be so good as to peruse

enclosed copy of a letter, dated 22nd July current, which has been

addressed to me by a prominent planter, Mr. E. V. Carey, who is

Chairman of the United Planters’ Association, Federated Malay

States, advocating the importation of crows from Ceylon in the

hope and expectation that they might prove beneficial in keeping

_ down the numbers of the caterpillars which occasionally devastate

estates in this country.

~I shall be greatly obliged if you will inform me whether I can

rely onthe good offices of the Government of Ceylon in this

matter.

I have, &c.,

W. H. TREACHER,

Resident-General, Federated Malay States.

E 25-03

24 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

E. V. Carey, Esq., Chairman of the United Planters’ Association,

Federated Malay States, to the Resident-General,

Federated Malay States.

Klang, Selangor, July 22, 1902.

Sir,—I HAVE the honour to report that during the recent severe

attack of caterpillars* on Bukit Raja estate some forty crows

assembled and helped in the destruction of both caterpillars and

chrysalids.

You will agree with me that this is a very unusually large

number of these birds to be found in this country.

2. About the year 1885 the Ceylon cinchona plantations were

devastated by a caterpillart of the same family as that which has

so often severely attacked our coffee over here, and it is well

within the writer’s memory that tens of thousands of crows came

to the rescue and practically annihilated the caterpillars.

3. The Ceylon crow is a somewhat different bird to that found

in the Malay Peninsula, but I think there can be no doubt that

they would soon settle down over here if imported in sufficient

numbers; they are the most useful of scavengers, and however

much their numbers increased, would do no harm.

4, I would therefore suggest that overtures might be made to

the Ceylon Government for shipment to this country of a large

number of these birds, which could easily be collected if a small

sum for each good healthy specimen were offered.

). I believe that a fair proportion of the cost would be sub-

scribed by proprietors of estates, but it is obvious that no overtures

on the part of private individuals would stand the same chance

of success as a representation from one Government to the other.

6. Within my knowledge there are six different caterpillars,

attacking coffee, Para-rubber, Ficus elastica, cocoanuts, croton,

and castor oil, which might at one time become gravely epidemic.

All of these the crows would help to keep down, and I therefore

earnestly beg your kind consideration of my suggestion.

I have, &c.,

—_—— K. V. CAREY.

Report of the Director of the Colomho Museum tv the

Hon. the Colonial Secretary.

I UNDERSTAND that the principal point upon which I have to

report relates to the feasibility of transport and possibility of

acclimatization of Ceylon crows in the Malay States.

* Mr. E. E. Green says that the caterpillars referred to are the larve of Cepho-

nodes hylas, the clear-winged hawk moth.

+ The caterpillar of the oleander moth (Daphnis nerii). Both Cephonodes and

Daphnis belong to the family of the Sphingide.

MY)

CEYLON CROWS IN THE MALAY PENINSULA. 15)

2. I think it would be comparatively easy to collect a large

quantity of living crows here.

3. It would be necessary to construct an aviary for their

reception and temporary storage.

4, They would of course have to be fed.

5. It would be of the nature of an experiment to ascertain how

they behave in captivity.

6. From the analogy of other cases it may be said that itis quite

probable, but not certain before trial, that they would accustom

themselves to their new surroundings in the Malay States.

7. Their homing instincts appear to be strongly developed.

8. I have not been able to find any record of the visitation of

caterpillars in the Ceylon cinchona plantations about the year

US a ee

9. There are many caterpillars which are obnoxious to birds.

10. In the report on the Java Cinchona Plantations for 1883

(extracted in the Tropical Agriculturist, Vol. IV., 1885, p. 378)

concerning the injuries inflicted by Helopeltis antonii and the

ravages of a caterpillar, it is stated that “in regard to both, there

seems to be but one remedy, the constant search for, capture, and

destruction of the pestiferous insects.”

11. If the proposed acclimatization be persevered in, I think it

would be well to send over a small experimental batch of Ceylon

crows to find out howthey support the voyage, whether they would

eat the caterpillars......... if offered to them; and eventually to

let them go free ina circumscribed area and note as far as possible

their subsequent behaviour.

12. It is well known that the introduction of exotic species of

animals* and plants, although frequently beneficial, is sometimes

attended by serious consequences, disturbing the natural equi-

librium of a country in a deplorable manner.

ARTHUR WILLEY,

August 19, 1902. Director, Colombo Museum.

The Resident-General, Federated Malay States, to the

Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Ceylon.

Resident-General’s Office, Taiping,

October 1, 1902.

Sir,—lI am directed by the Resident-General to acknowledge the

receipt of your letter of the 29th August last, with its enclosure,

regarding the importation of crows from Ceylon to the Federated

* Examples of introduced animals which have multiplied beyond bounds are

afforded by the rabbit pest in Australia, the mongoose in Jamaica, and the English

sparrow in the United States of America.—A, W.

26 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA,

Malay States, and to express his cordial thanks to the Ceylon

Government for the promise of assistance in this matter, and

to Mr. Willey, Director of the Colombo Museum, for his

report.

2. Iam to inquire whether the Ceylon Government would be

good enough to permit, and the Director be good enough to under-

take to act on, the suggestions contained in paragraph 11 of

his report and send over an experimental consignment of fifty

crows at the expense of this Government, addressed to care of

A. D. Neubronner, Esq., Perak Government Agent, Penang, to

be forwarded to E. V. Carey, Esq., Klang, and to telegraph to

Mr. Neubronner the name of the steamer and the date of

despatch.

3. Mr. Carey, to whom the report of the Director was referred,

has made the following suggestions :—

“1 should say that the initial experiment might be confined to

the capture of, say, fifty crows, rough wooden or bamboo cages

being constructed for them and food supplied until they began

either to die or to settle down sufficiently to admit of their being

shipped across with a reasonable chance of arriving in good con-

dition. Perhaps the Director of the Ceylon Museum would

undertake the preliminary steps, or arrange for the fifty crows to

be delivered, in good condition and well fed, on board ship. It

would obviously be out of the question for a man to be sent over

to Ceylon from here to attend to the matter, until, at any rate, it

has been shown that the birds will stand confinement and the

voyage across, and even then it would be cheaper and probably

more satisfactory to contract for their delivery in large numbers

on board ship in Colombo.”

4. Mr. Carey adds :—

“Whilst on this subject I should mention that Mr. E. B. Prior

of the Golden Hope estate, Selangor, reports that he has shot

several crows amongst his cocoanuts, having found them knocking

down and destroying the blossom. I cannot but believe that there

is some mistake about this, but would suggest that the Director

be asked whether there is any danger of anything of the sort

occurring or if any similar experience has been recorded in

Ceylon.”

5. The Resident-General will be much obliged if the above

paragraph may be referred to Mr. Willey for his consideration.

Tam, &c.,

C. W. H. COCHRANE,

for Acting Secretary to Resident-General,

Fig. 18. CAGE CONTAINING COLOMBO CROWS, TRANSPORTED TO SELANGOR,

Yo face p. 29)

CEYLON CROWS IN THE MALAY PENINSULA. 27

Report of the Director of the Colombo Museum to the

Hon. the Colonial Secretary.

IT is not, I believe, the general experience that crows are detri-

mental to cocoanut trees. They are rather to be regarded as

useful birds, and in the instance quoted relating to the Golden

Hope estate, Selangor, it is not unlikely that they were in search

of the injurious cocoanut beetles which attack the cabbage of the

cocoanut palms.

If this be so, the crows might incidentally have done some

damage without destructive intent.

October 18, 1902. ARTHUR WILLEY.

N.B.—It has frequently happened that.insectivorous birds, which

are really beneficial to man, have been blamed for the damage

inflicted by their prey. In cases of doubt the truth may be

ascertained by examination of the contents of the stomachs of the

suspected birds.

Ac We

In consequence of the preceding correspondence steps were

taken to secure a number of crows, and it was made known to the

proprietors of boutiques where crows congregate that a price

would be paid for every crow brought alive to the Museum. But

crows are among the most intelligent of birds; they are not to be

taken by frontal attack, and can rarely be captured by stratagem

during the daytime. It is necessary to organize night surprises

in the retreats where they roost. The most famous nocturnal

retreat for the crows of Colombo is Crow island, which lies in the

Kelani-ganga near its mouth, not far from the Leper Hospital at

Hendala. The Superintendent of the Leper Asylum, Dr. W. H.

Meier, was good enough to make representations to the villagers in

that neighbourhood on behalf of the Museum, with the result that

the full complement of crows was speedily obtained.

A black carrion crow (Corvus macrorhynchus) was brought to

the Museum on the 24th October. It was fed upon rice which it

vomited up, and died the next day. The stomach contained

fragments of beetles (Buprestide); the intestine was parasitised by

eight or nine cestode worms; the skin was covered by an immense

multitude of minute acarids,

Three gray crows* (Corvus splendens) were caught near a

butcher’s shop and brought on the 29th October. During the day

one became lame, sickened, andshortly died. Perhaps it had been

* Commonly known as the Indian crow. This species also occurs in every

inhabited island of the Maldive group, but not on Minicoy. (See Dr. H. Gadow’s

Report on “ Aves” in “The Fauna and Geography of the Maldive and Laccadive

Archipelagoes,” edited by J, Stanley Gardiner, M.A., Vol. I., Part IV., 1903, p. 373.)

28 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA,

hit by a stone, as the left thigh was suffused below the skin and the

right tibio-tarsal joint was swollen to about twice the normal size.

During the succeeding days gray crows continued to arrive

singly or in couples until the 8th November, when twenty-six birds

were brought in baskets from Crow island; on the 9th eleven

more came, and on the 10th another lot of thirty-seven.

The full number of birds required had now been collected, and

it remained to keep them for some time in galvanized wire cages in

order to study their ways with a view to ascertain the best mode of

treating them in captivity. They were fed principally upon

cooked rice and raw meat, with occasional insect grubs (which

they greedily devoured), jakfruit, and biscuits.

Perhaps crows as a body are gluttons, but at any rate there are

individuals among them who do not care to see their fellows

enjoying a meal. Those are apparently the fittest who survive»

while their less keen or less hungry companions starve. How-

ever this may be, the fact is that during the week following the

last arrival chronicled above about twelve crows died of star-

vation.

As time passed on the importance of a plentiful supply of

fresh water became increasingly evident. It was also found that

they required a certain amount of exposure to the heat of the sun.

Deaths were more frequent in one of the aviaries which was

constantly shaded beneath a cadjan roof than in the others. It

was proved that crowsare as much dependent upon air, light, and

water as human beings. They delight in bathing their whole

bodies and then shaking out their feathers to dry in the sun.

They may be seen daily bathing in the Colombo lake.

All the crows whose blood I examined were infected by micros-

copic thread worms or filariz. Occasionally adult nematodes

were found in the peritoneal membrane, both male and female.

The females were ovoviviparous and contained innumerable

young filariz coiled up inside the egg membranes or free. One

crow in particular, which died on 26th November, had nematodes

in the peritoneum and vast quantities of filariz in the blood.

It seemed not improbable (although I could not prove either

conclusion), firstly, that the bird had succumbed to the disease

called filariasis; and secondly, that the filarie of the blood were

the progeny of the viviparous nematode worms of the perito-

neum.*

* This suggestion may serve to call attention to a matter which is worthy of

investigation on the part of those interested in such questions, The life-history

of nematoda is complicated in various ways, and no simple assertion or suggestion

can approach the truth, although it might point the way.

CEYLON CROWS IN THE MALAY PENINSULA. 29

At length it began to appear that, far from becoming habituated

to their confinement, their continued captivity was re-acting

injuriously upon them, and deaths became alarmingly frequent, as

many as five birds dying in one day. It became necessary to

replenish the stock and to hasten their departure.

Three large cages measuring about 5 feet high by 4 feet square,

furnished with bars and feeding trough, were constructed. Hach

of them was stocked. with twenty-four crows. These were

despatched to the wharf on the 27th December, two crows dying

on the way.

The cages were shipped on board the Austrian Lloyd ss.

Austria with the Museum Taxidermist, Mr. H. F. Fernando, in

charge. The vessel sailed on the following day, and reached

Penang on the 2nd January, 1903, ten more deaths having occurred

on the voyage.

During the voyage the cages were kept thoroughly cleansed,

covered with tarpaulin to protect them from the cold winds, and

the crows were fed twice daily with bread, rice, potatoes, raw and

cooked beef, entrails of fowls, &e.

More than fifty crows reached their destination in good condition.

If there isany lesson to be learnt from the experiences recorded

in the preceding lines, it is this, that the crows will survive a

certain duration of captivity, but not an unlimited period, and the

transportation from one place to another should be carried out

without unnecessary delay.

The news of the arrival of the crows in the Malay Peninsula was

greeted with an extraordinary outburst of objurgation on the part

of the Straits Press. The undeniable impudence of crows has

given them, so it appears, a bad name among the European

residents of these parts. Personally, I do not think that the

prejudice against them is well founded. It is said that they will

steal jewellery, but jewellery disappears in ways other than down

the gullets of crows, and one act of rapine is likely to be magnified

a hundred-fold by common rumour.

A. D. Neubronner, Esq., Perak Government Agent, Penang,

to the Director, Colombo Museum.

January 3, 1903.

Sir,—I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of three cages

crows, of twenty in each cage, brought by Mr. H. F. Fernando, and

Iam glad to say the birds arrived in very good condition judging

from their appearance. Mr. Fernando must have doubtless taken

30 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

great care of them on the voyage. I have shipped them per

steamer proceeding to Klang or Selangor, where the Resident-

General and Mr. Carey are.

I have, &c.,

A. D. NEUBRONNER.

K. V. Carey, Esq., Chairman, United Planters’ Association,

Federated Malay States, to the Resident-General,

Federated Malay States.

Klang, Selangor, Federated Malay States,

January 28, 1903.

Ceylon Crows,

Sir,—IN continuation of my letter of the 5th instant* I have

the honour to report as follows :—

1. There have been no more fatalities amongst the crows. The

whole batch of 56 have now been set free, and so far show no

inclination to desert the locality. They were released as recorded

below :—

Birds

On 9th January 80 12

On 12th January vee oe 6

On 16th January ia ous 14

On 17th January ial eee 12

On 27th January ee ae 12

Total. ..3 56

The first lot were let out within four days of their arrival,

because several of them looked weakly and as if they were

suffering from the confinement. An equal number of healthy

crows were at.the same time given their liberty, as I thought

that the example of those able to take care of themselves would

perhaps be beneficial to their less robust brethren in the way of

encouraging them to forage for food, &c. Finding the first birds

disinclined to fly away from the place, I gradually let the others

out as shown above, keeping a dozen only until yesterday, in order

to observe their behaviour in captivity, and see if a prolonged

confinement would in any way effect them adversely. I am

pleased to say that, far from this being the case, they got fresher

every day and their plumage brighter.

2. Food.—From the date of their arrival here the birds always

fed well, preferring raw meat to anything, and not being incon-

venienced by it being several days old. At one time they had a

* This letter has not been included in the correspondence forwarded to me.—

A. W.

CEYLON CROWS IN THE MALAY PENINSULA. 31

plentiful supply of elephant meat, which kept them going for the

best part of a week. They also ate bananas and boiled rice, though

not with the same avidity, and were always specially fond of

‘bathing in the pans of water which I had placed in their cages.

When first they were introduced to the caterpillars of the bee

hawk moth they regarded them with some suspicion, and

only ate one or two. In a very few days’ time, however, they

devoured every caterpillar, chrysalid, and moth that they could

get hold of. Many thousands of these insects have been given

to them daily, and there have never been any left over. There

can be no doubt whatever, therefore, that a caterpillar diet

is quite acceptable to them, directly they get used to it. Since

their release they have flown away to the coffee, and have

evidently been looking for food there, but I have not been

able to see them actually catch the bee hawk moth caterpillars

though they very assiduously clean the plantain trees of the

caterpillars which roll themselves up in the leaves of this plant.

It seems to me that the utility of the crows as enemies to the

coffee caterpillar will depend largely upon the numbers of the

birds in the place, and the consequent scarcity of the food to which

they have been accustomed in Ceylon, that is to say, the refuse in

the vicinity of human dwellings. It is only natural that they

should prefer such food, especially as it is more easily procured.

It was only when the caterpillars appeared in very large numbers

that the crows in Ceylon were attracted to them, and so it will be

here, in all probability. But there is always the factor with our

importations, that they will have got to recognize the coffee cater-

pillars and chrysalids as palatable articles of diet before they get

their freedom. It has been suggested that the crows should be let

loose amongst coffee trees that are badly attacked by caterpillars

and which have been previously covered over with netting to

prevent the birds from flying away. I should have given this

a trial, as no harm could result from letting the birds understand

where the caterpillars are to be found, but the present consign-

ment is such a small one that it seemed better to leave them all

together, and not separate them, as Ishould have been obliged to,

for there are no coffee trees close by just now on which the cater-

pillars are to be found inany numbers. So I decided to leave this

part of the experiment to a future occasion, when we get ina fresh

batch.

3. Breeding.—I am satisfied that as soon as the crows decide

on a suitable spot they will begin to breed. They are often to be

seen flying about in pairs already, though I have observed no

actual attempt to commence building their nests. Whilst the last

F 25-03

32 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

batch were still in their cages, it was evident that the question of

mating had not been consigned to oblivion. There were at least

two pairs whose attitude towards each other was distinctly

suggestive of something more than ordinary friendship, and I also

noticed that one of the caged birds had an obvious preference for

one of those that had secured its liberty, calling regularly to

the outside crow, which always kept in the vicinity of the

cage.

4. It may be of interest to record that upon the arrival of the

Ceylon crows some dozen or more of the ordinary carrion crow

of this country appeared on the scene and seemed to regard the

newcomers with considerable interest, but never made any

attempt to molest them in any way. Indeed, as far as I can see,

the Ceylon crows have nothing to fear from any natural enemies

in this country. I have seen kites and eagles flying round since

they have been here, but on no occasion have they attacked the

crows. I havea large number of young ducks and chickens where

the crows have been let loose, but they have not been disturbed

by their new neighbours at all, and I do not think that the crows

will do any mischief of this sort, as some people seem to anticipate.

I may mention, however, that the young ducks proved too much

of a temptation to the big carrion crows, which killed and carried

off several every day, until I was obliged at last to shoot‘two of

them. They were only wounded, and I was able to keep them in

one of the empty cages for some days, when one of them, having

evidently sustained internal injuries, died. The other, however

is still alive, and it has been very interesting having the two species

side by side for comparison. The carrion crow readily eats the

largest cocoanut beetles and their larve, his powerful bill enabling

him to split up and devour the former with the greatest ease,

The Ceylon crows will also eat the larve greedily, but cannot

manage the beetle unless it is killed and broken up for them

first.

General.—I venture to think that the experiment, as far as it has —

gone, has been an unqualified success. It has been demonstrated

that the crows will thrive in captivity ; that they can stand with-

out any serious ill-effects the long journey over to this country ;

that when released they do not at once fly away, but show every

sign of an intention to adapt themselves to their altered circum-

stances; and that, when given to them, they readily eat the

caterpillars, the destruction of which was the reason for their

importation. It now remains to be seen if they will breed, and

should they do so I do not see what more can be expected of them,

for, as I have said, it is scarcely likely, while so few in numbers,

CEYLON CROWS IN THE MALAY PENINSULA. 33

that they will hunt the coffee for caterpillars when there is so

much food of other sorts available. The remedy for this is to

import several thousands of the birds, and I shall sincerely hope to

see this done.

I have, &e.,

EK. V. CAREY,

Chairman, United Planters’ Association,

Federated Malay States.

The Resident-General, Federated Malay States, to the

Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Ceylon.

Resident-General’s Office,

Selangor, Malay Peninsula,

February 13, 1903.

SiR,—WITH reference to your letter of the 24th December last

advising the shipment of a consignment of crows for Selangor, I

am directed to inquire whether you would be good enough to

make arrangements for furnishing a further supply of fifty birds,

at the expense of this Government, addressed as before to care of

A. D. Neubronner, Esq., in Penang, to be forwarded to Mr. Carey

at Klang, telegraphing to Mr. Neubronner the name of the steamer

and date of despatch.

2. Mr. Carey, who has had charge of the first batch, thinks that

the experiment, so far as it has gone, has been an unqualified

success, but is of opinion that experiments should be made with a

further consignment before the crows are imported in large

numbers.

I have, &c.,

OLIVER MARKS,

Acting Secretary to Resident-General,

Federated Malay States.

34 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

GORDIANS OF CEYLON.”

By Prof. LORENZO CAMERANO.

(University of Turin.)

‘HE Director of the Colombo Museum has sent me for study

some Gordian worms from Ceylon. These specimens are

interesting, because nothing was known with precision concerning

the Gordians of this locality.

Oerley, in his work entitled “ On Hair-worms in the Collection

of the British Museum” (Ann. Nat. Hist., Series 5, Vol. IIT., 1881)

mentions a female example from Ceylon, referring it without

comment to the species Gordius tricuspidatus of L. Dufour.

Since the researches made by various authors and by mef

concerning those species in which the females have the posterior

extremity of the body divided into three post-cloacal lobes (Gen.

Paragordius, Camer.), it has become necessary to re-examine

Oerley’s specimen in order to ascertain to which species of Para-

gordius it may belong.

Baird, in his ‘‘ Catalogue of the Species of Entozoa contained in

the Collection of the British Museum” (London, 1853, and P. Zool.

Soe., 1853, p. 20), describes a Gordius verrucosus, giving as locali-

ties South Africa and Ceylon. In my Monograph of the Gordians,

referred to above, I have, on page 416, pointed out that Baird’s

species cannot be identified by reason of the inadequacy of the

description and figure given by the author.

Recently, by the courtesy of Prof. A. Skorikow, | have examined

the rich material of Gordiide in the possession of the Zoological

Museum of the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg.

In this material I have found a female worm from Ceylon

belonging to the genus Chordodes.

* Translated from Prof. Camerano’s report entitled “Gordii di Ceylan” in

Boll. Mus. Torino, Vol. XVIII., No, 438, March 9, 1903.

The Gordiide are very long threadworms (Nemathelminthes) with smooth

round body covered by a glistening cuticle in which no structure is discernible,

without close examination. They are semi-aquatic and semi-parasitic, being

found during certain phases of their life-history in water and moist earth and at

other periods parasitic in the body of aquatic larve and carnivorous insects.

+L. Camerano, Monografia dei Gordii, Mem, Ac. Torino, Ser. 2, Vol. XLVII,

1397.

GORDIANS OF CEYLON. 35

The specimen is incomplete, since it lacks the posterior part of

the body; but from the examination of the structure of the

external layer of the cuticle, it seemed to me to belong to an

undescribed species. As such I have described it under the name

Chordodes Skorikowi. The description, now in the Press, is

included in the report relating to the above-mentioned collection,

to be published in the “Annuaire du Musée Zoologique de

lV Académie Impériale des Sciences de St. Pétersbourg.”

The specimens which I have received from Dr. Willey belong

to this same species, and as they are uninjured I am able to fill up

the gaps which were inevitable in the original description.

1. Female. [Collected by J. H. Leak, Esq., C.C.S., Kurunegala. ]

Total length 355 mm. [rather more than 14 inches].

Maximum width 2 mm. ;

2. Female from Kandy, taken in the act of issuing from the

body of a species of Mantis. Collected by E. E. Green, May, 1902.

Total length 340 mm.

Maximum width 2 mm.

The colour [in spirit] is pale brown, whitish at the extremities

of the body. The form is that which is characteristic of the

females of Chordodes.

The outer cuticular layer presents :—

(1) Mulberry-shaped areole with not very prominent. tuber-

cular protuberances, of pale yellowish-brown colour.

(2) Papillary areole like the preceding, sometimes rather larger,

more pronounced and darker, scattered here and there, frequently

united in couples.

(3) Papillary areole like the preceding, which are produced at

the apex into a delicate refringent process, slightly recurved.

(4) Papillary areolz like those of the second category, disposed

in groups of seven, eight, or ten around two larger papille,

crowned at the summit with transparent hairs. Those placed along

the median ventral line show tufts of long transparent processes.

(5) Here and there, more especially on each side of the median

ventral line, are to be noticed spiniform transparent processes, of

roughly conical shape, not curved at the apex.

36 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

NOTES ON THE HABITS OF THE

GREEN WHIP-SNAKE (Dryophis mycterizans, Daud.)

IN CAPTIVITY.

By E. ERNEST GREEN, F.E.S.,

Government. Entomologist, Ceylon.

OULENGER (Faun. Brit. Ind. “ Reptilia and Batrachia,” p. 369)

records Dryophis fronticinctus and D. prasinus as being

ovoviviparous, but no mention is made of the breeding habit of

the other Indian species. I find that D. mycterizans is also

ovoviviparous. One of these snakes gave birth to five living young

in my vivarium on the 16th and 17th of April. The fifth was

hampered by the egg-membrane and died two days later. The

newly-born snakes measured 350 mm. from snout to tip of tail,

and were of a pale olive green colour above, whitish’below. They

at first kept together, in an apparently tangled mass, amongst the

branches of the plant. On the eighth day they all shed a skin and

appeared in brighter tints, and were more independent in their

movements. I am not sure whether they have taken any food or

not. I have supplied them with young grasshoppers and other

small insects, but have never observed them to take any interest

in these insects. Boulenger mentions insects as the food of

D. prasinus in early age.

The parent is quite tame, and allows itself to be handled freely

without objection. It feeds readily upon young lizards of the

genus Calotes and upon Geckonide. Its manner of capturing its

prey is invariable. When a lizard is introduced into the cage the

snake slowly frees the forepart of its body and coils itself in a

zigzag fashion. Then, suddenly darting forward, it seizes the

victim unerringly just behind the head, drags it from its support,

and keeps it dangling without shifting its hold, but gradually

tightening its grip, until the lizard is suffocated. This process

may take perhaps 20 minutes in the case of a Calotes. The

snake never commences to swallow its prey until all signs of life

have ceased.

This Dryophis has moulted some four or five times during the

six months that it has been in captivity. Sometimes the ecdysis

has been more or less fragmentary. The skin of the head and neck

NOTES ON THE HABITS OF THE GREEN WHIP-SNAKE. 37

is first shed in a single piece, The remainder comes away in small

fragments during the next few weeks. Patches of the earlier skin

may even remain until the next moulting period. This failure

to completely to divest itself is probably due to the unnatural

conditions of captivity.

The Tamil name for the Dryophis is ‘“ kannu-kuttu pambu”

(literally, the “ eye-stabbing snake’’), and the natives believe that

it strikes at the eyes of persons or cattle.* It is curious that this

same myth recurs with regard to the American whip-snakes.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, in his novel “ Elsie Venner,” speaking of

American snakes, writes :—“ ‘here is something frightful in the

disposition of certain ophidians, as the whip-snake, which darts

at the eyes of cattle without any apparent provocation or other

motive.” Ido not know whether the American whip-snakes are

allied to the Indian forms or not. Boulenger states that the

genus Dryophis is confined to the East Indies. As regards

Dryophis, I think that the native name must have been suggested,

partly by the lance-like form of the head, and partly by its habit of

coilingitself and facing any intruder upon its privacy—apparently

following every movement of his eyes. When pressed, it will

strike out blindly, often in the direction of the face of its opponent ;

but seemingly more with the object of scaring than of attacking

its assailant,

Fig, 14.—Head of Dryophis mycterizans in side view, showing the horizontal

pupil of the eye and the rostral lobe. Natural size.

(* The Sinhalese name for this snake is ehetulla or esgulla (ehe, plural es=eye).

The belief that it deliberately strikes at the eye is also common in India, and a

curious confirmation has been published by Mr. Frank Finn. (Note on the Long-

snouted Whip-snake, Dryophis mycterizans, by F. Finn, B.A., F.Z.S., Deputy

Superintendent, Indian Museum. J. Asiat. Soc., Bengal, vol. LXVII., 1898, pp.

66 and 67). ;

Mr. Finn tells us that he was holding a couple of these snakes in his hands,

knowing them to be harmless, when the larger specimen suddenly darted at his

eye inflicting a bite, which resulted in some small punctures on the eyelids, two

on the upper and one on the lower eyelid. On rubbing his eye a few hours later

Mr. Finn removed a tooth about 1/20 inch long from the puncture in the lower

eyelid.—Ed. |

35 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA,.

NOTES AND REVIEWS.

1. Crystalline Rocks of Ceylon.—Mr. A. K. Coomaraswamy, the

newly appointed Government Mineralogist, has published an

important series of papers relating to the Geology of Ceylon, more

especially concerning the crystalline limestones and gneisses.

One of the general conclusions to which the author’s researches

have led him is this, that the crystalline limestones which are

found associated with the gneisses are probably of igneous origin,

not sedimentary.

The following is a list of the papers referred to :—

(1) Origin of the Crystalline Limestones of Ceylon. Geol.

Mag. Decade IV., Vol. IX., No. 458, p. 375. August,

1902.

(2) The Crystalline Limestones of Ceylon. Quart. Journ.

Geol. Soc., Vol. LVIII., 1902, pp. 399-422, pls. XIII.

and XIV.

(3) The Point de Galle Group (Ceylon): Wollastonite-Scapo-

lite Gneisses. Jbid., pp. 680-689, pl. XXXIV., Map.

(4) Serendibite, a new Borosilicate from Ceylon, by G. T.

Prior and A. K. Coomaraswamy. Mineralogical

Magazine, Vol. XIII., No. 61, pp. 224-227, 1903.

2. Zoological Gardens.—In view of the rumours which have

been circulating during the past twelve months or so regarding

the establishment of Zoological Gardens in Colombo, it is interest-

ing to read the “Report for the Year 1902” (Fourth Annual

Report), by Captain Stanley S. Flower, Director of the Zoological

Gardens at Giza, near Cairo, published by the Government of

Egypt Public Works Department, Cairo, 1903.

During the five years 1898-1902 these Gardens have made

extraordinary advances in the number of animals kept in captivity

and in the erection of houses, paddocks, and cages to receive them.

The total number of animals (Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, and

Batrachians) alive in the Gardens on 6th October, 1898, was 270;

on the same date in 1902 the number was 923.

The animals which are maintained in the Gardens are chiefly

Central African species, including several examples of one of the

NOTES AND REVIEWS. 39

most peculiarand rare of the Central African birds, the shoebill or

whale-headed stork, Balaeniceps rex.

“During 1902,” we are told on page 17 of Captain Flower’s

Report, “the staff of the Giza Zoological Gardens were entrusted

with bringing ninety live animals from the Soudan to Giza, includ-

ing specimens for H. H. the Khedive, and certain foreign Zoological

Gardens. These animals were :—

10 Lions. 18 Smaller Mammals.

4 Leopards. 5 Secretary Birds.

7 Cheetahs. 3 Shoebills.

4 Giraffes. 17 Storks, Cranes, Geese, &e.

11 Antelopes. | 7 Tortoises.

2 Nuer Cattle. 1 Crocodile.

1 Antbear (Orycteropus | ~

ceethiopicus). |

* Out of the ninety animals eighty-eight reached Giza in safety.

The only accidents on the journey were the loss of a fine young

male roan antelope and a gray crane, which had both been

purchased in Khartoum for the Giza Zoological Gardens, and which

both died suddenly near Berber on an exceptionally hot day in

May.”

The total number of deaths during 1902 was 196.

There would appear to be no definite reason why the grounds

near the Colombo Museum should not be utilized for the exhibi-

tion of the wild animals of Ceylon. The only mammals living at

the Museum at present are a Hog-deer, purchased at the beginning

of the year; a young Sambur doe, presented by the Hon. C. A.

Murray in May; four Lemurs, including a female carrying its

young (since dead), purchased in May; and finally a young por-

cupine.

3. Marine Biological Laboratory at Galle-—\t may be hoped

that the small though effective laboratory at Galle, which has served

Mr. James Hornell for the last twelve months as a base for his

researches into the life-history of the pearl oyster and the nature

of pearls, will survive the close of this year’s fishery and form the

nucleus of a permanent biological station in the Island.

Marine biological stations or observatories are dotted all over the

world, for example, in Italy, France, England, Scotland, Norway,

United States, and Japan. The prototype of all is the Stazione

Zoologica at Naples, the creation of Dr. Anton Dohrn. The success

of all these stations depends at least as much on individual enthu-

siasm as on Government support,

G | 25-03

40 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

The circumstances which led Professor Herdman and Mr.

Hornell to fix upon Galle as the site for a Biological Station are

described by Professor Herdman in his Preliminary Report on the

Pearl Fisheries of Ceylon addressed to His Excellency the Lieu-

tenant-Governor on lst July, 1902.

“ Galle,” writes Professor Herdman, “‘ seemed to us, after a careful

investigation lasting over five days, to be without doubt the most

suitable point on the coast of Ceylon for the establishment of a

Marine Laboratory and the prosecution of observations and experi-

ments on living oysters. Galle has a fringing coral reef round its

western shore, inside which is in places a shallow lagoon with

a hard bottom, formed partly of living animals and partly of dead

coral fragments, making a deposit very like that on some of the

‘Paars’ at Mannar. At the opposite or south-eastern part of the

bay, inside Watering Point, there is also some hard ground formed

in part of coral, and at this spot we actually found the pearl oyster

living.”

The “ Sixteenth Annual Report of the Liverpool Marine Biology

Committee,” edited by Professor Herdman (Liverpool, 1902,70 pp.),

contains an illustrated account of the new Biological Station at

Port Erin, Isle of Man. The Liverpool Marine Biology Com-

mittee isa Committee consisting of local naturalists from Liverpool

and neighbouring towns; it was formed in 1885 at a meeting

summoned for the purpose by Professor Herdman.

In 1887 a small biological station was set up on Puffin Island

off the north coast of Anglesey. This was transferred in 1892 to

Port Erin Bay on the southern coast of the Isle of Man. At this

place a three-roomed Biological Station was built and formally

opened for work by Sir Spencer Walpole, the Governor of the

Island. In 1893 an Aquarium was added to the establishment, and

later on sea-fish hatching was undertaken. In 1898 an alliance

was formed between a Committee appointed by the Manx Govern-

ment and the Liverpool Marine Biology Committee, with the

result that three years later a much larger building representing a

combined Biological Station, Aquarium, and Fish Hatchery was

erected. Of the three Departments, the Laboratory block is con-

trolled by the Liverpool Marine Biology Committee, the Hatchery

block by the Manx Committee, and the Aquarium in the centre

is managed as a joint concern.

With regard to Ceylon it may be added that Professor Herdman

has, in a private letter, called attention to the advantages likely to

result from co-operation between the Colombo Museum and the

Galle Laboratory in the event of the latter being made permanent,

NOTES AND REVIEWS. 4]

4. The Tea Tortrix.—The third number of the second volume

of the “ Circulars and Agricultural Journal of the Royal Botanic

Gardens, Ceylon,” issued in January, 1903 (pp. 33-45), contains a

full account of this tea pest by Mr. E. E. Green, Government

Entomologist. It was originally described by Nietner in 1861 as an

enemy of the coffee plant. Nietner named it Capua coffearia.

Instructions are given for fighting this disease of the tea in all

its stages of egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and moth. The eggs are

deposited on the upper side of the mature tea leaves in compact

masses of about 250. The eggs are disc-shaped objects, pale yellow,

“‘ overlapping each other like the scales of a fish, the whole mass

coated with a varnish-like film.”

Mr. Green’s article is especially noteworthy on account of the

admirable lithographic plate which illustrates it. The drawings

show all the points referred to in the text; they were executed

upon the stone by Mr. Green himself and printed at the Surveyor-

General’s Office.

5. Mosquitoes in Ceylon.—Among the collateral achievements

resulting from the brilliant discoveries of Ross and Grassi, which

have established the truth of the Mosquito Theory of Malaria, the

Monograph of the Culicide or Mosquitoes of the British Museum

by Mr. F. V. Theobald (London, 1901) occupies a prominent

position. This work consists of two volumes of text and one volume

of coloured plates. In consideration of its size and importance

it was produced in a remarkably short space of time.

The twenty-fifth Circular of the first series of the Royal Botanic

Gardens, Ceylon, issued in December: 1901 (pp. 346-368), ‘and

entitled Mosquitoes and Malaria, by Mr. EK. E. Green, concludes

with a list of twenty species said to occur in Ceylon. Many of

these were specially identified by Mr. Theobald during the pre-

paration of his Monograph. Others, however, such as Stegomyia

pseudoteniata and Armigeres ventralis (=A. obturbans) are not

recorded from Ceylon in Mr. Theobald’s pages. There is thus

still room for a revision of the Culicidz of Ceylon.*

The dominant genera of Culicide are Culex with upwards of

125 species scattered over the world, and Anopheles with 44

species. Certain species of Anopheles are the intermediate hosts

* The classification of the Indian species of Anopheles has recently formed the

subject of a joint memoir by Drs. J. W. W. Stephens and 8. R. Christophers in

the seventh series of ‘“‘ Reports to the Malaria Committee of the Royal Society ”

(London, 1902), illustrated by four plates. This series also contains articles by the

same authors on the relation of species of Anopheles to Malarial Endemicity : and

a paper by Professor E. Ray Lankester “On a convenient Terminology for the

various Stages of the Malaria Parasite.”

42 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

for the malaria parasite and the vehicles by which the germ is

carried from one human subject to another.

Mr. Green, in the article referred to above, tabulates the principal

differences between

manner -—

CULEX.

Eggs agglutinated into raft-like

masses. Each egg placed vertically.

Larva with long breathing tube

at [hinder] end of body. ° Floats

head downwards.

Adult insect [female] with palpi

much shorter than proboscis. Wings

usually clear and colourless. Rests

Culex and Anopheles in

the following

ANOPHELES.

Eggs separate, floating horizon-

tally.

Larva without prominent breath-

ing tube. Floats horizontally.

Adult insect with palpi as long as

proboscis. Wings usually spotted

or clouded, Tilts the body at an

angle to the support.

with body parallel with support:

The accompanying sketches, drawn from life by Mr. Green, and

kindly lent by him for reproduction in this Journal, show the

characteristic attitudes of Culex (Armigeres) ventralis, Walker

Fig. 15), and Anopheles maculata, Theobald (Fig. 16).

Fig. 16.—Anopheles maculata, 2.

Fig. 15.— Culex ventralis, 2.

6. Mortality of Fishes in the Colombo Lake.-—About the 7th

April and the following two or three days the Colombo news-

papers announced the appearance of large numbers of dead fish of

all sizes, up to as much as 2 feet in length, on the banks of the

Colombo lake and floating on the surface. Various explanations

were suggested to account for this unusual mortality, the most

plausible being that which connected it with the sudden change in

the weather and the torrential rains which fell about that time.*

Mr. F. D. Jayasinba, Clerk of the Royal Asiatic Society and

Inspector of Watchers in the Museum, states that when on a visit

to the village of Akurala in Madampe at Easter he ascertained that.

a similar phenomenon had been observed on 10th April in the

canal which crosses the village. He was told that the fish were

seen floating oa the surface of the water in an intoxicated state and

were collected Ly the villagers in hand nets. On questioning them

as to the cause ot this, Mr. Jayasinha was informed that it was

* 1:77 inch in Colombo on April 6th.

NOTES AND REVIEWS. AS

nothing new, but had been experienced on many previous occasions,

that, in fact, it always happens so in stagnant lagoons, canals, and

pools when rain falls in abundance after long seasons of

drought.

Mr. Jayasinha thinks that this explanation is probably correct,

because the fishes in the Madampe-oya, which enters the sea at

Ambalangoda, have not suffered any such calamity. The canal

referred to above cuts across Madampe, approaching the sea at

Akurala at the 56th milepost on the road to Galle. The canal is

not always flowing, as the mouth becomes blocked by sandbanks

and the water is therefore stagnant until the mouth is cleared by

the villagers to let out the water after heavy rainfall. The canal

was cut by Government for the purpose of draining the neighbour-

ing country during floods. It abounds in fishes of various

sorts.

It is of course well known that many fishes are highly susceptible

to sudden changes both of temperature and salinity, and the access

of a large body of rain water would affect both, but especially the

salinity, and might very well exert a toxic action upon the inhabi-

tants which had become accustomed to the special conditions of

stagnant water.

The incident reminds one of an analogous event which happened

off the coast of New England, United States of America, in the year

1882. The following extracts from an article by Mr. F. A. Lucas,*

published in the Report of the National Museum, 1889, may serve

indirectly to throw light upon a matter which has mystified the

Municipal authorities of Colombo :—

In the months of March and April, 1882, vessels arriving at Philadelphia,

New York, and Boston reported having passed large numbers of dead or

dying fish scattered over an area of many miles, and from descriptions and

the occasional specimens brought in it was evident that the great majority

of these were tile fish (Lopholatilus chameleonticeps, Goode and Bean).

ene As one account after another came in it became apparent that a vast

destruction of fish had taken place, for vessels reported having sailed for 40,

50, and 60 miles through floating fish............ As there were no signs of any

disease, and no parasites found on the fish brought in for examination, their

death could not have been brought about by either of these causes.........

Professor Verrill has noted the occurrence of a strip of water, having

a temperature of 48° to 50° Fahr., lying on the border of the Gulf Stream

slope, sandwiched in between the Arctic current on the one hand and the cold

depths of the sea on the other. During 1880 and 1881 Professor Verrill

dredged along the Gulf Stream slope, obtaining in this warm belt, as he terms

it, many species of invertebrates characteristic of more southern localities. In

1882 the same species were scarce or totally absent from places where they

* Lucas. F. A., “Animals recently extinct or threatened with extermination.

as represented in the collections of the United States National Museum,” Rep.

Nat. Mus. (Smithsonian Reports), 1889, see p. 647.

44 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

had previously been abundant, and this, taken in connection with the occur-

rence of heavy northerly gales and the presence of much inshore ice at the

north, leaves little doubt that some unusual lowering of temperature in the

warm belt brought immediate death to many of its inhabitants.

From analogy and from the known facts of the case it therefore

seems possible that the fishes of the Colombo lake met their death

in consequence of the recent sudden alteration of meteorological

conditions. Unfortunately no specimens found their way to the

Museum, so that it is impossible to say what families, genera, or

species were most affected. This is the more to be regretted,

because the identification of the fishes would have rendered it

possible to put forward a more definite explanation of the

occurrence, and at the same time would have afforded useful

information for fishery purposes. In this connection it may be

pointed out that one of the chief objects of this journal is to

preserve exact and authoritative records of vital phenomena for

future guidance and reference.

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ENTOZOA- SHIPLEY

SOME PARASITES FROM CEYLON. 45

SOME PARASITES FROM CEYLON.

By ARTHUR E. SHIPLEY, M.A.,

Fellow and Tutor of Christ’s College, Cambridge, and Unwersity Lecturer

on the Advanced Morphology of the. Invertebrata.

With Plate I.

“Nature is, of course, wonderful in all her works—in some even admirable

—whilst there are others, such as the hippopotamus and the tapeworm, in

which she can hardly be said to have attained more than a swcecés d’estime.”

H. R. T., Camb. Rev., 1902, p. 216.

HE following is an account of a small collection of Entozoa

composed of specimens in the Museum at Colombo, and of

some others quite recently taken in different parts of Ceylon.

The collection is a very varied one, and, with the exception of the

Gordian worms, all the large groups which lead a primarily

entozoic life are represented. Protozoa in the form of Sporozoa,

Trematoda, Cestoda, Nematoda, Acanthocephala, Linguatulida,

all are there.

I owe many words of gratitude to Dr. Von Linstow, Professor

A. Railliet, and Professor O. Fuhrmann, who have helped me in

certain provinces which they have made peculiarly their own.

Indeed their patient responses to my much importunity have led

me to the conviction that parasitologists are amongst the most

good-natured and helpful of men. To my friend Dr. A. Willey,

Director of the Colombo Museum, I am indebted for the oppor-

tunity of describing the collection.

PROTOZOA.

Class: SPOROZOA.

Order : SARCOSPORIDIA, Balbiani.

SAROCOCYSTIS TENELLA, Railliet.

Pl. I., figs. 10 and 17.

Four specimens of a dirty gray colour outwardly, somewhat

resembling proglottides of Cestoda, arrived with the collection

from Ceylon. These were labelled “Found in piece of beef

killed forfood. Can migrate and go out of sight into the muscle.”*

* These specimens were collected and presented to the Museum by G. W.

Sturgess. Esq., M.R,C.V.S., Colonial Veterinary Surgeon,

q 25-03

46 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

I was quite unable to identify these organisms, never having seen

anything like them, but Professor Railliet of Alfort, to whom I

sent them, recognized them at once as specimens of Sarcocystis,

one of the order Sarcosporidia, which Braun* places as the sixth

and last order of the class Sporozoa, whilst Wasiliewskif places

it as an appendix to the class.

The organisms were somewhat pointed, though not very sharply,

at either end. One or two ends were truncated. The largest of

them measured 30 mm. in length, 5 mm. in breadth, and 3 mm.

in thickness, the thickest part being in the middle line.

_ In transverse section the animal is seen to consist of a number

of polyhedral chambers with granular contents. The peripheral

chambers were completely full, stained deeply, and showed a very

fine granulation, like that of protoplasm. The central chamb@rs

were in some cases empty or almostempty. The others contained

small corpuscles, which I take to be spores, but the state of preser-

vation did not permit of certainty on this point. The outer

coating consists of two sheaths, an outer one which is a continuous

coating, and an inner one directly continuous with the partitions

which divide one chamber from the next. Close under the

coating in some places can be seen a few smaller chambers, but

these may be simply the narrow ends of some of the others. The

partitions between the chambers look like connective tissue. I

am inclined to consider that this species is Sarcocystis tenella,

Railliet.

It is just sixty years since Von Mieschert first described

certain white cylindrical bodies lying in the voluntary muscles of

the house-mouse, and since that date numerous other observers

have described similar bodies lying in the muscles, and more

rarely in the connective tissue, of mammals, birds, and reptiles.

Nothing is definitely known as to the means by which the various

hosts—many of which are confined to a vegetable diet—become

infected. ‘he parasite seems to first appear as a cell-parasite

within a muscle-cell, which retains its striation and seems but

slightly affected. The nucleus of the Sarcocystis then undergoes

division, and we find later a poly-nucleated organism which

gradually breaks up into a corresponding number of chambers.

The nuclei and protoplasm of these chambers then break up into

an enormous number of minute spores, often sickle-shaped, some

of which have been described as having two flagella at one end or

one flagellum at eachend. The fate of these spores or sporozoites is

varied, and not very definitely known. Some undoubtedly fail to

* “Die thierischen Parasiten des Menschen.” Wiirzburg, 1903.

} “Sporozoenkunde,” Jena, 1896.

} Verh. Ges. Basel. v., 1843, p. 198.

SOME PARASITES FROM CEYLON. 47

develop further, because the whole animal—as so often happens

in the case of T'richina spiralis—becomes calcified. Some obser-

vers think that under happier circumstances the sickle-shaped

spores become amceboid and wandering into neighbouring muscle-

cells re-start the infection, but the matter is not clear, and a still

greater mystery surrounds the first entrance of the parasite into

its host.

TREMATODA.

Family : PARAMPHISTOMID®, Fischoeder.

PARAMPHISTOMUM BATHYCOTYLE, Fischoeder.

Pl, L., figs. 14, 14a, and 140.

In his recent revision* of the Amphistomide Montic.—a

family name he replaces by Paramphistomide—Fischoeder de-

scribes amongst the genus Paramphistomum (= Amphistoma,

Rud.) a new species P. bathycotyle found in a Bos kerabau brought

from Ceylon to the Zoological Gardens at KéGnigsberg. Dr. Willey

has sent me a considerable collection of parasites which belong to

the same species. These were taken from the stomach of Cervus

axis, the spotted deer, shot at Weligatta.T

I have figured the outlines of several specimens, from which

it will be seen that the various diameters of the body vary

considerably.

CESTODA.

Family : BOTHRIOCEPHALIDA.

Sub-Family : DIBOTHRIOCEPHALINZA.

DUTHIERSIA FIMBRIATA, Dies., 1854.

Pl. L., figs. 1 to 3.

Synonyms: Bothridium du Varan du Nil. Gaz. méd. Paris,

20e Année (3) V., 1849, p. 119.

Solenophorus fimbriatus, Diesing, S.B. Ak. Wien. XIII., 1854,

p. 596.

Duthiersia expansa, K. Perrier, Arch. Zool. exp. II., 1873, p. 359.

Duthiersia elegans, E. Perrier, ibid., p. 360.

Duthiersia fimbriata, Diesing. Monticelli and Crety, Mem. Aee:

Torino. Ser. 2. XLI., 1891.

Duthiersia fimbriata, Dies. Liithe, Verh. Deutsch. Zool. Ges.,

1899.

The genus of tapeworm was carefully described by Edmond

Perriert in 1873. His specimens came from a “ Varan a deux

* Zool. Anz. XXIV., 1901, p. 367, Die Paramphistomiden der Saiugethiere Inaug.

Diss. Konigsberg, 1902, and Zool. Jahrb. Syst. XVII., 1903, p. 485.

+ The same parasites occur in the country goat and in the sambur.

t Arch. Zool. exp. IL., 1873. p. 349.

48 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

bandes ” living in the Moluccas and from a “ Varan du Nil” from

Senegal, and he distinguished two species Duthiersia expansa from

the first-named host and Duthiersia elegans from the other. Later

writers however recognize but one species.

Some of the specimens sent me by Dr. Willey were taken from

the duodenum and intestine of Varanus salvator taken at Horana,

others from the duodenum of V. bengalensis taken at Bolgoda.

In the article by Monticelli and Crety quoted above, the authors

place this genus with Solenophorus ina sub-family Solenophorine ;

on the other hand Liihe (and Braun in his Cestodes* follows

Liihe) places Duthiersia with Dibothriocephalus, Scyphocephalus,

Bothridium, Diplogonoporus, and Pyramicocephalus, in the sub-

family Dibothriocephaline of the family Bothriocephalide.

Liihe remarks: ‘Die bisher angenommene feine hintere

Oeffnung der angeblich trichterf6rmige Saugorgane istan den von

mir untersuchten Exemplaren des Berliner Museum nicht vor-

handen, sie muss daher an der Pariser Exemplaren ein durch die

Sonde hervorgerufenes Kunstprodukt sein. Die von Crety und

Monticelli gebildete Unterfamilie Solenophorina (sic) verliert

durch diesen Nachweis ihre Existenzberechtigung.”

I have made two series of sections through the heads of two

specimens of D. fimbriata,—all I could sacrifice to the knife,—and

each of these series of sections, one of which was cut in the

longitudinal vertical and the other in the longitudinal horizontal

plane, shows the pore originally described by E. Perrier, opening

posteriorly from each bothrium on to the outside.

The pore is truly very small, and if the section be in the plane

of the narrow tube it scarcely occupies more than one section, but

if it be cut obliquely it extends into three or four sections. It is

much smaller in the Ceylon specimens than one would have

expected from Perrier’s illustrations, but it is most certainly

there. The walls of the bothria are well supplied with large

water-vascular trunks, which, when full, may give a certain

tensity and rigidity to the organ. The nerve supply is also

conspicuous,

BOTHRIDIUM PYTHONIS, Blainv.t

Pl. 1., figs. 11 to 13 and figs. 15 and 16.

Synonyms: Prodicelia ditrema, Lebl. Atlas to the work

mentioned in the note f at the foot of the page.

Bothridium laticeps, Duvern. Ann. Sci., nat. XXX., 1833.

* Bronn’s “ Thier-reich,” 1900, p. 1689.

} Bremser “Traité zoologique et physiologique sur les vers intestinaux de

l'homme” trad. par Grundler ; revu et augmenté des notes par M. de Blainville.

Paris, 1824.

SOME PARASITES FROM CEYLON. 49

Solenophorus megalocephalus and S. grandis, Creplin, Ersch and

Gruber’s Ency. d. Wiss.u. Kunst. Leipzig, 1839. See also Rohoz,

Zeitschr. wiss. Zool. XX XVILI., 1882; Griesbach, Arch. mikr. Anat.

XXII., 1883 ; Crety Atti. Acc. Lincei. Ser. 4, VI., 1890 ; Monticelli

and Crety, Mem. Acc. Torino. Ser. 2, XLI., 1891 ; and Cohn, Zool.

Jahrb. Anat. XII., 1896.

Bothridium pythonis, Blainv. Bronn’s Thier-reich, Cestodes,

1894-1900 ; and Liihe, Verh. Deutsch. Zool. Ges., 1899.

Dr. Willey’s specimens were very numerous, many were free,

and again many were still attached to a piece of the wall of the

duodenum of their host, a Python molurus taken at Weligatta, in

the Southern Province of Ceylon. The same snake was also

infested by a Nematode, probably Ascaris rubicunda, and by a

Pentastoma, Porocephalus moniliformis, both found in the left

lung.

Family : TA@NIIDA.

Sub-Family : TETRABOTHRIINA.

TETRABOTHRIUS EROSTRIS, Lonnbg.

Synonyms: Bothridiotenia erostris, Loénnbg. Ergebnisse der

Hamburger Magalhensischen Sammelreise f., Lief, 1896.

Prosthecocotyle erostris, Fuhrmann. Zool. Anz. XXI., 1898, p.

385, and Centrbl. Bakter. I., Abth. XXV., 1899, p. 871.

These specimens were removed from a tern or sea swallow,

Sterna bergii, shot on the Negombo lake in Angust, 1902. This

bird ranges from east and south-west Africa to Japan and Polynesia.

Sub-Family : THNIINA.

The three species of this sub-family represented in the collection

have been described by Dr. Von Linstow,* and the subjoined

account is an abstract of his article which I have thought well to

add, so as to make this account of the collection of parasites of

Ceylon sent to me as complete as possible.

TANIA POLYCALCARIA, Von Linstow.

Piet, fiers:

Length 108 mm., breadth anteriorly 1°5 mm., posteriorly 6°71

mm. The genital pores are irregularly placed on one edge or the

other of the proglottides. The single lateral longitudinal vessel

runs in the second and fifth sixth of the transverse diameter.

The proglottides were all immature, the reproductive organs

* Centrbl. Bakter. XXXIII.. 1903, p. 532.

50 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

undeveloped, and only the primordium of the testis and the genital

sinus is recognizable. ‘The central portion is separated from the

peripheral by a dorsal and ventral broad band of transverse muscles.

The calcareous bodies are closely packed and exceptionally

numerous.

Since the reproductive elements are undeveloped the hooks on

the rostellum demand especial attention as specific characters.

There are two rows of 19 hooks, measuringin length 0:238 mm. or

0:158 mm. These are straight with the short handle obliquely

placed to the main axis; in the large hooks it is about in the

middle, in the small hooks a little behind the middle and unsplit.

Amongst the cestodes living in allied carnivores the species

belonging to the genera Vesocestoides and Dipylidiwm may be left

out of account; Tania oligarthra, Diesing, like Tenia echino-

coccus v., Sieb, consists of but 3-4 small proglottides. Tania

laticollis, Rud., has only one row of hooks. There remain for

comparison Tenia novella, Neumann ; Tenia serrata, Goeze ; and

Tenia crassicollis, Rudolphi.

Tenia novella, Neumann, has two rows of 20-21 hooks, which

measure 0°25-0°26 mm. and 0°150-0°155 mm. The handle has its

end directed towards the hook-end, and in the smaller hooks the

root is much shorter than the hook-end and bent backward. The

handle is split. |

Tenia serrata, Goeze, hastworows of 17-24 hooks. The large

ones measure 0:225-0:250 mm., the smaller 0°120-0°160 mm.

The handle arises far in front of the middle in the large forms,

but behind the middle in the small forms where it is split.

Tenia crassicollis, Rud., has two rows of 13-26 hooks, which

measure 0°38-0:42 and 0:25-0:27 mm. respectively. The handle is

stout and directed towards the point. It is situated behind the

middle in the small hooks. Whilst these hooks are much larger

than those of the new species they are much smaller than those of

Tenia cenurus, Rud.

Habitat : The intestine of Felis pardus. The stomach of this

leopard contained monkey’s hair. The host was shot between

Wirawila and Tissa, in the Southern Province of Ceylon.

TAINIA MAGANDER, Von Linstow.

Pill, ess O: bOWds

This tapeworm measured 18°2 mm. in length, 0°12 mm. breadth

anteriorly and 0°99 mm. posteriorly. The maximum breadth is

that of the proglottides a little behind the middle, where they are

1-42 mm.broad and 0:12 mm. long. All the proglottides are very

short. The genital pores are on the edge and are unilateral.

SOME PARASITES FROM CEYLON. He

The scolex is 0°13 mm. broad, the rostellum 0:062 mm. The

latter bears about one-third from its anterior end a circlet of

24 hooks, each 0°0091 mm.in length. The suckers are oval with the

longer axis longitudinal. They are 0:078 mm. longand 0:047 mm.

broad. The cuticle is 0°0025 mm. thick, and beneath it lie two

layers of longitudinal muscles, the external layer consisting of

bundles of 2-3 fibrils, the internal of bundles of 6-8 fibrils. About

twenty testicular follicles can be seen in each transverse

section. The cirrus-sac is small and pear-shaped, the receptaculum

seminis reaches almost to the middle of the transverse section ;

the yolk gland lies about in the centre of the segment, near it

lies the small shell gland ; the ovary lies in the central substance

and consists of a number of groups of glands which spread

out most on the side which does not bear the genital pores; the

ova are 0°0J3 mm. in diameter.

No calcareous bodies are found. Two longitudinal excretory

canals run along each side; one of them is markedly coiled.

The eggs are oval, 0°052 mm. long and 0:042 mm. broad.

The spherical onchosphere is 0°026 mm. in diameter, its outer

capsule is beset with irregular tubercles.

Habitat: From the intestine of Schneider’s leaf-nosed bat,

Hipposideris speoris, Kalpitiya, Ceylon.

ACANTHOTANIA SHIPLEYI, Von Linstow.

Pl. I., figs. 8 and 9.

Only one specimen, a microscopic preparation, was available,

and thus transverse sections could not be prepared. The tape-

worm was 13°8 mm. long and anteriorly 0°11 mm. broad, pos-

teriorly 0:49 mm. in breadth. The segmentation into proglottides

is not shown at all anteriorly, and but slightly shown posteriorly.

It is only indicated by the position of the reproductive organs.

Posteriorly the proglottides are 0°97 mm. long and 0°49 mm.

broad. The genital pores are irregularly placed in the centre of

the proglottis edge.

The scolex is 0°24 mm. long, behind 0°18 mm. broad. The

rostellum is 0°12 mm. long and 0:10 mm. broad. The cuticle of

the whole scolex and of the body for a distance of 1:76 mm. is

beset with thickly-set fine bristles.

In each proglottis there are some fifty testes. The cirrus-sac

lies behind the vagina, and is crescentiform with the convexity

anterior. The vagina bends back ina sweep towards the middle of

the hind margin of the proglottis ; here lie the rounded yolk gland

and right and left a lobed ovary. ‘he subcuticular cells are very ~

powerfully developed. The eggs were not yet developed.

52 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

The diagnosis of this new genus is as follows :—The whole scolex

and the anterior body-cuticle is beset closely with fine bristles.

No hooks occur on the rostellum. Genital pores lateral, irre-

gularly alternating. About fifty testes in each proglottis. The

proglottis segmentation hardly recognizable externally.

Habitat: From the intestine of Varanus (Hydrosaurus)

salvator. Taken at Horana, Ceylon.

CYSTICERCI.

One bottle contained four or five cysticerci, varying in size

between a pea and a Lima bean. Before cutting these I had some

hope that they would throw some light on the life-history of

Bothridium pythonis, since they were taken from the peritoneum

of a Cervus axis, a host which falls not unfrequently a prey to

Python molurus. Sections, however, showed that we had to do

with a Tenia, with four well-developed suckers and a double

row of large hooks, twenty in each circle, alternating with one

another. Probably this cysticercus is the larval form of Tenia

marginata, which lives in the intestine of dogs and wolves.

NEMATODA.

ASCARIS RUBICUNDA ? Schneider.

In the same Python molurus whose duodenum was invested

with the Bothridium pythonis, Blainv., and in the same lung that

harboured the Porocephalus moniliformis, Diesing, was found

anematode. Dr. Von Linstow has been kind enough to examine

this specimen, and reports that it is immature and cannot be

accurately determined. Probably it belongs to the species

mentioned here.

ACANTHOCEPHALA.

ECHINORHYNCHUS ROTUNDATUS, Von Linstow.*

The specimens were numerous, some free, but many with their

proboscis sunk in the tissue of a piece of the intestinal wall of

the host, the jungle crow, Centropus sinensis. In no specimen

which I examined was the proboscis fully extended, always there

was an invagination which concealed some of the hooks.

This parasite was described five years ago by Von Linstow

from a Centropus madagascariensis taken in Madagascar. The

Sinhalese specimens came from a bird labelled Centropus

rufipennis,t Illiger, a species I have not been able to identify in

the British Mussum Catalogue.

* Arch. Naturg. 63 Jg., 1897, p. 33.

+ This is the name given to the Common Coucal or Crow-Pheasant (Aetti-

kukkula, Sinh.) in Captain Legye’s monograph, p. 260. For a discussion of the

synonyms and varieties of this bird Dr. W. 'T. Blanford’s Vol. III, Birds, Fauna

Brit. India, 1895, pp. 239-241, may be consulted.

SOME PARASITES FROM CEYLON.

GIGANTORHYNCHUS GIGAS (Goeze).

Five or six specimens of this parasite were taken from the

stomach of a Sus cristatus killed at Batulu-oya. Judging from

their size they were all males. The position of the parasite in the

host is worth remarking. These animals usually come to rest in

the small intestine, notably in the duodenum, but the specimens

in question were found in the stomach. The secondary host of

G. gigas is some species of beetle, most usually in Europe the

cockchafer, Melolontha vulgaris, but Cetonia aurata is also ineri-

minated. In North America the beetle Lachnosterna arcuata

and allied species harbour the younger stages of the Gigan-

lorhynchus.

LINGUATULIDA.

POROCEPHALUS MONILIFORMIS (Diesing).*

Synonym : Pentastoma moniliforme, Diesing. Denk. Ak. Wien.

Beit 1856, p. dl.

A single specimen was taken from the left lung of a Python

molurus, which also harboured the immature nematode, Ascaris

rubicunda (?) Schn. The duodenum of the same snake was

packed with the cestode, Bothridiwm pythonis, Blainv.

LIST OF PARASITES FROM CEYLON, WITH THEIR

RESPECTIVE HOSTS.

PARASITES. HOST, POSITION IN HOST.

PROTOZOA.

Sarcocystis tenella, Rail-

liet ..» Beef ... Amongst muscles.

PLATYHELMINTHES.

TREMATODA.

Paramphistomum bathy-

cotyle, Fisch. .. Cervus axis --- Stomach.

CESTODA.

Cysticercus ? w- Cervus axis ... Peritoneum.

Duthiersia fimbriata,

Dies. ... Varanus salvator Intestine and duo-

and V.bengalen- denum.

sis

Bothridium pythonis,

Blainv. ..- Python molurus... Duodenum.

* Shipley, Arch, parasit. I., 1898, p. 72.

I 25-03

54 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

PARASITES. ITOST. POSITION IN HOST.

Tetrabothrius erostris,

Lénnbg. .. Sterna bergii ..- Intestine.

Tenia polycalearia v.,

Lins. ... Felis pardus ... Intestine.

Tenia meander v., Lins. Hipposiderisspeoris Intestine.

Acanthotenia shipleyi v.,

Lins. .. Varanus salvator Intestine.

NEMATODA.

Ascaris rubicunda? Sch-

neider .» Python molurus ... Duodenum.

- ACANTHOCEPHALA.

Echinorhynchus rotunda-

tus v., Lins. ... Centropus rufipen- Intestine.

nis

Gigantorhynchus gigas,

Goeze ... Sus cristatus ... Stomach.

LINGUATULIDA,

Porocephalus moniliformis,

Dies. ... Python molurus ... Lung.

Zoological Laboratory, Cambridge,

May, 1903.

SOME PARASITES FROM CEYLON. 5D

EXPLANATION OF PLATE

Illustrating Mr, A. E. Shipley’s Article on “ Parasites from Ceylon.”

Fig. 1.—Duthiersia fimbriata, Dies. x 10.

Fig. 2—A longitudinal horizontal section, x about 10, through

the head of D. fimbriata, showing on the right side the anterior

and the posterior opening into the bothrium.

Fig. 3.—The head of D. fimbriata, x 10, viewed en face.

Fig. 4.—Large and small hooks from Tenia polycalcaria, Von

Lins. Slightly magnified. From Von Linstow.

Fig. 5.—Transverse section of 7. meander, Von Lins. Highly

magnified. c, cirrus-sac ; e,external bundles of muscles ; 7, inter-

nal bundles of muscles; Jv, lateral excretory canals ; n, nerve :

0, ovary; 7, receptaculum seminis: s, shell gland: ¢, testis;

v, vagina ; y, yolk gland. From Von Linstow.

Fig. 6.—Head of 7. meander, highly magnified. From Von

Linstow.

Fig. 7.—Hook from 7. meander, highly magnified. From Von

Linstow.

Fig. 8.—Head of Acanthotenia shipleyi, Von Lins. Showing

the bristles. Highly magnified. From Von Linstow.

Fig. 9.—Proglottis of Acanthotenia shipleyi, Von Lins. Magni,

fied. ¢, cirrus-sac ; d, yolk gland ; #, ovary ; /, testis ; v, vagina.

Fig. 10.—Four specimens of Sarcocystis tenella, Raill., x 1.

Fig, 11.—A portion of the duodenum of Python molwrus, with

specimens of Bothridium pythonis, Blainv., attached, x 12.

Fig. 12.—Head of B. pythonis, x 12.

Fig. 13.—Head of B. pythonis viewed en face, x 12.

Figs. 14, 14a, 14b.—Views of Paramphistomum bathycotyle,

Fisch., x 5, showing different sizes and outlines.

Fig. 15.—Longitudinal vertical section through the head of B.

pythonis, showing the anterior and posterior openings into a

bothrium, and the way in which the villi of the snake’s intestine

are surrounded by the bothrium, x 24.

Fig. 16.—A longitudinal horizontal section through the head of

B. pythonis, showing the posterior opening into one of the bothria

16:

Fig. 17.—A transverse section of Sarcocystis tenella, Raill.,

showing the chambers and the granular contents or spores. Highly

magnified.

56 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

A SKETCH OF THE CEYLON PEARL FISHERY OF 1903.

By EVERARD IM THURN, C.B., C.M.G.

T is difficult to imagine a more picturesque incident than the

“harvest of the sea,” when pearls are the crop gathered in.

The scene is in the shallow tropical sea which is shut in by

Ceylon on the east, the coast of Southern India on the west, and

on the north by “‘ Adam’s Bridge,” a reef partly just awash and

partly cropping up in the form of a chain of islands which connects

Ceylon with India. In the Gulf of Mannar thus formed it was

found at least some 300 years before Christ that there is an

abundant growth of pearl-producing mussels—locally called

oysters. The banks or “paars” on which these bivalves grow

lie from 5 to 10 fathoms below the surface of the water. Thither

for 2,000 years, when the rumour goes abroad that the harvest is

ripe, divers have come together from the Red Sea and the Persian

Gulf and the coasts of India, as well as from Ceylon itself, to

gather in the Orient pearls which have been distributed to adorn

stately men and beautiful women in many a function throughout

the civilized as well as the barbaric world.

The coast lands of Ceylon nearest to the oyster paars is for the

most part very sparsely inhabited, and, like the opposite coasts of

Southern India, consists chiefly of rolling sand plains, with here

and there a little coarse grass or low sparse vegetation or even

occasional scrubby jungle. For some mysterious and hitherto

unexplained reason this harvest of the sea has always been an

uncertain one, apt suddenly, and at any stage in its growth,

to disappear; and often it is many years before it re-appears.

At most times of the year, and sometimes for years together

when the oyster crop is known to have failed, the adjacent shore

is a desert in which a human being is rarely to be seen. But

nowadays, and throughout the past century, as each November

comes round, an official from Colombo visits the paars, takes up a

certain number of oysters from each, washes out the pearls, sub-

mits these and the facts connected with them to experts, and

the Ceylon Government thus decides whether or not there shall

be a fishery in the following March and April.

PEARL FISHERY OF 1903. BY

If the decision is in the affirmative preparations have to begin

at once. The fact that there is to be a fishery is made known

throughout India and the Eastern world, and even in Kurope.

This is done partly by the prosaic system of newspaper advertise-

ment, partly by that far more wonderful passing of the word

from man to man which, as is now well known, can carry news

across a continent with amazing speed. On land which is at the

moment a desert an elaborate set of temporary Government

buildings have to be erected for receiving and dealing with

many millions of oysters and their valuable if minute contents.

Court-houses, prisons, barracks, revenue offices, markets, residences

for the officials, streets of houses and shops for perhaps some

thirty thousand inhabitants, and a water supply for drinking

and bathing for these same people have to be arranged for.

Lastly but, in view of the dreadful possibility of the outbreak of |

plague and cholera, not least, there are elaborate hospitals to be

provided.

After an interval of eleven years it was announced at the end of

1902 that there would bea fishery in the following spring. The

difficulty of making the above-mentioned preparations in due time

vas enormously increased by the fact that so long an interval had

elapsed since the last fishery, and that so few persons were conver-

sant with what had to be done. Mr. Ievers, the Government

Agent of the Northern Province, and his immediate assistants

Messrs. Horsburgh and Denham were, however, equal to the

occasion; and when the time appointed for the commencement of

the fishery came, a complete temporary town had sprung as well

and minutely ordered as are most permanent towns.

A fleet of some 200 large fishing craft had gathered, and with

the help of an occasional steamer from Colombo had brought

together, chiefly from India but partly from Ceylon, a popu-

lation which during the course of the fishery varied from about

25,000 to perhaps 35,000 or 40,000 souls—men, women, and

children.

It was my great good luck to pay two visits of considerable

duration to the camp and, especially as I had had considerable

part in arranging for it, to see it thoroughly. Many men have

written and many others will write of thiscamp and of the Ceylon

pearl fishery generally, but I believe that I saw it from a point of

view peculiarly advantageous for seeing and understanding its

general effect ; and this is my sole excuse for acceding to the

request of my friend Dr. Willey that I should describe, as I saw

it, this great effort of recovery of spoil from the Ceylon deep in

Spolia Zeylanica,

5S SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

Another great advantage I had which has fallen to the lot of

few other officials, and certainly never before to a Lieutenant-

Governor with scientific leanings. On a suggestion made to me I

gladly provided for the supply of diving dressand apparatus ; and

these being on the spot my innate curiosity induced me on

several occasions to put on this dress and go down to visit the

paars and see for myself how the oysters grow. I believe that

Mr. Hornell, Captain Legge, and myself are probably almost the

first persons to make use of the diver’s dress for inspecting the

bottom of the sea for purely scientific purposes ; and some account

of my own experiences may be not without use.

I have roughed it in so many places and so many ways that

after the idea of myself going down had once suggested and com-

mended itself to me I do not think that any qualms or doubts

presented themselves. The sensation of being put into the dress

is at first certainly rather trying. The weight is of course

enormous and most oppressive, and I found that the operation of

screwing up of the rivets fastening the very heavy helmet on to

the rest of the dress was distinctly painful. Mr. Bartlett, pro-

fessional diver, who valetted me on this occasion, certainly did

his best to spare me as much inconvenience as possible. But a

few months later when I was at the Maldive Islands with H.M.S.

“ Highflyer” and, moved by a desire to see for myself the

wonderful coral forests and jungles and underwater cliffs of those

atolls, l again donned the diver’s dress, as supplied to His Majesty’s

ships, I found that both the weight and the painfulness of being

screwed up were considerably less. I am assured that the

equipment of the “ Highflyer” is identical with those used in

constructing the Colombo breakwater—it was one of these that I~

used at the pearl fishery ; but I am positive that for some reason

the “ Highflyer” dress caused me the less inconvenience, and if

any scientific man wishes to engage in the enterprise of deep sea

diving, I should strongly advise him before acquiring his dress

to consult the naval authorities.

The dress once donned and one’s heavily encumbered body once

got over the side of the ship and on to the ladder, the rest is easy.

All that is necessary is to keep one’s feet well down when descending

the ladder and until one is entirely under water. Neglect, or rather

ignorance of this precaution on one occasion brought me into

difficulties. Having seen the professional diver swing himself off

the ladder instead of first going patiently down to the lowest rung,

I thought I would do the same ; with the result that I fell on my

back into the water, and that the air distributed within the dress

instead of being forced gradually up from feet to head, as would

PEARL FISHERY OF 1903. 59

have been the case if I had gone down feet foremost, was forced

to the front of chest and legs and kept me kicking on my back on

the water.

After leaving the ladder feet downward pure passivity is to be

recommended until one reaches the bottom. My first depth was

9 fathoms, but it certainly seemed to me to take a very long time

to get down those 54 feet, and on the first occasion or two the

pain in my ears was intense. I was told that the slower I went

down the less acute would this pain be, but after various experi-

ments I have not been able to make up my mind whether the

longer endured but very slightly less acute pain is preferable

to the quicker, sharper sensation. The most surprising thing to

me was that as soon as the bottom was once reached all sensation

of pain ceased—it was perhaps overwhelmed by the undoubted

delight at the novelty of one’s sensations and to exasperation at the

small control one had at first over one’s movements under that

pressure of water. I could not by any effort keep my feet quite

firmly on to the ground; and each twitch which the man who

played Providence to me at the other end of the rope gave—

doubtless in his nervous anxiety to guide me aright—had the

unfortunate effect of throwing me over on to my back or my side

or my face. Finally I found that getting about on all fours was

the proceeding which gave me the greatest control over my own

movements.

The light was wonderfully good, as a full green twilight, and

I could distinctly see the ship 9 fathoms over my head. It is

curious that at the same depth in different parts of the sea the

quantity of the light varies considerably. This is probably due to

the greater or less quantity of matter floating in the water.

The bottom where I first went down was a sandy, slightly un-

dulating plain. Here and there at distances of a foot or so apart

were small groups of from six to a dozen oysters, each group

fastened by the byssus to a stone or piece of loose coral or dead

shell ; as far as I could see, no oysters were fastened to the actual

bottom. Scattered about among the oysters on the sand were

mushroom-shaped and other loose-growing corals, and here and

there was a branched coral fastened to the bottom. The fishes and

shrimps swam about utterly oblivious of one’s presence, especially

a lovely little ultramarine blue fish with a golden yellow tail. It

was somewhat exasperating to throw an oyster at a fish and to

find that the missile instead of going towards the fish dropped

languidly to one’s feet. Of big fish I hardly saw any, and of sea

snakes, generally very plentiful in those parts, I saw only one,

and that was while I was on my way down one day. Crabs were

60 SPOLIA ZEYLANICGA.

fairly abundant, and | came across a striking-looking—indeed

vicious-looking—animal of this sort (Rhinolambrus contrarius).

To one like myself who has as long as he can remember found

a peculiar joy in seeing Nature from new points of view, it is pure

delight to make one’s way along the bottom of the sea, picking up

shells, corals, starfish(very abundant),sea urchins,and a host of other

things which had always before been to one lifeless “ curiosities.”

One of my chief purposes in going down was to see the divers

actually at work. In but a few moments from leaving the ship

and the world to which I had long been accustomed I reached a

quite new world and, as it seemed, one apart from all other

human beings. Then from the gloom of the distance—it was

easier to see upwards than for any distance along the ground—

some big thing came rapidly towards one ; it might have been a

big fish, but as it came quickly nearer it proved to be a naked

Arab swimming gently but rapidly towards me, his rope between

his toes, and his hands and arms rapidly sweeping oysters into

the basket which hung round his neck. I tried to speak,

forgetting that my head was buried in my helmet, but he glided

close past me without taking any more notice of me than did

the fish. He had perhaps thirty to forty oysters in his basket

by that time. But his time was up—after all he could only stay

down from 50 to 80 seconds, while I without inconvenience could

stop down for half an hour. In an instant he had changed from a

swimming to a standing position, and he was rapidly hauled up

from me towards heaven, his feet being the last part to disappear,

AsI gazed up after him something dark came down through

the water and nearly hit me. It was a stone at the end of a rope

thrown down for another diver. It was a warning that I had

wandered from my own ship till I was under one of the diver’s

boats ; and I beat a hasty retreat.

I had but to give a pull at the rope, a signal, and I felt myself

being pulled rapidly up through the water. I went faster than

the bubbles of air which had been rising from my dress, and was

carried up through a stream of these bright bubbles. Suddenly

it was very light, and some big dark broad thing covered with

bubbles was directly above me, and the next moment I hit

against it. It was the bottom of the launch, and my next task

was to guide myself till I came to and with difficulty succeeded in

getting on to the ladder. Then as I stood on the ladder, while

the helmet was unscrewed and taken off and the fresh air came,

I knew how good fresh air is.

While down on the first occasion or two my nose bled rather un-

pleasantly, but as this never happened to me afterwards I put it

ihe re

Ec Sie Redehx:

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‘SWOH SONIHOVSY L33S713 WWvVad JHL

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PEARL FISHERY OF 1903. 61

down to the fact that on those first occasions I had a heavy cold

in my head.

I was once more back on the Master Attendant’s barque, moored

in the middle of the fleet on which the divers were all hurrying

up to complete their day’s load within the given time.

By noon most of the divers are tired out and, if it has been a

fairly successful day, the boats are fairly loaded up. Moreover, at

noon at this time of the year the wind almost invariably changes

its direction and blows towards the land. At noon, therefore, a gun

fired from the Master Attendant’s barque gives the signal for

pulling up the anchor, hoisting the sails, and beginning the run

home. If the paar which is being fished is some distance from

the land, the run home may take any time, according to the

strength of that fair wind, from three to five hours.

The run home is, I am afraid, a busy and, from a Government

point of view, a bad time. The men, other than the tired out

divers, occupy themselves nominally in picking over their oysters,

throwing away stones, shells, and other useless things which in

the hurry have been gathered in with the oysters, and in pre-

paring the loads for easy transport from the boats to the shore.

But, as a matter of fact, it is well known that this opportunity

and these hours are employed in picking over the oysters in a

different sense. The finest pearls almost invariably occur just

inside the edge of the shells, where they are held in position

by so thin a membrane that they appear ready to fall out at any

moment. There is no doubt that many of these finest, roundest,

and best coloured pearls are picked out during the run home and

concealed about the persons of the boat’s crew, and this, despite

the fact that each boat has a so-called Government guard on board,

and that a further check is supposed to be provided by the Govern-

ment steam launches which run in with the fleet, and the crews

of which are supposed to keep their eyes very wide open for the

illicit practices indicated. It is in this iniquitous practice of

picking over that one chief reason why the Government does not

get its fair share of the pearls lies.

It is as pretty a sight as one can well imagine, this homeward

race before a strong wind and over a tropical sea of a hundred or

so of ruddy-sailed craft, orientally fantastic in colour and shape,

and each deck crowded with a motley crew of brown-skinned men

and boys naked but for a few rags of brilliant coloured cloth.

Each crew strives to get in first, in order to get first attention

and so soonest to dispose of their loads and thus gain rest after a

day of really hardlabour. Thereisno lowering of sailsas the shore

is approached, no slackening of the speed till, as often as not, each

K 25-03

62 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA,

boat buries its bows deep in the high sandbank which forms the

shore, and comes with a sudden thud so violently to a stand that

the expectant crew, each man already loaded with his basket or

netted pack of oysters, is almost hurled into the narrow openings

in the high wattle fence which surrounds the Government

“I<ottus,” the sheds where the oysters are first deposited and

divided.

Inside this fence is the huge wattle-walled and palm-thatched

warehouse, where the division of the oysters between the divers

and the Government is carried out. It is a vast rectangular

building divided by rough posts and rails into long straight

avenues of square pens, each pen numbered and provided with

its Government clerks and counters.

The crew of each boat in some way gets itself, or is got by the

officials, into a separate pen and there dumps down its oysters.

Then the oysters are divided between the divers and the Govern-

ment, in the respective proportion of one-third and two-thirds,

by a process of quite admirable simplicity and ingenuity. The

divers themselves, and unassisted, separate their own oysters into

three heaps, roughly, but as accurately as possible under the

circumstances. Then the Government clerk in charge of that

particular pen, entirely at his own discretion, assigns one of these

heaps to the divers, and this is forthwith bagged or basketed

and carried off by them through the exit on the landward side

from the enclosure. The actual process of exit is a little trying,

for within this narrow opening in the wattle enclosure a small

posse of Government officials with occasionally a few police stand

on guard to keep order and to exercise a sort of rough search for

illicitly concealed pearls. It is a rough and noisy but very

good-humoured crowd; and in the course of this proceeding not

a few pearls are in some mysterious way discovered and confis-

cated. If the departing crew is too obstreperous they are detained

for such time as is necessary to deprive them of all their oysters.

That this last proceeding is nothing more than rough justice is,

I think, shown by the fact that the divers recognize it as such, and

seldom or never complain once they have lost their oysters.

But even when a company of divers has successfully passed

through the kottus and escaped through the narrow wicket gate on

the landward side of that—for an hour or two each day—seething

mass of humanity and oysters, their troubles of the day are not over,

for they are at once swallowed up in a surging crowd of natives

eager to buy from them their oysters by the dozen or the half-dozen,

or even by twos and ones. The prices then given for each indivi-

dual oyster or handful of oysters are comparatively enormous,

PEARL FISHERY IN 1903. 63

and the oyster bearer has often divested himself at highly

remunerative rates of his whole burden before he emerges at the

other side of the throng. Ifhe has any left, he hurries to a native

buyer and disposes of the remainder. Then he hurries to wash

the brine off his tired limbs in one or other of the tanks specially

reserved for the purpose ; and at last follows much-needed rest.

In time every boat has reached the shore and every boat’s crew

has, as above described, passed through the kottus.

No sooner has the load of any boat been deposited, divided into

lots, and the diver’s lot carried off, than the Government counters

begin to count the share left for Government, and, by using an

ingenious system of tallies, do this so quickly that the millions of

oysters which generally form the Government share of a day’s take

are counted with remarkable accuracy within a couple of hours or

so. Each counter reports his total to the representative of the

Government Agent sitting in one corner of the kottu enclosure,

and by eight or nine o’clock almost the exact numbers composing

the great heaps of oysters on the kottu floor is known and reported.

The kottus then are closed for the night, and a few sentries are

left throughout the night to watch by the light of the long lines

of dimly burning cocoanut oil lamps to see that none of the

bivalves are removed or tampered with.

Here incidentally may be put on record a little incident within

my own experience. A mouse wandering through the deserted

kottus in the silence of the night and, impelled either by hunger

or curiosity, put its head in between the gaping valves of an

oyster and was caught before it could draw back. Oyster and

mouse, the head of the latter tightly clipped by the former, now

stand in a glass jar of arrack on my table. Such an incident

appears to be not uncommon; and Sir William Twynam in his

interesting little museum at Jaffna has a bird imprisoned by an

oyster in the same fashion.

At about 9 P.M. each night the Government Agent repairs to

the court-house, where are collected ail who wish to buy oysters

wholesale. The Government Agent first announces how many

of the bivalves are lying in the kottus and puts these up for sale by

the thousand. Any number of thousands, from one to perhaps

fifty thousand or more, are taken by individual purchasers or by

syndicates. The prices in a single night vary curiously and

inexplicably ; a high price, say, Rs. 35 per 1,000, may be given at

the beginning of the evening, later not more than Rs. 22 can be ex-

tracted, and yet again later higher prices prevail. There is keen and

zealous competition, the larger buyers competing against the smaller,

or all combining in a ring against the Government auctioneer.

64 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

The day’s catch is, however, generally sold within the same night,

but if not the balance is disposed of privately the next morning.

Quite early the next morning each purchaser comes to the

Government Agent for an order for the number of oysters knocked

down to him the previous night, and at once sets to work to remove

these to his own private shed; and before noon the Government

kottu is cleared and ready for a fresh supply in the evening.

Meanwhile, at about the previous midnight or soon after, the

wind then at that season of the year beginning to blow from the

land out to sea, another fleet of boats starts out for the paars,

reaches its destination by daybreak, anchors, and waits for the sea

to become smooth and the light sufficient. While waiting, a narrow

plank or bamboo platform is let down and fastened over each

side of the ship; and on these platforms, when the day has

advanced far enough, the divers rest squatting between their dives.

And then the history already told of the previous day’s take is

repeated.

The washing of the pearls from the oysters is a most tedious,

primitive, and somewhat disgusting process. The oysters are

simply left to rot, the process being much assisted by the vast

clouds of a black “housefly,” which after the first day or two

permeates the whole camp. After a week’s rotting the seething

and disgusting residue is sorted by hand, and the pearls, or such of

them as are of sufficient size, picked out. The residue is then

dried in the sun and becomes what is known as “sarakoo.”

This sarakoo is at leisure sorted and winnowed and examined over

and over again till the smallest-sized pearls have been extracted.

Many of those who have come to the camp have come not

to buy oysters, nor to wash them, but only to buy pearls. Of these,

some are small people, but most are wealthy capitalists from the

great towns of India and from Colombo. They live in two special

streets, where all day long they sit on the ground in their open-

fronted shops, toying with pearls spread on the dark coloured

cloth which lies for that purpose on the ground in front of them.

On the cloth, too, is a delicately formed copper scoop, shell shaped,

for lifting the pearls, neat little scales with a quaint-shaped case

to hold them and with weights, the larger of agate, the smaller of

bright scarlet seeds, also a set of basket-shaped sieves for grading :

the pearls. When no one is present to sell they minutely weigh

again and again the larger of the pearls, sort them according to size,

colour, texture, and roundness, tie up the better specimens care-

fully in little screws of linen, put them away in the great strong

box, which forms almost the only furniture of the shop, take them

out again, and discuss each one over again with their partners and

#9 ‘d aang o7)

"NMOL TWHV43d JO LAAYLS NIVW

ae cis Fee eas es nt) ae es

G9 “ad vavf ox)

*STYVSd YOOd «wONIMVS,,

PEARL FISHERY IN 1903. 65

friends. Then some washer comes along with pearls to sell, and

the whole joy of chafering begins, and lasts till one is tired of

watching.

Meanwhile along the street a busy crowd is always passing in

frontof the shops. Many carry great brazen vessels of water from

the tank, others drive home bullocks with loads of firewood

or poles and palm leaves for new huts. Farther down the street

are the shops of the silk or cloth seller, the brass and tin workers,

and countless provision shops.

Here and there in the middle of the broad street squat groups of

pearl cutters, whose business it is on small wooden tables and

with a primitive bow-drill to pierce pearls for stringing and to cut

into something like presentable roundness the rough irregular

pearl-like lumps which are found not in the flesh of the oyster,

but attached to the inside of the shell.

So for some two months the business goes on, till the divers are

worn out by diving and the pearl merchants are satiated with

their purchases. Then the Government Agent is appealed to to

proclaim the closing of the camp, and when he does so almost

in aday the whole big population “ fold their tents like the Arabs

and as silently steal away,” and in a very few days the once busy

camp is left only to the jackals to scavenge up the refuse and to

prowl among the great mounds of fresh oyster shells which have

just been added to the accumulations of so many years’ fishing.

The whole thing is intensely interesting and picturesque,

but afterwards it leaves much to think about and much to hope

for. The thing has been going on in the same way for centuries,

and would so continue if the busy Western mind were not now

turning to thoughts of how to improve on this old system, to

make the harvest of the sea more regular in its occurrence, to

economize the present vast expenditure of human energy now

wasted in fetching up the oysters from the depth of the sea, and

to extract the pearls from the oysters with greater rapidity,

certainty, and with greater security that the Government gets its

proper share, and with greater regard to sanitary conditions.

The whole thing is now at last about to change, and the points

which I have just enumerated are to be attended to. Professor

Herdman, with Mr. Hornell, is about to give us a long and full

report on their careful investigations of the life-history of the pearl

oyster in these seas; they are about to tell us why the crop

is 80 uncertain, and how it may be made more continuous,

Mr. Dixon and others are busy in bringing to fruition certain

schemes for dredging up the oysters and for mechanical

extraction of the pearl from the gathered oysters.

66 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

NOTE ON THE NIDIFICATION OF GALLINAGO STENURA.

By FREDERICK LEWIS, F.L.S.

HE question has been raised from time to time in Ceylon if

the Common Pintail Snipe ever breeds here, and I propose

in this note to record what instances have come under my personal

observation.

The first instance I have is that some years ago, towards the end

of the north-east monsoon, I flushed a snipein a paddy field in the

Pussellawa district andshot her. I noticed that her flight seemed

to be slower than usual with snipe, and on picking her up and

slightly pressing the abdomen with my thumb an egg, not fully

formed, was extruded. On opening the body, which under these

interesting circumstances I did, I found two more eggs, of which

the smallest was barely half an inch long.

In none of the eggs was the shell formed, and therefore obviously

I could not obtain any details as to colouring.

The second instance is more interesting. I was snipe-shooting

with a friend at a place called Morahella, a few miles from the

town of Balangoda, in the Province of Sabaragamuwa, when a

snipe got up within a few yards of my companion, who shot it.

He remarked, the same as I did, how slowly it left the ground,

and we examined the place, as the field was nearly dry.

We found a nest of a few very flimsy materials, hardly worthy

of the name of a nest, and in it were three eggs of a dull stone

colour, broadly blotched with blackish sepia markings.

My companion took the eggs home to England with him, so

unfortunately I could only depend on my notes for reference.

On discussing the question a few days ago with Mr. E. Kynaston

of Yatiyantota, he described an experience very nearly identical

with my own, and has been kind enough to send me the two eggs

he obtained. It will be observed that the sizes of the eggs Mr.

Kynaston has kindly sent me represent—

First du .. 1:34 inch by ‘97 inch

Second... .- 1:40 inch by ‘98 inch

which rather closely approximate the size of the egg of the

Painted Snipe (Rostratula capensis*), that is 1°36 inch by ‘98 inch,

* The Painted Snipe is named Rhynchea capensis and the Common Snipe

Gallinago scolopacina in Legge’s “ Birds of Ceylon.”

NIDIFICATION OF GALLINAGO STENURA. 67

while it is considerably smaller than the egg of the Common or

Fantail Snipe (Gallinago celestis).*

The eggs now referred to correspond in markings with the

eggs I referred to in the second instance I mentioned above, while

I have no reason to doubt that the snipe obtained in each case

was other than Gallinago stenura.

That snipe breed regularly in Ceylon I do not consider to

be the case, but I think it is unquestionable that a few do, and I

submit that the present instance may be taken as confirming that

view, even though it might be contended that the eggs I now

describe were not absolutely taken from wnder the snipe herself,

Ege of Gallinago stenura.

” See Blanford, Birds Ind., vol. IV., 1898, p. 286 and p, 293,

68 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA,

ON THE NESTING HABITS OF TRYPOXYLON INTRUDENS

AND STIGMUS NIGER.

By E. ERNEST GREEN, F.E.S.

rT WO species of Trypoxylon occur in Ceylon—ZT. pileatum,

Smith, and 7. intrudens, Smith,* ‘The latter is very common

in the Kandy District. Its specific name is an apt one, for this

little wasp is continually prying into any crack or cranny in

search of a suitable nesting ground. An old nail hole, the hollow .

shaft of a key, or the stem of a disused tobacco pipe is frequently

chosen for the purpose. Occasionally the vacated tunnel of

another wasp, é.g., Stigmus, is occupied. Another favourite position

is a crevice between the covers or pages of a book; and a piece of

corrugated cardboard is an irresistible attraction. This habit has

enabled me to set a neat trap for the insect. By inserting pieces

of narrow glass tubing (with aperture of about 4 mm.) in the

corrugations of the cardboard I have induced the wasps to

build in a glass house, which allowed me to watch their develop-

ment from egg to imago. Fig. 2 represents a piece of glass

tubing fully occupied by cells showing the insects in various

successive stages of development. The partitions between the

cells are composed of earthy matter. At the bottom of each cell a

small yellowish-white elongate egg is first deposited. The cell is

then provisioned with a number of paralyzed spiders sufficient for

the needs of a single larva. In the nest under observation the

spiders were all of one species—a small black AZtid that frequents

my room. I have noticed that the lower cells of the series are

usually more fully provisioned than those nearer the upper ex-

tremity. The occupants of these lower (earlier constructed) cells

almost invariably produce female insects, which have a slightly

longer larval period. This would appear to be a provision for

reducing the difference in the time of emergence between the elder

and younger members of the same brood. In spite of this, the occu-

pants of the earlier cells complete their transformations much

sooner than those at the other end of the series, but must wait

* Lrypoxylon intrudens, Smith, Trans. Zool. Soe., VII., 1872, p. 188. Bingham,

Faun. Brit. Ind., Hymenoptera, vol. I., p. 224.

NESTING HABITS OF TRYPOXYLON INTRUDENS. 69

Fig.1. Stigmus niger. Fig. 2. Zrypoaylon intrudens.

L 25-03

70 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA,

until the latter have caught them up and made their exit. The

adult wasp completely frees itself from the pupal skin, and

expands its wings while still within the cocoon, and then waits

patiently for its turn. The larva is at first of a pale greenish

colour. It darkens as it increases in size, and when fully grown

is of a dull greenish black tint with numerous white specks,

The form of the cocoon is worthy of notice. Near the lower

extremity there is a distinct constriction. The pupa rests in the

upper part, while the lower part receives the excreta which are

evacuated—once forall—immediately before pupation. The adult

insect (fig. 2a), as described by Bingham, Joc. cit., is “ Black, with

glittering silvery pile ; the second and third abdominal segments

red, shaded with fuscous above; legs testaceous, variegated with

black; wings hyaline and iridescent; nervures and tegule pale

testaceous.”

Another tube-inhabiting insect is Stigmus niger, Motsch.* The

wasp does not utilize ready-made tubes, but constructs them by

drilling out the pith from a grass stem or the slender twig

of some plant. It generally selects a dead twig for the purpose,

Fig. 1 shows a nest constructed in the pith of the “Mana grass ”’

(Andropogon nardus), avery favourite site. ‘lhe tunnel is often

carried down for a cousiderable distance, perhaps 10 to 12 inches»

the cells being disposed at the far end. Stigmus-niger provisions

its cells with Aphides, and must destroy a great number of these

little pests. The partitions are formed of pulped pith. The fully

grown larva has the anterior and posterior extremities pale

yellowish, the median segments blackish green mottled with pale

spots. Just before pupating the larva voids the contents of the

alimentary canal and assumes a uniform orange-yellow colour.

The pupa is naked. It is at first orange, with eyes and ocelli

brown. As development advances it gradually becomes blackish.

Only two species of Stigmus occur in the Indian region, S. con-

gruus, Walk., and S. niger. Both species are found in Ceylon.

Royal Botanic Gardens,

Peradeniya, September, 1903.

* Stigmus niger, Motsch. Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc., 1863, p. 23, Bingham, Faun.

Brit, Ind., Hymenoptera, vol. I., p. 267.

NOTE ON SPECIES OF MYCALESIS. 71

FURTHER NOTE ON SPECIES OF MYCALESIS.

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

‘| aoa species of the Calysisme group of Mycalesis have been

described from Ceylon, viz., Mycalesis (Calysisme) rama,

Moore ; swbhdita, Moore ; perseus, Fab.;and polydecta, Cramer. Of

these, C. rama is little known, only a few specimens having been

taken by Mr. Pole near Udugama in July, and a note was made

by me concerning it in Spolia Zeylanica, vol. 1., part I., most

unfortunately by a lapsus calami under the name WM. subdita.

With regard to the other three species, M. swbhdita can be easily

distinguished in the male by the characters given by Moore, Lep.

Ind., but the female is very difficult to discriminate from

M. polydecta or perseus, especially in the dry-season form. All

my females of MW. swbdita bred in the wet season can be dis-

tinguished from the wet-season M. polydecta or perseus by having

a small additional ocellus on the under surface of the fore wing

immediately below, and almost confluent with, the larger one,

which is situated between the first and second median nervules ;

but this is probably not a reliable character. I am unable to

distinguish the unocellated dry-season females. I described the

transformations of this insect (Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc.,

vol. XIII.). So far as I know, VW, swhdita occurs only on the Trin-

comalee side of the Island, where it is uncommon, particularly the

dry-season form, which I have very rarely found, and this is

the more noteworthy as this side of Ceylon has a dry climate for

the greater portion of the year.

M. perseus has two forms : the wet-season is MV. blasius, Fab.,

and the dry-season M. perseus, Fab. MV. polydecta has also two

forms, M.justina, Cramer, being the wet and MW. polydecta, Cramer,

thedry. Whether these two insects are really distinct isa question

which can probably only be decided by a series of breeding experi-

ments. Ormiston thinks they are the same, and states that

according to his experience elevation has a great deal to do with

these various forms. I have eighteen specimens of this species

from Ceylon selected from a large number. Of these, ten are WZ,

blasius (the wet-season form) taken at Haldummullain December,

at about 4,000 ft. elevation, and two males of the same season from

72 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

Labugama, about 200 ft.,also taken in December. ‘lhese two latter

ean be distinguished from the Haldummulla specimens by having

only two ocelli on the under surface of the fore wing, whereas the

former have either four or five. My wet- anddry-season Haldum-

mulla females have also four ocelli, and my one low-country

female has, like the male, only two. ‘The ocelli are very variable

in this group, anda far larger number of specimens than I possess

would be needed to determine the question of variation according

to elevation. I mention it in the hope of stimulating inquiry

among Ceylon entomologists. The few specimens I have tend

to bear out Ormiston’s opinion. Some of these females may be

called WM. polydecta and others MW. persews ; it is a question only

to be settled by breeding, but my opinion is that there is only one

variable species dependent on season, and very probably elevation,

for its various forms.

In a letter I received from the late Mr. De Nicéville in June,

1900, he expressed the opinion that “ 1. polydecta will be found a

thoroughly bad egg,” and this opinion will probably be eventually

confirmed.

7, Salisbury ‘Terrace,

Stoke, Devonport, July 9, 1903.

NOTES. 73

NOTES.

l. Loris Gracilis and Pentatomid Bug.—On giving a large

Pentatomid bug (Aspongopus singhalanus, Dist.) to a captive

Loris gracilis, the latter seized the insect, crammed it into its

mouth, and crunched it up. The Loris immediately became

ludicrously excited, reeled about in a peculiar drunken manner,

micturating freely all the time. It tore pieces of the insect out of

its mouth and threw them away, but collected them again and

devoured every piece, afterwards licking its fingers with apparent

relish. This Hemipteron secretes and ejects a pungent-smelling

fluid somewhat resembling, in odour, essence of jargonelle. The

action of the Loris suggested that the liquid wasat first startlingly

pungent, though the flavour was distinctly agreeable.

Peradeniya, June 1], 1903. K. ERNEST GREEN.

2. Pupe of the * Red Ant” (CHcophylla smaragdina).—

In my note “On the web-spinning habit of the Red Ant” (Journ.

Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. XIII., No. 1, 1900), I wrote:

Pupa of “eophylla smaraqdina. .

“[t is probable that only fully-grown larve, ready to construct

their cocoons, are employed for the work.” I now find that

(Keophylla smaragdina does not construct cocoons, but that the

74 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

pupz ot the workers—both major and minor—are naked. This

seems to be explicable only on the theory that the silk that would

normally be employed in the construction of the cocoon is

systematically converted to the purposes of nest-building, and

that the larve have consequently lost the habit of cocoon

formation.

In a large nest of Gcophylla recently opened by me I found

many hundreds of naked pup, but not asingle cocoon. Can the

absence of any silken covering to the pupz of other species be

similarly accounted for? Bingham, in his work on Indian Ants

(Fauna B. I., Hymenoptera, vol. II.), does not specify which ants

construct cocoons and which have naked pupe.

At the time of the publication of my former note quoted above

I was unaware that the same fact had already been observed and

published, several years previously, by Mr. Saville Kent. A

description and figure illustrating this habit appeared in Mr.

Saville Kent’s work, “The Naturalist in Australia,” published in

1897, but I am informed that a still earlier note appeared in one

of the Australian scientific journals.

EK. ERNEST GREEN.

Peradeniya, July, 1903.

3. A Case of Protective Mimicry.—In “ Nature” of 25th June,

1903, is an illustrated article (taken over from the “ Zoologist” for

May) headed “ New Case of Protective Mimicry in a Caterpillar,”

describing a Geometrid larva from Sarawak that disguises itself

by attaching to spines on its back the buds of an Umbelliferous

flower upon which it feeds. Failure to rear the caterpillar pre-

vented the determination of the species.

I would draw attention to the fact that we have, in Ceylon also,

a Geometrid larva that protects itself in a somewhat similar way.

[ have bred the insect and proved it to be the larva of Comibena

hbiplagiata, Moore, or, as it is now called, Uliocnemis cassidara,

Guen. The caterpillar is figured in Lep. Heteroc., Brit. Mus.,

_ Part IX.,* plate CLXXVL.,, figs. 18, 18a. The segments of the body

are armed with paired fleshy processes to which the larva attaches

small pieces of leaves and withered flowers, which afford an

excellent disguise as long as the insect remains motionless in

its characteristic attitude.

E. ERNEST GREEN.

Peradeniya, July 20, 1903.

* The Macrolepidoptera Heterocera of Ceylon, by Sir G. F. Hampson, 1893.

NOTES. 5

4. Habitsof Whip-snake.—With reference to my recent note in

Spolia Zeylanica, | have now to report that a freshly captured

specimen of Dryophis mycterizans supports, by its actions, its

popular native name of * Eye-piercing Snake.” When first placed

in the cage it repeatedly struck at my face, though it would not

take any notice of my hand under any circumstances. It also struck

repeatedly at the eye-pieces of a pair of binocular tield-glasses. It

struck at a piece of white sponge to which a small black disc had

been attached (to represent an eye), but it never hit the disc, always

catching hold of the sponge itself. It also struck at the plain

sponge without the disc.

KH. ERNEST GREEN.

Peradeniya, June 17, 1903.

5. Food of the Whip-snake.—Apropos of Mr. Ernest Green’s

notes on the habits of the green whip-snake, I should wish to add

my own experience of the reptile as a captor of small birds. Some

years ago (may be five or six), while walking about the grounds of

the School of Agriculture in Thurston road, Cinnamon Gardens, 1

was attracted by the cry of a bird in distress, and on looking about

found a green snake, hanging to a branch by its tail, with a little

bird in its jaws. While taking in the situation and thinking how

to rescue the prey, I saw another tiny bird, which was flying by,

caught up bya second snake hanging close to the first. My

companion and I lost no time in releasing the two captives by

vigorously throwing stones at the snakes, and had the satisfaction

of seeing the birds flying off with a cry of joy, apparently none

the worse for their experience.

C. DRIEBERG.

Colombo, July 20, 1903.

6. Hedgehogs in Ceylon.—Last July a hedgehog was obtained

by Mr. G. A. Joseph at Wellawatta near Colombo from a man who

said he had taken it from a hole in the ground beneath a log. |

This animal agrees in most of its characters with the South

Indian hedgehog, Hrinaceus micropus,* but presents certain

differences. There is no nude median space on the top of the

head dividing the spines into two groups, and the extreme tips of

the spines are not white, but dark.

* Blanford, W. T., Mamm. Ind., 1888 1891, p. 218.

76 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

Kelaart thought it probable that hedgehogs would be found

in Ceylon, and Jerdon (Mammals of India, 1874, p. 63) says that

EH. micropus “is probably one of the two species stated to be found

in Ceylon.” Sir Emerson Tennent never saw a specimen, but was

told that they occurred here.

With all this there has never been an authentic record ofa

hedgehog in Ceylon. Accordingly it seemed to me to be very

unlikely that a mammal new to the Fauna of Ceylon, even one with

the retiring habits of the hedgehog, should turn up for the first

time in Wellawatta of all places. I have been told, however, that

hedgehogs have been seen by persons now living in Colombo.

Others, on the contrary, who know the country and its inhabitants

well, have never seen one here before.

In fact, I supposed that the Wellawatta specimen was in all

probability an escaped pet, but as nobody has put in a claim for it,

and as it seems to differ somewhat from the South Indian species,

it is possible that it may be a genuine member of a Ceylonese

fraternity.

It is very desirable that more material should be procured from

unimpeachable localities and transmitted to the Museum, either

as gifts, on loan, or for sale.

The specimen referred to is still alive, and thrives very well

upon raw meat and cooked rice.

A. WILLEY.

Colombo, October 10, 1903.

7. Dwarf Eggs of the Domestic Fowl.—WLast December the

Museum received from Mr. J. C. Dunbar of Kotagala eight small

eges out of a clutch of eleven which had been laid by an ordinary

village fowl. Upon further inquiry being made it was ascertained

that the hen had been acquired in a batch of village fowls about

four months previously. The dwarf eggs were the first she had

laid during that time, and it was said that she had never laid a

normal egg. During the following week or so the hen laid five

more dwarf eggs and was then allowed to sit upon a batch of

normal eggs.

In every respect, except in the matter of oviposition, the fowl’s

behaviour was perfectly correct. In February of this year Mr.

Dunbar kindly presented her to the Museum for investigation.

She was kept here for some weeks, and her portrait was taken.

From February to April the hen continued to lay dwarf eggs at

varying intervals and of varying shapes and sizes to the number of

nineteen. All of these eggs were yolkless, containing albumen

NOTES. 17

only. Occasionally an opaque fragment was present, which

appeared under the microscope to consist of yolk granules.

On 25th April the fowl was sacrificed upon the altar of Minerva.

One naturally expected to find the ovary deficient in some respect

On the contrary, the ovary was very large, contained ova in all

stages of development up to submature and mature yolks, the

largest of which measured 11 inch (28°5 mm.) across and 1} inch

(32 mm.) from the stalk of attachment of the capsule to the

opposite pole. There were also several collapsed capsules which

had dehisced and presumably liberated their contained yolks into

the body-cavity. What became of these it is impossible to say.

It should be mentioned that the fowl was excessively fat.

e7ane

Gren

Dwarf eggs of domestic fowl. Natural size.

There was no occlusion of the lumen of the oviduct, though the

funnel was turned to the left away from the ovary, its two borders

being placed in contact by the pressure of the neighbouring

turgid ovary.

The hen was apparently egg-bound, though what causes operated

to produce this result I am unable to say.

The actual dimensions of the dwarf eggs vary from 20 mm. to

30 mm. in length, and from 12°5 mm. to 18°5 mm. in maximum

transverse diameter. The shape shows all gradations from ellip-

tical to oval. The last egg laid on 23rd April carries a peculiar

appendix or knob at the narrow end (see fig.). I am told it is

a frequent occurrence here for the first two or three eggs of a

fowl to be small and yolkless, and it is not impossible that this

bird would have recovered its normal functions in time.

Colombo, October 10, 1903. A. WILLEY.

M 25- 03

78 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA,

8. Heralds of the Monsoons.—The opening and closing of the

monsoons, about which there is always a great deal of discussion,

are occasionally demonstrated in an interesting manner, not by the

ordinary flights of migratory birds and other seasonal occurrences

in animal life, but by the stranding of birds, which have been

overcome by the rising or setting of the wind and have been blown

out of their course.

On 23rd October, 1902, a gaudily coloured bird, about the size of

a thrush, drifted into the stable of my bungalow at Bambalapitiya,

and was caught by the horsekeeper. It was placed in a cage and

kept for a week, when it died without having become reconciled

to its captivity, although it devoured worms, grubs, and insects

greedily. It was obviously not a resident of the Island, and

proved to be an Indian Pitta or “yellow-breasted ground thrush,”

Pitta brachyura,* a victim of the rising north-east wind.

It is called by the onomatopoeic name “ Avichchiya” in Sinhalese,

and is the subject of legends. It isa very common bird during

the north-east season, arriving in October in vast numbers,

according to Capt. Legge rather later than the Pintailed Snipe,

which is wont to appear in September.

This year on 7th May a very rare and unwilling visitor was

blown ashore at Wellawatta in an exhausted condition, and was

brought to that hospital for sick birds, the Colombo Museum.

‘This was none other than a fine young female frigate bird

(Fregata aquila). This oceanic bird is a classical object not only

on account of its immense power of flight, the altitude to which

it soars, its occurrence far from land, and its piratical habits

(pursuing terns, boobies, and gannets, and compelling them to

disgorge their food which it catches in mid-air), but also on

account of its ethnographic importance in the decorative art and

symbolism of the South Pacific Islanders.f

Its power of flight is correlated with a great expanse of wing

and tail (about 6 ft. from tip to tip of the outstretched wings),

with a proportionate development of the pectoral muscles, which

are said to weigh nearly one-fourth of the entire weight of the bird

( Bennett, G., * Gatherings of a Naturalist in Australasia,” 1860, p. 80),

and lastly, with a special rigidity of the sternal apparatus brought

about by the coalescence of the furcula with the keel of the

sternum behind and below, and with the coracoids in front and

above.

* P. coronata (Legge, ‘‘ Birds of Ceylon,” p. 687).

+ It is known to and venerated by the Melanesians under the name “ Daula ”

(cf. Codrington, R. H., ‘The Melanesians, their Anthropology and Folk-lore,”

Clarendon Press, 1891.)

NOTES. 79

The specimen which was driven ashore by the rising south-west

wind at Wellawatta last May was no longer able to fly. It lived

for a day or twoafter being taken, and was subsequently mounted

at the Museum. Its measurements are the following: Wing-

expanse 5 ft. 10 in., length of wing 2 ft. 95 in., total length from

the end of the bill to the extremities of the forked tail 2 ft. 7 in.,

length of bill 34 in., tail 1 ft. 15 in., leg 5 in.

A striking fact which the above figures illustrate, besides

the enormous wing-expanse and the length of the spreading tail,

is the shortness of the legs, which are relatively very weak. The

feet also are but feebly webbed.

A third visitor, captured on the beach at Colombo so recently

as 3rd October of this year, may be welcomed as a token of the

setting of the south-west monsoon. This is a Sooty Tern, Sterna

fuliginosa, which, though not so rarely met with here as the

frigate bird, is not common on these shores.

A. WILLEY.

Colombo, October 10, 1903.

9. Moths of Ceylon.—A catalogue entitled “ List of Moths

Recorded from Ceylon up to the end of the Year 1902,” has been

issued this year from the Government Press for the Colombo

Museum (price Re. 1). The first portion (261 pages) was compiled

by Mr. A. Haly, the former Director of the Museum, and 228 pages

were actually printed under his supervision. A supplementary list

(pages 262-299) has been kindly furnished by Mr. F. M. Mackwood.

The preface contains a list of names which were included on

insufficient data in the part which had been already printed.

Mr. Mackwood has since noted another name to be expunged from

the catalogue, 1364—Lithosia intermixta, which is a synonym of

1356—L. brevipennis.

A few literal errors have crept into the text, eg., costipennis

instead of ustipennis on page 63, postvitata instead of postvittata

on page 94,

Excluding the entries which have proved to be faulty, the

catalogue contains the names of 2,022 species, of which 495, or

nearly 25 per cent., are recorded as endemic.

Since the catalogue was published Mr. Mackeeasd has com-

municated further additions arranged in three categories. Part I.

of the subjoined list includes names which were omitted by

oversight from the published list. Part II. contains names of

moths obtained some time ago, of which a isla 8 identifica-

tions have only recently come to hand.

80 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

Part II. is a list of species recorded as new to Ceylon since the

beginning of 1903.

PART 1.

1390a. Stictane obliquilinea, Hmpsn.

1523. Nola confusalis, Hen-Schaff. Low-country to 4,000 ft.;

September.

1535. Nola argentalis, Moore.

2223. Blenina angulipennis, Moore. West Haputale ; Nov-

ember.

PART II.

43026. Saluria minutella, Hmpsn.

4331a. Heterographis obscuralis, Hmpsn.

Hambantota, Matale.

43416. Euzopherodes irroralis, Hmpsn.

Hambantota, Puttalam.

4346a. Mescinia olivescalis, Hmpsn.

Kandy.

4348). Blabioides strigerella, Hmpsn.

Nawalapitiya.

4349a. Ptyomaxia trigonifera, Hmpsn.

Puttalam.

4359a. Nephopteryx rivulella, Rag.

4359¢. N. myrmidonella, Rag.

Puttalam.

4362a. N. tumidella, Hmpsn.

4363a. N. atrisquamella, Hmpsn.

Puttalam, Matale.

43636. N. albifascialis, Hmpsn.

Matale.

43640. N. striginervella, Hmpsn.

4370). N. calamalis, Hmpsn.

Puttalam.

4384a. Hypsipyla psarella, Hmpsn.

Pattalam.

43845. H. elachistalis, Hmpsn.

Hambantota.

4434a. Etiella grisea, Hmpsn.

Puttalam.

4442a. Macalla plicatalis, Hmpsn.

Matale.

4464), Stericta suspensalis, Wik.

4525¢e. HEccupidia oinistis, Hmpsn.

Kandy.

NOTES. 81

ParT ITI.

857. Miresa decedens, W\k.

Nitre Cave.

Diacrisia ? castanea, Hmpsn.

West Haputale ; February.

Asura uniformis, Hmpsn.

Haputale ; April.

Spodoptera postfusca, Hmpsn.

Nuwara-Eliya; March.

Stictoptera xista, Swinh.

Gampola ; November.

2520. Ophiusa tripheenoides, W1k.

Formosa, Himalayas, Bengal, West and South India.

West Haputale ; February.

2549. Plecoptera refleca, Guen.

Throughout North India, Poona, Andamans.

West Haputale ; November.

2787. Avitia quadrilinea, Wlk.

Sikkim, Khasis, Nilgiris, Borneo.

West Haputale ; February.

Callopistria ? ethrops, Butl.

Haldummulla ; October.

2038. Xanthoptera marginata, Wik.

Dharmsala, Nilgiris, Java.

- Haldummulla ; December.

Corgatha atrifalcis, Hmpsn.

Wattegama ; May.

fivula niphosticha, Hmpsn.

West Haputale ; November.

Acantholipes retracta, Hmpsn.

West Haputale ; November.

3323. Garwus discolor, Warr.

Khasis, Nagas.

Tonacombe ; January.

Colombo, October 10, 1903. ED,

10. Some Rare Snakes of Ceylon.

1.—Dipsas barnesti, Giinther. 1869.

Giinther, A. Report on two collections of Indian reptiles. P.

Zool. Soc., 1869, p. 506. (This paper includes a collection made

by R. H. Barnes, Esq., of Gangaruwa, Ceylon.)

82 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

With the exception of the Python family (Boida) and the earth-

snakes of the families Typhlopida, Ilysiide,and Uropeltide, all

the Ceylonese snakes belong to one of two families, Colubride

and Viperide. According to Boulenger’s system of classification

the Colubrine snakes comprise three parallel series of forms,

namely, Aglypha, harmless snakes with simple solid teeth ;

Opisthoglypha, suspected snakes or slightly poisonous, one or

several of the posterior maxillary teeth being fang-like and

grooved ; Proteroglypha, poisonous Colubrine snakes in which

the anterior maxillary teeth are either grooved or perforated.

The Opisthoglypha are represented in Ceylon by the three

genera Dipsas, Dryophis, and Chrysopelea. The Proteroglypha

comprise terrestrial and marine snakes, the former being re-

presented in Ceylon by the genera Callophis, Bungarus, and Nata.

Ye ALY /

Lateral and dorsal views of the head and dorsal views of portions of the body

of D, barnesii (on the left) and D. ceylonensis (on the right). The vertebral

scales of the latter are larger than the others.

Three species of the genus Dipsas occur in this Island, namely,

D. barnesii, D. ceylonensis, and D. forstenii. Of these, the first is

endemic, the second and third are found also in the Himalayas and

Western Ghats of India.

The original description of D. barnesii was based upon a single

specimen, and until this year it hasnot been numbered among the

NOTES. 83

Ophidiain the collection of the Colombo Museum. Now, however,

thanks to the generosity of Mr. H. M. Drummond Hay, the Museum

possesses an example from Balangoda.

It is a rather small elegant snake banded transversely, some

scales having a black margin and pale centre ; and a row of black

spots along each side. The total length is nearly 23 inches (the

maximum length of the species so far as recorded), of which the

tail occupies 4 inches. It is chiefly distinguished from D.

ceylonensis (which attains a maximum length of 4 feet) by

the different proportions of the head-shields, eyes, and vertebral

scales (see text fig.) As in the other species of the genus, the

anal shield is entire and the subcaudals are in two rows.

In girth and general appearance D. ceylonensis is not unlike

D. barnesii, but it is a much commoner species, the commonest of

the three Ceylonese species of the genus. The Museum collection

contains numerous specimens, including a series from Horana

presented in 1901 by Mr. G. H. Swayne,* and one from Sigiriya

presented this year by Mr. H. C. P. Bell. In D. ceylonensis

(which in spite of its name is not confined to Ceylon) there is a

well-marked dark brown streak proceeding from the eye to the

angle of the mouth; in the only specimen of D. barnesiit which

I have seen this streak is not or hardly distinguishable from the

general dark ground colour. In both species the scales are in 19

rows, this number being constant for the sixteen specimens of

D. ceylonensis which I have examined.

The third species of Dipsas which occursin Ceylon, D. forstenii,

is a much larger snake than the other two, attaining a maximum

length of about 5 feet with a girth of 3 to 4 inches. The number

of scales round the body varies in different individuals and in

different parts of the same individual ; there may be as many as

29. ‘There is a dark streak behind the eye resembling that in

D. ceylonensis, though broader. The anterior mandibular teeth

of D. forstenii are very long, but the disposition of the head-

shields is almost identical with that of D. ceylonensis, with the

one distinction that the scales in the temporal region are more

numerous in the former than in the latter.

This species (D. forsteniz) is not very common in Ceylon, though

not nearly so rarely met with as D. barnesii. In the Museum

collection there are specimens recorded from Negombo, Kalutara,

and Horana (Swayne coll.); and one example with length of

* The Swayne collection of snakes has not yet been fully worked out.

{ Since the above was written I have discovered a second specimen of

D. barnesii in a bottle labelled D. ceylonensis, unfortunately without any

locality being given.

84 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA,

5 feet was sent this year to the Museum by Mr. H. C. P. Bell, who

found it asleep on the top of a verandah pillar at Anuradhapura

last May. Mr. Bell tells me that this is only the third of the

kind which he has seen in thirty years.

The Sinhalese name for all the species of Dipsas is “‘ mapila.”

Il.—Dryophis pulverulentus, Dum. et Bibr. 1844.

Duméril et Bibron, Erpétologie générale, t. VII., 1844, p. 812.

The tree-snakes of the genus Dryophis are represented in Ceylon

by two species, D. mycterizans, the common green whip-snake

or eye-snake (see S. Z., Part IT., p. 37), which ranges through India

into Burma; and D. pulverulentus, a much rarer snake occurring

only in Ceylon and in the Anaimalai Hills at an altitude of about

2,000 feet (Boulenger). In Ceylon it has been recorded from

Ratnapura and Wadduwa (Haly). There is also a specimen in the

Swayne collection from Horana, and another example has reached

the Museum this year from the Kurunegala District, sent by

D. J. M. Seneviratne, Schoolmaster at Weuda.

Finally, Mr. H. M. Drummond Hay informs me that he has

collected two or three specimens at Balangoda.

Head of Dryophis pulverulentus in side view.

It attains a great length, nearly 6 feet, and has a very long

whip-like tail. It differs fromthe commoner species in colour

and in the character of the dermal appendage of the snout (rostral

appendage). Instead of green the prevailing colour is a grayish

brown, and the rostral appendage [which in D. mycterizans is

formed by the modified rostral shield alone, which may be slightly

wrinkled (cf. 8. Z., Part II., p. 37, fig. 14)] carries some small

accessory scales above at the base of the true rostral shield which

is itself somewhat furrowed. In both species the body-scales

occur in fifteen rows; the pupil of the eye is horizontal ; anal

divided ; subcaudals in two rows.

D. pulverulentus is called “ henakandaya”’ in Sinhalese.

[11.—Callophis trimaculatus (Daudin, 1810).

Daudin, F, M. Histoire naturelle générale et particuliére des

Reptiles, 1810. (Vipera trimaculata, VI., p. 25.)

Among a number of snakes sent to me some months ago for

identification by Mr. H. M. Drummond Hay, who had collected

NOTES. 8)

most of them on the Hopewell estate, Balangoda, there was one

small snake which presented a difficulty in spite of the fact that

the naming of Ceylonese snakes has been rendered a straight-

forward if not altogether an easy task by the publication of the

volume on Reptilia and Batrachiain 1890 by Mr. G. A. Boulenger,

F.R.S., in the “ Fauna of British India.” In this case, however,

I deemed it advisable to appeal directly to headquarters, and

Mr. Drummond Hay kindly permitted me to send the snake to

the Natural History Department of the British Museum in London.

In his reply (dated July 2, 1903) Mr. Boulenger wrote: “The

little snake is an interesting addition to the Fauna of Ceylon.

It is a Callophis trimaculatus (Rept. Ind., p. 384),a species which

was only known from India and Burma. I should have been

glad to keep the specimen for the Museum, but as it is of so great

local interest to you I return it with the request that, should a

second specimen turn up in Ceylon, you will remember the

British Museum.”

Lateral and dorsal views of the head of Callophis trimaculatus. (Partly after

Ginther, P. Z. S., 1859, pl. XVI, fig. E). 1, rostral shield; 2. internasals;

3, prefrontals ; 4, supraocular ; 5, temporal; 6, parietals; 7, occipital ; 8, sixth

and last upper labial ; 9, frontal.

I have since found that there was already a single example of

this species in the Colombo Museum, which is recorded in Mr. A.

Haly’s “Report on the Collection of Reptilia in the Colombo

Museum” (1891, p. 25) in these words: “One specimen, bund

of the Tissamaharama tank, March, 1877 (bad state). Mr. H.

Nevill obtained another specimen in the Trincomalee dockyard,

1890.” It is not stated what became of Mr. Nevill’s snake, but

assuming that the identification was correct, Mr. Drummond

Hay’s specimen (which he has been good enough to present to the

Colombo Museum) is the third known from Ceylon. It was

picked up by him on the road between Dambulla and Trinco-

malee, the exact spot being where the road enters on the bund of

the Kanthalai tank.

It is a very small snake, 10} inches long with a diameter not

exceeding three-sixteenths of an inch. The maximum length of

N 25-03

86 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

the species is only 13 inches (Boulenger, Rept. Ind., p. 384).

After preservation in alcohol and formol the specimen has

assumed a pale neutral tint, except for the head and nape which

are black: there are also black markings about the tail, a broad

black ring behind the vent, another in front of the pointed

extremity, and several intermediate black spots scattered

irregularly on the paired subcaudal shields of the tail. The tail

itself is three-fourths of an inch long; the anal shield is divided :

there are thirteen rows of scales round the body exclusive of the

ventral shields.

In the fresh condition we are told there is a yellow spot on each

occipital shield ; these spots can still be distinguished, appearing

like a pair of pale ocelli. The lower parts of the body are de-

scribed as being coloured uniformly red during life. According

to Dr. Giinther (P. Zool. Soe., 1859, p. 81) the genus Callophis is

characterized by the arrangement of the colours of the upper

parts in longitudinal streaks. Such streaks can be discerned in

the specimen under consideration, the median or vertebral line

being darker than the others ; the back and sides of the body are

also finely spotted, each scale bearing a brown spot.

The poison fangs are very small, grooved in front, and there are

no other maxillary teeth behind them.

According to Sir Joseph Fayrer (Thanatophidia of India, 1872.

p. 12), the pvison is virulent, and fowls bitten by some of the

species of Callophis succumbed in from one to three hours. They

are not aggressive, bite reluctantly, and would probably not be

able to inject a lethal dose into the human subject on account of

their small size and the shortness of their fangs. They are said

to feed chiefly upon other snakes, more especially upon Calamari,

which, however, do not occur in Ceylon so far as is known.

IV.—Dendrophis caudolineatus, Giinther. 1869.

Giinther, A., op. cit. P. Zool. Soc., 1869, p. 506.

Dendrophis is a genus of tree-snakes belonging to the aglyphous

section of the Colubridx, the maxillary teeth being numerous and

approximately equal, none being fang-like. Like Dryophis, it is

represented in Ceylon by two species, one of which is common

and widely distributed in the East Indies, the other rare and

confined to Ceylon. The common species is D. pictus and the

rare species D. caudolineatus. The former has fifteen rows of

scales, the latter thirteen.

A third species, D. bifrenalis, is described by Mr. Boulenger*

from three specimens in the British Museum. This is not present

eee —

* Rept. Ind., p, 338.

NOTES. 87

in the Colombo Museum collection; it seems not quite certain

whether it is not an aberrant form or variety of D. pictus.

The object of the present note is to place on record the

occurrence of an aberrant form of D. caudolineatus, which has

been sent to the Museum by Mr. H. M. Drummond Hay, who

had himself noticed the abnormality, The species has been

already recorded from Balangoda, Udugama, and Illagolla (Haly).

Side view of the head of two specimens of Dendrophis caudolineatus. The

upper specimen is aberrant, with a rudimentary loreal behind the nasal shield :

the lower figure represents the normal condition.

In anormal example of D. caudolineatus there is a long narrow

shield between the single preocular shield and the nasal shield,

bounded below by the upper labials and above by the prefrontal.

‘This shield is called the loreal. In the abnormal specimen there

is no loreal on the right side of the head, the right prefrontal

coming into contact with the upper labials. On the left side the

left prefrontal is also in contact with the upper labials, but there

is a very small loreal wedged in between it and the nasal. On

the left there is reduction and on the right complete suppression

of the loreal. On both sides there is a slight tendency towards

duplication of the procular.

One of the principal characters of D. bifrenalis is the possession

of two loreals. No doubt in course of time, as material accu-

mulates, one will be in a position to ascertain whether this is a

constant character or merely a casual duplication.

The species of the genus Dendrophis are called “ haldanda” in

Sinhalese. One of the distinctive marks which ‘they have in

common is the possession of a suture-like keel along the sides

of the ventral shields. Furthermore, the pupil of the eye is

round* the anal shield is divided, and the subecaudals are in

two rows, Mw ;

* There is a general superficial resemblance between Dipsas and Dendrophis, the

head in both genera being distinct from the neck, but more elongate in the latter.

They may be at once distinguished by the shape of the pupil of the eye which ir

vertically elliptical in Dipsas, round in Dendrophis.

Sd SPOLIA ZEYLANICA,

V.—Rhinophis punctatus, Miiller, 1832.

Miller, Joh., Beitriige zur Anatomie und Naturgeschichte der

Amphibien. Zeitschrift f. Physiologie (Tiedemann u.

Treviranus), 1V., 1832, p. 249.

In October of last year, whilst travelling on the road from

Puttalam to Chilaw, I picked up a dead though fresh * depatnaya”

near Madurankuli, which excited my interest at the time, and

subsequently proved to be the first specimen of the kind ever

acquired by the Colombo Museum, namely, Rhinophis punctatus,

a Species peculiar to Ceylon, as indeed are all the other members

of the genus Rhinophis, with one exception, A. sanguineus of

Southern India.

Rhinophis punctatus, Slightly reduced.

It is a long slender snake with inconspicuous head, and with a

large tail shield. Itsmoresuperficial peculiarity depends upon the

character and distribution of the pigment in the skin, producing

a variegated appearance. In most snakes the ventral surface of

the body is paler than the dorsal and lateral surfaces, but in this

instance the scheme of coloration is reversed, and the upper

surface is that which displays the least dark pigment.

This is in fact a very well-marked species, much more so in

reality than would appear from written descriptions, though I

have not had access to the figure of it contained in Peters’s

Monograph of the Uropeltidz.

The median dorsal or vertebral scales have a black blotch in

each, the series of blotches producing a moniliform pattern down

the back ; the submedian scales are pale, devoid of black pigment.

NOTES. _ 89

The rostral shield, which forms the pointed snout, has alength

of 3°75 mm.* on the upper side of the head separating the nasals; it

is distinctly keeled, with an orange-coloured tip. There is also

some orange colour about the caudal shield, which is as long as

the shielded part of the head, 6°25 mm. There are seventeen scales

round the middle of the body as in all the Ceylonese species of

Rhinophis, and about 6 subeaudal shields (according to Beddome

8 or 5 in the males, 6 or 7 in the females). The total length is

about 14 inches with a diameter of 5°5 mm.

Dorsal and lateral views of the head of R. punctatus.

In his “ Account of the Harth-snakes [ Uropeltidz ] of the Penin-

sular of India and Ceylon” (Ann. Nat. Hist., ser. 5, vol. XVII.,

1886, pp. 3-33) Colonel R. H. Beddome states that during the

course of his investigations he only found a single example of

R. punctatus. This, coupled with the fact that the present

example is the first to find its way to the Colombo Museum,

where there is a representative collection of Ceylonese snakes,

entitles the species to be regarded for the present as a rarity.

A. WILLEY. .

Colombo, October 10, 1903.

* Approximately 25 millimetres go to the inch, 300 to the foot.

0 . 25-03

;

NEMATODA IN THE COLOMBO MUSEUM, 9]

NEMATODA IN THE COLLECTION OF THE COLOMBO

MUSEUM.

By Dr. O. von LINSTOW.

( Gottingen.)

With two Plates.

HE small collection of endoparasitic Nematodes here de-

scribed contains representatives of twenty-two species, of

which thirteen are new and one is made the type of a new genus,

Ctenocephalus.

The following is a list of the species recorded, together with

their hosts :-—

PAGE

1. Ascaris rotundicaudata, n.sp., from Calotes ophiomachus ... \92

2. <A. ceylanica, u.sp., from Haliastur indus and Poliaétus

ichthyaétus one - me 92

3. A. brachyura, n.sp., from Calotes versicolor aed 93

4. A. quadrata, n.sp., from Crocodilus porosus ane 93

5. A. mystax, Zed., from Canis familiaris and Felis pardus... 94

6. A .vitulorum, Goeze, from Bos indicus ... ca 94

7. Physaloptera varani, Parona, from Varanus bengalensis... 95

8. Physaloptera, spec. ? from Calotes versicolor ee 95

9. Spiroptera dentata, n.sp., from Sus cristatus act 95

10. S. triangulum, n.sp., from Calotes er: aoe 96

11. S. obtusa, Rud., from Mus decumanus ... ee 96

12. S. bufonis? Stossich, from Bufo melanostictus sed 96

13. Heterakis trilabium, n.sp., from Centropus sinensis aoe 97

14. H. anomala, n.sp., from Tropidonotus piscator ab 97

15. Strongylus pigmentatus, n.sp., from Lepus nigricollis be 98

16. Cylichnostomun tetracanthum (Mehlis), from Equus cabal-

us ss as aoe ams 99

17. Triodontophorus serratus, Looss, from Equus caballus ... 99

18. Kalicephalus willeyi, n.sp., from Vipera russelli and Colu-

ber helena oe = he |

19. Oxyuris poculum, n.sp., from Equus caballus =e 101

20. O. acanthura, u.sp., from Calotes versicolor — 101

21. Ctenocephalus tiara, Yon Linstow, from Varanus benga-

lensis and Varanus salvator nea aa 102

22. Filaria vivipara, n.sp., from Corvus splendens coe tee 18

ASCARIS.

The mouth is surrounded by three lips, of which the dorsal is

placed symmetrically across the dorsal middle line, while the

two ventro-lateral lips abut upon the ventral middle line; the

P 25-03

92 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

intestine is often prolonged into a eecum, which lies below the

cesophagus, and the latter frequently carries a tubular gland which

rests upon the dorsal side of the intestine. The male possesses

two equal spicula or cirri, but no bursa at the caudal end of the

body.

Ascaris has the muscuiature characteristic of Schneider’s Poly-

myaria, and belongs to the division Secernentes, in which the

lateral fields or ridges are narrow and project well inwards ; each

ridge contains a canal, and the two lateral canals unite in front

in the mid-ventral line, where they open to the exterior by a

common porus excretorius, not far behind the mouth.

1.—Ascaris rotundicaudata, n.sp.

Leal Bl Lepr akege be -

Habitat: stomach and intestine of Calotes ophiomachus (“ka-

tussa,” Sinh.), Colombo.

Cuticula annulate or transversely striate ; lips broad and short,

denticulate, without intermediate lips, papille set far back ; dorsal

lips nearly quadrilateral with rounded fore-edge, 0°22 mm.

broad and 0-068 mm. long.

The cesophagus occupies 51; of the entire body length in the

male, ;}- in the female.

The male has a length of 46 mm. with a diameter of 0°73 mm.

The tail is rounded with a conical extremity and equals ,, of

the body length. The cirri or spicula measure 88 mm.; at the

tail end of thebody on each side there are papille—thirty-one pre-

anal papilla and three post-anal. The prae-anal papille extend

forwards to a distance of 3-2 mm. from the caudal extremity.

Quite at the posterior end there is also a dorsal papilla.

In the female, with a length of 72 mm. and diameter 1:14 mm.,

the rounded tail occupies +35 of the body length, and terminates

in a fine conical prolongation. The vagina opens approximately

in the middle of the body. The thick-shelled eggs are nearly

spherical, 0:078 mm. in diameter; the shell surface is finely

granulated. |

2.—Ascaris ceylanica, D.sp.

dl gs if eh

Habitat : (@) intestine of; the Brahminy kite, Haliastur indus,

Bodd., Colombo; (4) stomach of the fish eagle, Poliaétus

ichthyaétus, Horsf., Kalpitiya.

This is a fairly large species, allied to A. microlabiwm, but not

identical with it. All the specimens are fragmentary, so that

measurements cannot be given,

NEMATODA IN THE COLOMBO MUSHUM. 95

Cuticula annulate; lips with large intermediate lips without

denticulations (Zahnleisten); the inner pulp is produced forwards ;

the dorsal lip is 0°099 mm. broad, 6°073 mm. long; the tail end is

conically attenuated.

The male is 1-22 mm. in diameter, the very short tail measures

only 0°22 mm., the long cirri measure 5°53 mm.

The female has a diameter of 1550 mm.; length of tail, 0°32

mm. ; spherical thick-shelled eggs, 0-062 mm.

3.—Ascaris brachyura, n.sp.

PAs Le siteeeey

Habitat : intestine of Calotes versicolor, Dum. et Bibr., Colombo.

Cuticula broadly annulate ; lips with tooth-rows, the denticles

high and acute: intermediate lips absent; dorsal lip concave

in front, 0°176 mm. broad, 0°097 mm. long; papille large,

obliquely placed ; body slender, tail very short and rounded ; the

cwsophagus extends over ,4 to ; of the body length.

The male has a length of 31:6 mm. and a diameter of 0:91 mm. ;

the tail has a length equal to s4, of the body, and carries a very

fine style-shaped process ; the falciform cirri have rounded ends

and measure 0°62 mm. ; at the caudal end on each side there are

22 pre-anal and two post-anal papille.

The female attains a length of 34°3 mm. and a width of 0°86 mm.;

the tail is 4, of the entire length, and is destitute of a styliform

process at the end; the vulva lies somewhat in front of the

mid-region of the body, dividing the latter in the proportion of

3:5; the reproductive organs leave the anterior third of the

body free, and behind 1, ; eggs were not mature.

4.— Ascaris quadrata, u.sp.

Pl. L., fig. 4.

Habitat: stomach of Crocodilus porusus, Gray, Bolgoda.

There is only one specimen in the collection, an immature

female, but the formation of the lips is so characteristic, and

diverges so much from that of the other Nematodes known from

African and American crocodiles, that it is possible to diagnose

the species. .

The cuticula is finely annulate ; lips without teeth and without

intermediate lips ; the dorsal lip is 0°132 mm. broad, 0:088 mm.

long, quadrangular, with front angles rounded ; the pulp (pulpa)

is produced into two quadrangular projections. The length

amounts to 15°38 mm., the diameter to 0°55 mm.; the csophagus

occupies } of the entire length ; a ccecum arises from the intestine

94 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

and extends forwards below the cesophagus, } length of latter

the short tail is conical, ,4, of the body length.

The Ascaride hitherto known from crocodiles are as follows :—

Ascaris helicina, Molin ;* lips with intermediate lips, the pulp

gives rise in front to two spheres with forked processes ; body

spirally involute ; North America.

A. agilis, Wedl.;f lips with dentigerous ridges (Zahnleisten),

narrow at the base ; pulp with three roundish projections: body

spirally involute ; Egypt.

A. lanceolata, Molin ;{ lips with two semi-circular dentate

ridges in front; North and South America.

A. tenuicollis, Rud., from North and South America, has been

so defectively described that it is impossible to recognize the

species.

a.—Ascaris mystax, Zed.

Habitat: Canis familiaris, L.; passed by a young sucking

puppy, Colombo; also from intestine of young Felis pardus, L.,

Wirawila.

Cf. A. Railliet, Traité de zoologie médicale et agricole, Paris,

1395, pp. 402--405, fig. 2€5.

6.—Ascaris vitulorum, Goeze,

= A. vituli, Neumann.

Habitat : Bos indicus, L.; passed by a young calf of four to six

months, Colombo.

Cf. G. Neumann, Revue vétérinaire, Toulouse, 1883, pp. 1-20,

pl. III.-IV.

[Collected and presented to the Colombo Museum by G. W.

Sturgess, Esq., M.R.C.V.S.]

PHYSALOPTERA.

Two lateral lips at the head end, surrounded by a circular cuti-

cular sheath; the musculature is of the type of Schneider’s

Polymyaria ; the génus belongs to the Secernentes; at the caudal

extremity of the male there is a lancet-shaped or bean-shaped

bursa ; the two cirri of the male are unequal; on each side of the

cloacal aperture at the tail end, four stalked papille, median

and unstalked papille in varying numbers.

p. 120, tab. IX., fig. 9.

+ Wedl, Sitzungsber. d. k. k. Akad. d. Wissensch, mathem. naturw. Classe.

Wien, Bd. XLIV., 1861, p. 467, tab. I.-IL., figs. 12-16.

1 v. Drasche, /.c., p. 133, tab. X., figs, 5-11.

NEMATODA IN THE COLOMBO MUSEUM. 95

7.—Physaloptera varani, Parona.

Habitat : stomach of Varanus bengalensis (*talagoya,” Sinh.),

Bolgoda. Cf. Parona, Elminti di Birmania, 1890, p. 776, tab. IIT.,

ney.

3.—Physaloptera, spec. ?

Habitat : intestine of Calotes versicolor, Colombo.

The collection contains only two specimens, which are not suffi-

ciently well preserved to render a specific diagnosis possible.

Length 126 to 13°6 mm. ; diameter 0:59 to 1:12 mm.; lips with

three conical projections, of which the central is the highest and

carries a tooth at its apex; the cesophagus is equal to = of the

body length ; the tail, rounded behind, ,},th of the entire length.

SPIROPTERA.

‘Head sometimes with two lips, sometimes with four, and some-

times with none ; the musculature corresponds with Schneider’s

Poly myaria—Secernentes ; male with two unequal cirri; the

caudal papille are arranged in two longitudinal rows, and on each

side there are four prve-anal papille.

9.—Spiroptera dentata, n.sp.

Pl. L., figs. 5-7.

Habitat : stomach of wild boar, Sus cristatus, Chilaw.

Cuticula finely annulate. The mouth leads into a vestibulum,

0°11 m.m. in length ; its entrance is armed with a dorsal and a

ventral tooth ; the mouth is a transverse slit, the border of which

shows, both above and below, three notches with papille. The

cesophagus measures oa of the entire length, and presents a spiral

musculature ; in a young worm of 14°6 mm. the nerve ring

surrounds the csophagus 2°64 mm. from the head end, and ata

point situated 0°31 mm. behind it the porus excretorius opens.

The male (25 mm. long by 0°79 mm. broad) has a closely

involute tail,which resembles that of Spiroptera strongylina, Rud.;

the cirri are respectively 0°35 and 0°92 mm. long, the shorter one

bearing at its end a barb. Immediately in front of the cloaca, on

each side, there are four closely packed pre-anal papille; behind

it there. is one papilla, and all have long stalks; the cloaca is

surrounded by a broad ring, notched externally ; the bursa shows

longitudinal rows of oval scales.

The female grows to a length of 55 mm., with a width of 1:10

mm.; the short conical tail is curved over the back; the vulva is

placed far behind the middle, and divides the body in the

96 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

proportion of 70: 23; the eggs are small, thick-shelled, and

cylindrical, measuring in length and breadth 0:039 and 0-017 mm.

respectively.

10.—Spiroptera triangulum, n.sp.

Pl. L,, fig. 8.

From body cavity of Caloles ouphiomachus (‘* katussa,” Sinh.),

Colombo.

One male specimen, 4:1 mm. long, 0°51 mm. broad; cuticula

annulate ; at the junction of cesophagus and intestine there is a

deep circular constriction of the body wall.

The head is rounded, and presents on each sidea triangular mark

with a small papilla at the apex; the mouth leads into a small

vestibule ; the spicula (cirri) are sub-equal and measure 0°4]-mm.;

they are attenuated and pointed at the end, and show externally a

reticulate design ; the cesophagus is equal to as the tail to iss of

the entire length ; the tail is flattened dorsally ; on each side of

it are four pre-anal and two post-anal papille; the former

increase in size from before backwards, and the first post-anal

papille are finger-shaped.

11.—Spiroptera obtusa, Rud.

From stomach of Mus decumanus, Pallas, Colombo.

See Von Linstow, Arch. f. microsc. Anat., Bd. 56; Bonn, 1900,

pp. 363-366, tab. XV., figs. 3-4.

12.—Spiroptera, spec.?

From peritoneum of Bufo melanostictus, Schneider, Colombo.

A larva of 835 mm. by 1:18 mm.; head not distinct ; reproduc-

tive organs not developed.

Stossich* describes under the name Spiroptera bufonis a larva

from the peritoneum of the common toad (Bufo vulgaris), with a

length of 44 mm. and breadth of 1 mm., which closely resembles

the present example.

HETERAKIS.

Mouth generally surrounded by tives lips; the musculature

is of the type of Schneider’s Polymyaria; the genus belongs

to the Secernentes; caudal extremity of the male provided

with a bursa, and in front of the cloacal aperture with a circular

sucker, into which radial muscles are inserted; two unequal

spicula.

* Boll. soc. Adriat., vol. XX., Trieste, 1900, p. 5, tab, IT., figs. 14-18.

NEMATODA IN THE COLOMBO MUSEUM. 97

13.—Heterakis trilabium, n.sp.

Pl. I., fig. 9.

From the intestine of the jungle crow (Centropus sinensis,

Illig.), Horana.

Cuticle annulate; three semi-circular lips at the head end, of

which the dorsal lip carries two papille, the two others one papilla

each ; the csophagus occupies ;; of the total length. The male

attains a length of 26 mm. and a breadth of 0°69 mm.; the conical

tail is 2, of the body length and carries on each side four large pre-

anal and six post-anal papille. One pair of the latter occupies a

sub-median position close behind the cloaca. In front of the latter

there is a circular sucker. The cloacal aperture is triangular ; the

long sub-equal spicula measure respectively 1°95 and 1:97 mm. ;

their hinder end is rounded.

The female (39 mm. by 1:11 mm.) has a conical attenuated tail

ys of total length, with small digitate prolongation ; the vulva

lies behind the mid-body, dividing the body in the proportion of

8:5; the thick-shelled smooth eggs are 0°081 mm. by 0:047 mm.

broad.

14.—Heterakis anomala, n.sp.

Pint, fess LOM.

From the stomach of Tropidonoius piscator, Schneider (“ dia

polonga,” Sinh.), Colombo.

_ Cuticleannulate ; head with three elongate, sinuate lips ; at their

base the cuticle is swollen, and presents transverse rings with

distinct posterior margins ; the cesophagus equals 4 to } the total

length.

The male measures 34 mm. by 1°14 mm.; the caudal end is

pointed and occupies 7, of the body length; on each side there

are three pre-anal and four post-anal papille ; of the latter one pair

lies close behind the cloacal orifice, and the next two pairs of lateral

papille are remarkably large and touch one another ; the sub-

equal spicula are granulated and measure 1-7C and 1:75 mm ; the

sucker-like organ is beset with eight roundish projections, of which

the cuticle shows pore canals.

The female is 33 mm. long by 1:14 mm. broad ; the finely

pointed tail is 2, of the body length; the vulva opens at two-

thirds of the length from the head end; the thin-shelled eggs

measure 0°055 mm. by 0°036 mm.

STRONGYLUS.

Body slender ; the musculature is of the type of Schneider’s

Meromyaria, consisting of long rhombs generally arranged in six

longitudinal rows; the genus belongs to the Secernentes ; male

98 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

with two equal spicula ; a wide generally trilobed bursa at the

tail end, supported by ribs; the ribs of the bursa are muscular

and terminate witha papilla; head without buccal capsule, plainly

rounded or with simple lips, frequently with six papille ; in the

female the vulva lies behind the middle of the body.

15.—Strongylus pigmentatus, n.sp.

PI, es los.

From stomach of hare, Lepus nigricollis, Cuv., Ranna, Southern

Province.

This species is allied to Strongylus retorteformis, Zed.

The cuticleisannulate ; the head trilabiate, each lip carrying on

its summit a small papilla ; the esophagus occupies in the male

yz, in the female ;; of the total length; the tail is acuminate ;

cesophagus, testes, uterus, eggs, and especially the ovaries are

coloured black.

Size of the male 7-7 mm. by 0:12 mm. ; the spicula are short,

0°68 mm.; they are pale brown, and have at the root a scutiform

appendix; they terminate behind in three branches, of which

the largest is rounded, the others pointed; the bursa has two

strong lateral lobes and a very narrow median lobe; the latter is

supported by a rib which bifurcates, and each branch again divides

into two branchlets which lie close beside one another ; the outer

branches are the shorter; the lateral lobes of the bursa are each

supported by six slender ribs.

The female is 10°5 mm. long by 0°]4 mm. broad; the tail is

ge of the total length ; the vulva is situated posteriorly, dividing

the body in the proportion of 37: 11; the eggs are 0°062 mm.

long and 0-036 mm. broad.

The species differs from Strongylus retorteformis, Zed.,* in the

formation of the head, the pigment, the cirri or spicula, and the

position of the vulva. The spicula of S. retorteformis end in

a point and are undivided and twisted ; the vulva of this species

is only 0°75 mm. distant from the end of the tail, in contrast with

S. pigmentata, where it lies 2-46 mm. from the caudal extremity,

the two species being approximately equal in size.

CYLICHNOSTOMUM.

Belongs to the Strongylide, Schneider’s Meromyaria, and the

Secernentes ; at the head there is a buccal capsule surrounded by

two lateral and four sub-median papille, the lateral projecting

freely above the cuticle ; the lumen of the capsule is lined by a

** See W. Stédter. Die Strongyliden in dem Labmagen der gezihmten Wieder-

kiiuer, Hamburg, 1901, pp. 76-86, 92; tab, XI., figs, 6-8, tab. XII.

‘

NEMATODA IN THE COLOMBO MUSEUM. 99

bacillary layer; the two halves of the male bursa are each

supported by ten ribs, of which the second and third lie close

together ; the 8th, 9th, and 10th are ramifications of one rib.

16.—Cylichnostomum tetracanthum, Mehlis.

Passed by ponies on Iranativu; the animals succumbed to

enteritis, anzmia, and exhaustion. Presented by G. W. Sturgess,

Esq., M.R.C.V.S.

Syn. Strongylus tetracanthus, Mehlis ; Sclerostomum tetracan-

thum, Wedl.; Cyathostomum tetracanthum, Molin.

See A. Looss. The Sclerostomide of horses and donkeys in

Egypt, Cairo, 1901, p. 124, tab. IV., VI.-XI., XIII.

TRIODONTOPHORUS.

Strongylide, Meromyaria, Secernentes; large buccal capsule

with six papille, two lateral and four sub-median; mouth

surrounded by bristles; at the bottom of the capsule are three

teeth ; male bursa as in the preceding genus.

17.—Triodontophorus serratus, Looss.

From Equus caballus, L.; passed by ponies on Iranativu.

Presented by G. W. Sturgess, Esq.

Cf. A. Looss, op. cit., pp. 83-86, tab, IIL., figs. 31-38.

KALICEPHALUS.

Head with thick-walled chitinous mouth, laterally compressed,

the wall traversed laterally by longitudinal tracts of parenchyma

with a dorsal and ventral impression; cesophagus remarkably —

short and broad, the posterior half thickened to form a bulbus

containing valves; the male bursa is broad and irilobed, the

cirri are equal ; lateral lines narrow and raised, with a vessel ;

vulva behind the mid-body ; the genus belongs to the Strongylide,

more particularly to the Sclerustomina, to the Meromyaria, and

Secernentes. The species live in the stomach and intestine of

snakes in South America and the Hast Indies.

18.—Kalicephalus willeyi, n.sp.

Pl. I., figs. 14-18.

From the stomach and cesophagus of Vipera russelli, Gray (“ tic-

polonga,” Sinh.), Colombo and Weligatta; and from the intestine

of Coluber helena, Daud., Horana.

The mouth cavity is large, compressed, and traversed by three

paired parenchymatous bands ending in front in papille ; there

is a dorsal and ventral notch, rounded in front, acute behind ;

Q 25-03

100 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

the cuticle is smooth; the short csophagus occupies in the male

ts, in the female 4 of the body length; the posterior half

expands to forma bulbus with valves; the nerve collar surrounds

the cesophagus approximately in the middle at its thinnest

portion ; the porus excretorius discharges below the middle of the

esophageal bulbus in the female 0°39 mm. from the head end.

Along the dorsal surface of the cesophagus occurs a gland, the

duct of which lies at the dorsal side of the mouth opening;

shortly before the orifice is reached the duct expands into a vesicle.

The intestine has a thick lining membrane which is united with

the outer or basement membrane on each side. The lateral ridges

occupy the 10th part of the periphery of the body wall and

project inwards far beyond the musculature ; they are divided by

a septum into a dorsal and a ventral half, and at the inner edge of

the septum there is a canal with triangular lumen.

The material consisted of a very large number of females with

only one male, which was 5:9 mm. in length and 0:33 mm.

in diameter ; the bursa is trilobed, the unpaired median dorsal lobe

is supported by a forked rib, the inner fork again divides at the

end ; the lateral lobes have four ribs each, of which the anterior

is double, while the others arise from a common root; the thin

cirri measure 0°37 mm.

The female attains a length of 19 mm. with a breadth of

0°51 mm.; the vulva is circular and rather prominent, lying

behind the middle, and dividing the body in the proportion of 18:

5; the eggs measure 0°057 mm. by 0°036 mm.

The genus Kalicephalus was established by Molin,* who described

seven species from Brazil, of which one was figured, viz., Ne

inermis. One of Molin’s seven species, K. appendiculatus, was

subsequently re-discovered by Stossich,t who also described an

eighth species under the name Strongylus ersilic,t from the

Indian Python molurus. The species here described is therefore

the ninth of the genus.

OXYURIS.

Belongs to the Meromyaria and the Secernentes. The ceso-

phagus is long, terminating in a bulbus containing valves; male

with one cirrus; frequently three papillee on each side of the tail ;

female with long acuminate tail; eggs generally asymmetrical ;

the species live in mammals, amphibia, reptiles, insects, and

myriopods.

* Il sottordine degli Acrofalli. Mem. Ist, Venet., vol. IX., Venice, 1861, pp.

114-125, tab. VIL, figs. 1-3.

+ Boll. Soc, Adriat., vol. XX., Trieste, 1900, pp. 2, 3, tab. L,, figs. 7, 8, tab. II.,

fig. 9.

t Ibid., vol. XVII, 1896, p, 124, tab. IV, figs. 11-13.

NEMATODA IN THE COLOMBO MUSEUM. 101

19.—Oxyuris poculum, n.sp.

Pl. II., figs. 19-21.

Passed by ponies on Iranativu. Presented by G. W. Sturgess,

Esq., M.R.C.V.S.

This species is nearly related to Oxyuris curvula, Rud., having

the same form as the latter ; the mouth is hexagonal with two large

lateral papille in contradistinction to the six papille of O. curvula ;

the cesophagus in the male occupies 74 of the total length, termi-

nating in a bulbus; the ducts of the three cesophageal glands

lie quite anteriorly in the lumen of the csophagus, and are cup-

shaped with denticulate margin, whereas in O. curvula they

are tubular.

The male is 14:2 mm. long by 0:99 mm. in diameter; the

cirrus is 0°44 mm. long, finely acuminate ; the tail carries four

papille, of which two lie at the posterior angles of the quadrangular

portion of the body and two are placed ventrally. The six median

papille of O. curvula are absent in the present species.

The female has a long filamentous hind body, and attains a

length of 65 mm. and breadth of 2°57 mm.; the eggs have a

double shell ; the outer shell is perforated at one pole, the orifice

being closed by a plug; the eggs measure 0:081 mm. by 0°047

mm., those of O. curvula being 0:099 mm. by 0°042 mm.

20.—Oxyuris acanthura, n.sp.

Pl. I, fig, 22.

From rectum of Calotes versicolor, Dum et Bibr., Colombo.

Head rounded, without lips and papille ; the cesophagus is long

and narrow, ending behind in a strong bulbus; in the male it is

ro of the total length, in the female }; the intestine is wider

than the cesophageal bulb ; the cuticle is deeply ringed.

The male (2°29 mm. by 0°37 mm.) has a rounded tail end

with a curved process bearing on each side one papilla, while the

body has two papille on each side ; the cirrus measures 0°065 mm.

The female is 5°84 mm. long and 0°55 mm. broad ; the rounded

tail, 4. of the body length, ends with a style-shaped process ; the

vulva lies behind the mid-body, dividing the body in the propor-

tion of 7: 5. Eggs were not mature.

The species has affinity with Oxyuris brevicaudata, Duj., from

Ascalobotes fascicularis. Parona* refers to an unnamed Oxyuris

from Calotes, spec., with a length of 20 mm., the vulva opening in

the anterior third of the body.

* Elminti di Birmania. Ann, Mus., Genova, ser. ii, vol. VII, 1890, p. 771.

102 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

CTENOCEPHALDS, n.g.

At the head end a dorsal and a ventral erectile lip, whose end

lobes interdigitate ; four cervical glands with two orifices in the

dorsal lip; cephalic cuticle thickened like a turban with

transverse grooves; low and narrow lateral lines without vessel ;

excretory pore absent; two equal cirri; belongs to the Poly-

myaria and Resorbentes.

21.—Ctenocephalus tiara, Von Linstow.

Pl. IL., figs. 23-27.

From stomach of Varanus bengalensis, Daud. (‘ talagoya,”

Sinh.), Bolgoda, and from stomach of Varanus salvator, Gray

(“kabaraguwa, ” Sinh.), Horana.

I described this species in the year 1879 under the name

Ascaris tiara.}| I now perceive that it must form the type of a

distinct genus. The original specimens were taken from the Natal

monitor, Varanus ornatus, Daud.

The formation of the head is very remarkable, comprising a

dorsal lip with three rounded projections and a ventral lip with

four similar processes, interdigitating ; the lips can also separate

from one another and be erected; in their hinder portion there

are four club-shaped glands with round lumen, reaching backwards

0'2mm.; outwardly the glands are furnished with spiral muscles ;

the two glands on the right and left side, respectively, unite into

a common .duct, and both ducts (right and left) open to the

exterior on the dorsal lip ; the cuticle is deeply grooved at intervals

of 0:088 mm.; the cesophagus measures }-1 of the total length;

the tail is conical; dorsal and veniral tracts narrow ; the lateral

tracts (“Seitenfelder’’) are broad and low, and do not project

inwards beyond the musculature ; they occupy, on each side, a

of the periphery of the body; a septum divides them into dorsal

and ventral halves, but there is no vessel and consequently no

porus excretorius.

The worms had bored with their heads deep into the wall of

the stomach, which had grown firmly round them ; the nutrition,

therefore, cannot take place through the mouth, but evidently, as

with Filaria and all other Resorbentes, through the cuticle ; the

lateral fields appear to play the part of absorbing organs.

‘The male is 18-20 mm. long and 0°63-1 mm. in diameter ; the

tail measures ,', of the total length ; the two falciform cirri have

pointed ends and a length of 16 mm. ; there are on each side of

+ Wiirttemb. naturw. Jahresh. Jahrg., XXXV., Stuttgart, 1879, p. 320, tab. V.,

fig. 1,

NEMATODA IN THE COLOMBO MUSEUM. 103

the tail two pre-anal, one large par-anal, and three post-anal

papillee.

The length of the female amounts to 25-28 mm., with breadth of

1:2-1°3 mm.; the tail measures 4, of the length of the body; the

vagina opens behind, dividing the body in the proportion of 50:

1L; the eggs are 0:065 mm. by 0:J42 mm. in size ; they have thin

shells, and their surface is beset with fine granulations.

FILARIA.

Belongs to the Polymyaria and the Resorbentes; elongated

Nematoda ; low and broad lateral fields, which generally occupy ¢

of the circumference of the body ; excretory pore absent ; caudal

end of the male generally spiral ; two unequal cirri ; at the tail end

two rows of papillz, on each side four prw-anal ; in the female the

vulva lies quite in front.

The species occur in Vertebrata, especially mammals and birds,

in all organs except in the digestive tract.

22.—Filaria vivipara, v.sp.

From the peritoneum of Corvus splendens, Vieillot, Colombo.

The material only contained females, 16-21 mm. long and

0:32 mm. broad ; the wsophagus measures =};, the tail , of the

total length; the generative orifice lies in front 1:5-1°8 mm.

from the cephalic extremity ; the eggs with membranous chorion

measure 0:039 mm. by 0:031 mm.; the species is viviparous,”

and the uterus and vagina were filled with immense numbers of

embryos. Both ends of the body are rounded; on each side of

the head a small papilla; lateral fields t of the periphery. The

embryos are 0:043-0°364 mm. long and 0:0052 mm. broad,

relatively very long and slender; the head of the embryo is

rounded, the tail pointed, and no internal organs can be distin-

guished.

Presumably the embryos penetrate into the vascular system of

the bird, where they live as blood-filariz.

* See “Spolia Zeylanica,” part II., p. 28.

104 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

EXPLANATION OF PLATES

Illustrating Dr. von Linstow’s Paper on Nematoda in the Colombo Museum.

PLATE I.

Fig. 1.—Ascaris rotundicaudata. Dorsal lip.

_ Fig. 2.—A. ceylanica. Dorsal lip.

Fig. 3.—A. brachyura. Dorsal lip.

Fig. 4.—A. gquadrata. Dorsal lip.

Fig. 5.—Spiroptera dentata. Head end from the side.

Fig. 6.—Same. Frontal view of head.

Fig. 7.—Same. Tail end of the male.

Fig. 8.—Spiroptera triangulum. Tail end of male.

Fig. 9.—Heterakis trilabium. Tail end of male; cirri omitted.

Fig. 10.—H. anomala. Head.

Fig. 11.—Same. ‘Tail end of male.

_ Fig. 12.—Strongylus pigmentatus. Bursa of male.

Fig. 13.—Same. Cirrus of male.

Fig. 14.—Kalicephalus willeyi. Frontal view of head.

Fig. 15.—Same. Side view of head.

Fig. 16.—Same. Dorsal view of head.

Fig. 17.—Same. Bursa of male.

Fig. 18.—Same. Transverse section of body; d. intestine ;

s. lateral field ; g. lateral vessel or canal.

PLATE II.

Fig. 19.—Ozyuris poculum. Frontal view of head.

Fig. 20.—Same. A cup-shaped expansion of the duct of the

cesophageal glands. |

Fig. 21.—Same. Tail end of male.

Fig. 22.—Oxzyuris acanthura. Tail end of male.

Fig. 23.—Ctenocephalus tiara. Frontal view of head ; d. dorsal

lip; v. ventral lip; a. external orifice of the cervical glands.

Fig. 24.—Same. Ventral view of head ; v. erected ventral lip ;

h, cervical gland.

Fig. 25.—Same. Tail end of male.

Fig. 26.—Same. Transverse section through the neck region ;

0, cesophagus ; /#. cervical gland.

Fig. 27.—Same. Transverse section through a female ; d. dorsal

tract ; v. ventral tract; s. lateral field; d. intestine; 0. ovary.

von LINSTOW.

NEMATODA

. Volks. PL.

ONEMATODAsen LINSTOW: “ee

Doh | é

CRYSTALLINE ROCKS OF CEYLON, 105

THE CRYSTALLINE ROCKS OF CEYLON.

By A. K. COOMARASWAMY, B. Sc.,

Director, Mineralogical Survey of Ceylon.

HE following Paper is intended to give a brief account of the

crystalline rocks of Ceylon, so far as at present known and

studied.

The first question which arises is one of nomenclature. Fora

long time the rocks of Ceylon were somewhat summarily

classified as gneisses, or as belonging to a“ metamorphic series.”

It must here be pointed out that on the Continent theterm “ gneiss”

is often used in its strict original sense and applied only to foliated

crystalline rocks having the mineral composition of granites, and

thus consisting essentially of orthoclase-felspar and quartz, with

one or more of the minerals mica, hornblende, or augite. In this

strict sense the term “ gneiss ” is only applicable to certain of the

rocks of Ceylon. It has, however, been widely used in England

and even abroad to designate rocks characterized rather by the

possession of a “ gneissose” structure than by any particular

mineral composition. In this extended sense the term is

applicable to many or most of the rocks of Ceylon.

The name “granulite” has been extensively employed to

designate foliated crystalline rocks of fine grain in which ortho-

clase, quartz, garnet, and more or less biotite, hornblende, or

augite occur, but which are especially characterized by the

presence of garnet.

This term is thus particularly applicable to the majority of

Ceylonese rocks, and its use is perhaps to be preferred to that of

the term “ gneiss.”

Mr. Holland has recently named the rock series of Southern

India (which closely resembles that of Ceylon) the Charnockite

Series. Ceylon and Southern India form together a well-marked

petrographical province, and there is no doubt that the rocks of

Ceylon must be considered as forming part of the charnockite

series. It should be noted that the term “ charnockite ” is used

to designate both a whole group of rocks and also one of the types

of rock (having particular and definite characters) characteristic

of the group. It is thus safest as a general rule to speak of

106 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

the foliated crystalline rocks of Ceylon as granulites, and as

belonging to the charnockite series of Ceylon and Southern

India.

With regard to the use of the term “metamorphic series,” it

should be recognized that the evidence tends to show that the

mass of Ceylon rocks is rather conspicuous for the small evidences

of metamorphism subsequent to formation which it affords. The

term “metamorphic,” embodying as it does a very definite

and, generally speaking, erroneous view, is thus to be avoided.

If we come to inquire as to the real nature of the rocks composing

the granulite or charnockite series, we are at first struck by the

appearances in the field suggestive of a sedimentary origin (figs.

land2). Itisnot surprising that the conspicuous bedded charac-

ter, varied mineral composition, and local abundance of alternating

beds of limestone should have led to the supposition that such a

gneissose series as we have here to deal with really represents the

highly metamorphosed remains of some ancient sedimentary series.

Closer examination of the rocks, however, reveals but little in

support of such a view. Their mineral composition is found to

indicate a chemical constitution differing in important respects

from that of the great majority of sedimentary rocks, but similar

to that of many well-known types of deep-seated igneous rock.

Moreover, when we come to examine the minuter characters of

the foliation or mineral banding so characteristic of the Ceylon

rocks, we see that there is rather a lenticular than a definitely

parallel structure (fig. 2), and also that some definite relation

is evident between the lighter-coloured (more acid) rock types and

those of a darker colour—the more hasic.

This definite relationship may show us ovoid lenticular masses

of heavy dark rock included in a much lighter-coloured, more

acid rock that seems to have flowed around them, In other cases

the more acid types give other evidence of their intrusive relation

to the more basic bands and lenticles. When the rock examined

possesses a general dark colour and basic character we often find

the more acid portions existing as irregular patches a few inches

or feet in diameter, which send long tongues of acid material

in parallel bands along the foliation planes, giving a banded

character to a rock which would otherwise present a more.

uniform appearance. Sach phenomena, together with others

which a microscopic examination of the rocks reveals, are known to

be characteristic of many rocks whose igneous origin is undoubted.

It may then be assumed with safety that at least the greater part

of Ceylon rocks, so far as at present known, are of igneous

origin and that their well-banded appearance (fig. 2) results

FIG. 1.—FOLIATION PLANES IN GRANULITES.

(Charnockite series.) Near Teldeniya, Ceniral Province.

FIG. 2.—FOLIATION IN ROCKS OF THE GALLE GROUP.

(Charnockite series.) Galle Fort, About 7 feel thickness shown.

[To face p. 106

CRYSTALLINE ROCKS OF CEYLON. 107

from the drawing out by flowing movement of the various parts

of a heterogeneous magma, probably during its gradual consoli-

dation under conditions of great pressure.

The observed relations of the acid and basic varieties show that

the latter types were amongst the earlier products of the magma,

the more acid types as usual crystallizing later and having a more

or less intrusive relation towards the more basic. The continuous

flowing movement accompanying intrusion and consolidation has

had the effect of drawing out together in bands the acid and basic

types and preventing the former from transgressing the latter in

the form of dykes.

No very definite nomenclature can be applied to the different

varieties of granulite, which shade insensibly into one another,

and are sometimes so intimately interbanded as to make it

difficult to collect even a hand specimen of uniform composition.

The following general types, however, include the more conspi-

cuous varieties, beginning with the most acid :—

Amongst the rocks of the charnockite series are abundant

beds of granular quartz rock of very various thickness possessing a

mineral composition which varies in different cases from nearly

pure quartz, throngh types containing small quantities of felspar

and garnet and sometimes mica, to others which are at once

recognizable as the more acid types of granulite. Weare thusled

to regard the quartz bands as genetically connected with the other

members of the charnockite series, and in fact, as the last and most

acid products of the magma.

A less acid group is that of the Jeptynites, rocks composed

essentially of quartz and felspar (orthoclase microperthite

predominating), with or without more or less garnet and biotite

and accessory minerals such as graphite, zircon, and apatite.

These light-coloured rocks bulk largely amongst the granulites.

The garnetiferous leptynites are especially conspicuous, the bright

red garnets in a nearly white rock giving a very handsome

appearance. An _ especially characteristic feature of some

leptynites is the great elongation of the quartz grains.

Many conspiciuous hills (¢.g., Bambaragala near Teldeniya,

Central Province), with rocky summits weathered into “ tors,”

consist almost entirely of a granular granite-like leptynite

composed essentially of quartz and orthoclase microperthite, but

often with a small amount of biotite as well. In such cases the

rock seems to form a large ovoid mass amongst more basic types.

Typical charnockite consisting of quartz, felspars, and hyper-

sthene has a very different aspect, being of a greenish colour and

usually coarser grain, and having a greasy lustre. A considerable

R 25-03

108 SPOLIA ZHYLANICA,

range of types varying much in relative acidity have neverthe-

less a very similar appearance in the field, and we pass by gradual

transitions to rocks having the composition of norites (labrado-

rite-hy persthene rock) and diorites (hornblende-labradorite rock),

&e. Most of these less acid types might also be called pyroxene

granulites. The most basic types occur chiefly as lenticles and

‘pinched ” bands amongst medium and acid types; they include

rocks of which the principal constituents are hypersthene, augite,

garnet, basic plagioclase, &c. It is generally more or less evident

that these most basic types are to be regarded as amongst the

earliest products of the granulite magma.

Rocks of anomalous or unusual composition are sometimes met

with, eg., a felspar corundum rock from near Kandy, and a

garnetiferous leptynite in which spinel is very abundant; atten-

tion may also be called to the remarkable rocks containing

corundum, sillimanite, &c., described by Professor Lacroix. There

occur also in the Balangoda district certain zircon granites con-

taining a large quantity of well-crystallized zircon ; little is known

as to the relations of these rocks; it is not unlikely that they

may have some connection with the occurrence of a group of

rare minerals (including uraninite, &c.) found in the Balangoda

district ; they are probably intrusive in the charnockite series.

Pegmatite Dykes, consisting essentially of orthoclase and quartz

with mica or hornblende or both, are found occurring as dykes

crossing the granulite foliation planes and as sills running along

these planes. The pegmatites must be in many cases regarded

as segregation veins ; they appear to have crystallized before the

cooling of the matrix, as the minerals are interlocked at the

junction, which is rather a transition than an abrupt junction.

An important series of rocks not yet referred to is that of

the crystalline limestones. These rocks are found intimately

interbanded with the ordinary granulites, the beds of limestone

varying in thickness from hundreds of yards down to a few.

inches. Many varieties are dolomitic, but there is great variation

in this respect. Many interesting accessory minerals occur, such as

' phlogopite, forsterite, graphite, spinel, apatite, amphibole, clinohu-

mite, &c. The nature and origin of these rocks is exceedingly

obscure. Many would perhaps regard them as the highly

metamorphosed remains of some ancient calcareous sedimentary

series included in the vast mass of granulites, and owing their

characters to the effects of contact metamorphism. There are,

however, great difficulties in the acceptance of such a view.

Amongst these may be mentioned the, on the whole, small

quantity of the limestone compared with the vast bulk of the

CRYSTALLINE ROCKS OF CEYLON. 109

granulites, and the still smaller quantity of other rocks possibly

of a metamorphosed sedimentary character, the frequent oc-

currence in the limestones of fragments of peripherally modified

granulite, and the strong general similarity between the characters

of the crystallized limestones and those of igneous foliated

crystalline rocks.

Putting aside, however, the doubtful question of origin, it

is clear that as far as their present characters are concerned

the crystalline limestones are contemporaneous with the granu-

lites; and there can be little doubt that they existed in a state

akin to fusion at the time of the consolidation of the latter,

and that their accessory minerals crystallized under conditions

resembling those accompanying the cooling of such plutonic

magmas as have for example given rise to the granulites

themselves. The foliation of the limestones must have been

acquired at the same time and in the same way as that of the

granulites.

A group in some respects intermediate between the limestones

and granulites includes rocks composed essentially of one or more

of the minerals diopside, mica (phlogopite,&c.),amphibole, scapolite,

spinel, sphene, and calcite, with more rarely felspars, marcasite,

serendibite, &c. In these rocks the silicates are usually idiomor-

phie when moulded by carbonates. Of the minerals mentioned

diopside and mica are predominant. The rocks occur (@) as

junction rocks between limestone and granulite, ()) as inclusions

in the limestones, (c) as dykes in the granulites, these dykes

being usually narrow and having a zoned structure, and (d@) as bands

of rock interbedded with the granulites. Micaof commercial value

may occur in rocks of this type. The bands rarely exceed 6 ft.in

thickness and are often narrow. Continuity between the types

included here are very handsome, especially the coarse varieties

in which scapolite is conspicuous.

Rocks of the Galle group are also in some respects intermediate

between the limestones and granulites, inasmuch as they contain

numerous lime silicate minerals and differ in other respects from

the typical granulites, although in many ways resembling them ;

the presence of wollastonite (not yet found elsewhere in Ceylon)

and of scapolite and sphene (in addition to a green pyroxene

and the quartz and felspars characteristic of the granulites) and

absence of garnet, amphibole, and mica are distinguishing characters

of the Galle rocks. As in the granulites, there is a wide range

of types, from basic to acid, and mineral banding is very conspi-

cuous (fig. 2).

110 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

A brief description of the crystalline rocks is now concluded,

but a few other points remain to be considered.

Not a great deal can be said as to the conditions under which

the rocks were formed: they must have crystallized under great

pressure, and of course the temperature must have been high ;

during crystallization the magma was probably rather viscous

than fluid. There was evidently much flowing movement. The

magma was probably far from homogeneous to begin with, and

in addition to this the basic minerals crystallized in general before

the acid; this heterogeneity combined with movement produced

the conspicuous mineral banding. Probably the rocks crystallized

at a great depth, the absence of even ancient sedimentary rocks

overlying the granulites showing that denudation has long been

at work in Ceylon. In India as we proceed southwards the

paleeozoic rocks die out, and it is probable that the charnockite

series is of prepaleozoic or archean age.

Since their formation the rocks have suffered from earth

movements, but seemingly not of a violent character, inasmuch

as there is little evidence of deformation, nor has evidence of the

existence of thrust planes or similar phenomena been noted.

An important series of pressures has thrown the granulites into

a main series of anticlinal and synclinal folds, and to this system

of folds we may give the name of Taprobanian ; the axes of the

synclines and anticlines, some of which are of great size while

others are quite small, have a more or less constant trend about 30°

W. of N. in the Kandyan districts, and perhaps more nearly north

and south in the Badulla and some other districts ; no evidence to

date the movements is available.

This structural feature of the mountains of Ceylon is rendered

conspicuous by its effect on the directions of river systems and

even of roads and railways; every one interested in Ceylonese

topography must be acquainted with the north-west and south-

east valleys which are so conspicuous and which are due to the

rivers cutting their way along the foliation planes of the granu-

lites, forming strike* valleys, with corresponding strike ridges

separating them. Valleys, usually of less importance, have also

been made by streams that have cut their way along the joint

planes and thus occupy joint valleys oriented approximately at

* The inclination of a rock to the horizontal is termed its dip ; a line drawn at

right angles to the dip on the foliation plane is called the strike of the rock; or

the strike might bé definited as identival with the outcrop on a horizontal surface.

In fig. 1 the rocks are dipping from left to right; the water line on the

foliation planes serves to indicate the strike, Joints are divisional planes (other

than foliation or bedding planes) occurring in a rock, and are usually approxi-

mately at right angles to the foliation planes.

CRYSTALLINE ROCKS OF CEYLON. 11]

right angles to the strike valleys. Sometimes a stream occupies

a strike valley for part of its course and a joint valley elsewhere,

the change being indicated by a sharp turn. Perhaps the besi

illustration of the occurrence of parallel strike valleys is found in

the Hatton district ; in a map of this district the parallel valleys,

along which run road and rail as well as stream, are most

noticeable (fig. 3).

‘There are no data available to estimate the actual thickness of

the charnockite series in Ceylon (measured in a direction at right

angles to the foliation planes), but it is clearly not unlimited,

corresponding portions of the series being repeated by the

foldings.

Sheunma

Cruke - Valleys

G\k< Cooma rsuarny

Scote. of niles

2 s 4 s

ee Hee BOG AWRNTALAWA.

EE Thy \. J UR, j saa

Peat HON. } So

a we ~ \

FIG. 3.—STRIKE VALLEYS NEAR HATTON.

112 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA,

NOTES.

1. Uvraniniie.—This mineral (otherwise known as pitchblende)

is of considerable interest as being the chief source of radium at

the present time, associated with other rare elements. The

composition is somewhat variable, but the mineral is usually

described as a uranate of uranyl, lead, usually thorium (or

zirconium), often the metals of the lanthanum and yttrium

groups, with the gases nitrogen, helium, and argon in varying

amounts ; radium is present in very small quantities.

A considerable quantity of uraninite in small cubic erystals has

been obtained by Mr.&. D. Holland in the Balangoda district, but

it is not yet known 77 situ in this area.

Crystal of Uraninite from Ambalawa, Gampola.

It occurs also at Gampola, where it’ was found on Ambalawa

estate by Mr. G. P. Gaddum. It is here found very sparingly, in

lustrous sharp-angled cubic crystals in a pegmatite vein travers-

ing granulite. ‘he pegmatite is seen in several boulders on the

upper slopes of the Ambalawa estate; the boulders are evidently

derived from the hill above. The pegmatite vein consists of quartz,

flesh-coloured orthoclase, and biotite (in six-sided crystals), with

accessory greenish apatite, black tourmaline, and also uraninite.

The uraninite is rather easily recognized by its high specific

gravity (exceeding 9-0), black colour, and cubic form. The peg-

matite vein does not exceed 14 inches in width, and runs mainly

parallel to the foliation planes of the granulites, but sends off

branches and tongues which cross the foliation and again run

along the foliation planes. The minerals are interlocked at the

junction, and there is rather a transition from pegmatite to

granulite than a sharp junction. In other words the pegmatite,

as is often the case in Ceylon, has rather the aspect of a segregation

veins This occurrence is of considerable interest, as the mineral

NOTES. 113

has not been previously recorded in Ceylon (there existed a

massive fragment in the original Museum collection), and it is to

be hoped that the examination of this locality will lead to its

discovery in other districts.

A. K. COOMARASWAMY.

2. Peregrine EHarthworms at Peradeniya.—A collection of

earthworms made by Dr. H. Uzel at Peradeniya in July, 1901, is

the subject of a report by Dr. W. Michaelsen* of Hamburg, a copy

of which has been courteously forwarded here from the Natur-

historisches Museum at Hamburg. The material consisted of earth-

as new. The remarkable feature of this collection is that it is

hardly at all representative of the terricoline fauna of Ceylon

(which is uncommonly rich), at least nine and perhaps ten of the

species being foreign to Ceylon, having been introduced here

from various parts of the world, presumably through the mediation

of the Botanic Gardens.

Thus about 80 per cent. of Dr. Uzel’s collection of earthworms

belonged to the fugitive or peregrine element in the Ceylon fauna,

and this fact is recorded by Dr. Michaelsen as affording the first

numerical basis for estimating the influence of Botanic Gardens

in modifying the fauna of a country in certain directions.

A former collection of Ceylon earthworms accumulated by Drs.

Fritz and Paul Sarasin was submitted to Dr. Michaelsent in the

year 1887 and was found to comprise twenty-seven species, of which

twenty-two were certainly indigenous to Ceylon, only about 15 per

cent. being peregrine orintroduced. The cause of this difference

between the Sarasin and the Uzel collections is attributed by Dr.

Michaelsen to the character of the localities, the former having

been procured from different parts of the Island, often from

districts remote from horticultural intercourse. The acclimati-

zation of useful exotic plants in Ceylon has resulted in the less

desirable acclimatization of exotic species of earthworms.t

The Paper contains a table showing the further distribution of

the so-called peregrine species which have been carried to and

from such distant provinces as Madagascar, the Philippines, New

Zealand, and Central America.

* Michaelsen, W., Oligochaeten von Peradeniya auf Ceylon, ein Beitrag zur

Kenntnis des Hinflusses botanischer Girten auf die Hinschleppung percgriner

Thiere. §S. B. Béhmisch. Ges. Prag, No. XL., 1903, pp. 1-16.

+ Michaelsen, W., Die Terricolenfauna Ceylons. Mt. Mus. Hamburg, Bd. XIV.,

1887.

t Cf. Michaelsen, W.. Die geographische Verbreitung der Oliguchaeten,

Berlin, 1903,

114 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

The indigenous species obtained by Dr. Uzel are Plutellus

uzeli, n.sp., and Pheretima taprobane (Beddard), while Perionyx

ceylanensis, n.sp., is called doubtfully endemic, being closely

allied to a species, P. sansibaricus, from Zanzibar.

3. Rhynchota of Ceylon.—The order of insects which contains the

bugs is called Rhynchota on account of the structure of the mouth-

parts, which have the form of a jointed suctorial rostrum formed

by the labium, the mandibles, and the maxille, modified to form

a stylet or piercing organ which is carried bent back under the body

when not in use. By means of their stylet these insects are

enabled to perforate the epidermis and suck the juices from

berries and young shoots. Some are carnivorous, preying upon

other insects, and some are ectoparasitic. In mode of life most

are terrestrial ; a few families are aquatic, and there is a group of

pelagic Rhynchota which skim over the surface of the high seas.

The term Hemiptera, referring to the half-coriaceous, half-

membranous texture of the wings in many of the families, was

formerly applied to the order of bugs, but the name is now super-

seded by the more comprehensive one Rhynchota, the character

of the mouth-parts being of fundamental importance in classifica-

tion throughout the animal kingdom.

The Rhynchota are divided into two principal sub-orders : the

Heteroptera, in which the anterior wings are folded flat upon the

back and present a different texture in the basal and apical areas ;

secondly, the Homoptera, where the wings meet along their inner

edges, covering the body like a roof, their texture being commonly

homogeneous.

There are some twenty-five familiesof Heteroptera, of which only

the first three are dealt with by Mr, W. L. Distant in the first

volume on the Rhynchota-Heteroptera of British India, published

in 1902 (Fauna of British India. London, Taylor & Francis),

Statistics relating to the three families referred to are given in

the subjoined table :—

Family. Geographical Area. Genera, Species.

I. Penraromipa ...| British India (including) 199 542

Ceylon and Burma)

Ceylon (total) bls: 80

Do. (endemic) 3 28

II. Corrm” ...| British India 45 143

Ceylon (total) 22 45

Do, (endemic) 1 14

Ii. BrryTipa ...{ British India / 3 4

Ceylon (total) 1 1

Do. (endemic) 1 1

NOTES. 115

Of the fifty-one genera of Pentatomide occurring in Ceylon,

thirty-seven are represented by single species, or in other words are

monotypic in the Island according to existing records. The genus

of Pentatomidez with the greatest number of local species is Copto-

soma, with seven species, of which five are peculiar to Ceylon.

These are small plant bugs somewhat resembling ladybirds (Cocci-

nellidz) in size, lustre, and general superficial appearance. In the

whole of British India fifty-one species of this genus are described

by Mr. Distant.

The Coreidz ‘closely resemble both in form and position the

Longicornia amongst the Coleoptera ” (Distant, op. cit., page 331).

The family was formerly designated Supericornia on account of

the insertion of the 4-jointed antennz on the upper side of the

head. In this sense it may be said that the Supericorn bugs are

to the Rhynchota what the Longicorn beetles are to the Coleoptera.

Of the twenty-two genera of Coreidz in Ceylon thirteen are

represented here by single species. The most extensive or

polytypic genus in the Island is Homeocerus, with eleven species,

of which two are peculiar. This genus has thirty-four species

altogether in British India.

The only representative of the Berytide at present recorded

from Ceylon is Hubertiella cardamomt, Kirkaldy, a small, slender

bug with very long legs, found by Mr. EK. EK. Green on the under

surface of leaves of cardamom (Distant, op. cit., page 424).

The Rhynchota-Homoptera (Cicadas, Jantern flies, &e.) of

Ceylon form the subject of a recent monograph by Dr. L. Melichar*

of Vienna, who obtained his material from various sources,

including a large collection made by Dr. Heinrich Uzel, who was

recently in the Island. At Dr. Uzel’s request the collection of

Homoptera in the Colombo Museum was forwarded to Dr. Meli-

char for the purpose of this work, and was returned by him with

names attached to the specimens. The monograph contains

accounts of 349 species distributed among 147 genera, including

161 new species and 38 new genera.

The families of the plant lice (Aphid) and the scale insects

(Coccidz) also belong to the Homoptera, but are not included in

Dr. Melichar’s book.

An elaborate and richly illustrated treatise on the Coccide of

Ceylon has been in course of publication since 1896 under the

authorship of Mr. E. E. Green. Two parts, each containing thirty

coloured lithographic plates, have been already published (Lon-

don: Dulau & Co.).

* Melichar, L., Homopteren-Fauna von Ceylon, 233 pages, 6, plates. Berlin

(Felix Dames), 1903.

s 25-03

116 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA,

Such of the Rhynchota as are of economic importance in respect

of the injury which they inflict upon the tea plant are described

in considerable detail in the second edition of “ The Pests and

Blights of the Tea Plant,” by Sir George Watt and Harold H.

Mann, Calcutta, 1903 : see Chapter XIV., pages 247-319.

In this useful volume we are told that “ the damage done by the

tea mosquito* and the tea green flyf alone probably equals that of

all other pests taken together.” Nearly forty pages are devoted

to the discussion of the attacks of the ‘‘tea mosquito” and of the

ways in which they may be withstood or prevented. Mr. E. E.

rreen’s discovery{ of the “ hibernation” of the insect on the tea

bush itself is quoted and confirmed as an important guide in

devising methods of isolation and prevention. During the dor-

mant periods, when the pest is not active, the mature females, which

may be found lurking in the bushes by careful searching for them,

contain on the average more than half as many eggs again as are

found during the attacks, 7.e., twelve to thirteen eggs per insect

during the dormant periods, as against eight eggs during the

periods of attack (see Watt and Mann, op. cit., page 269).

With regard to remedial measures the authors come to the

conclusion that careful collection of the insects in the early part

of the year is the best method of grappling with the evil.

In Ceylon it appears from Mr. Green’s observations, quoted by

the above-named authors on page 265 of their book, that the

periodicity of the insect is subject to fluctuations within the year.

In the Kelani Valley, for example, the worst attack takes place in

July and August, after which it decreases to a minimum in

November, increasing again in virulence until a second though

less serious climax is reached in March. After this the pest

declines, practically disappearing in May. The recrudescence

commences towards the end of June. There are thus two periods

of major infestation in March and August, and two minor or

quiescent periods in May and November. The March rise coin-

cides with a period of comparative drought, and the August crisis

is accompanied by heavy rains (Green, Cire. Roy. Bot. Gardens,

1902, No. 2, page 24).

4. Dendrophis bifrenalis, Boulenger (Rept. Ind., p. 338).—

Since reference was made to this tree snake on pages 86 and S87 in

* Helopeltis antonii, Signoret ; sub-order Heteroptera, family Capside.

+ Chlorita flavescens, Fabr. = Empoasca flavescens [Melichar, op. cit., p. 215],

sub-order Homoptera, family Jasside.

{ Green, E. E., Further Observations on Helopeltis, Cire. an Bot. Gardens,

Ceylon, vol. II., ‘No. 2, June, 1902.

NOTES. TAZ.

“ Spolia Zeylanica,” Part I11., an example of it has been presented

to the Museum by Mr. H. M. Drummond Hay, who found it close

to his bungalow at Punagalla, Yatiyantota, in November, 1903.

Another specimen had been found by Mr. Hay at Hopewell,

Balangoda, on a former occasion. It is distinguished from its

congeners by the presence of two loreal shields and by the dark

olive colouration of the lateral portions of the ventral shields above

the lateral keels.

In the letter accompanying this welcome addition to the

Museum collection of Ceylon types, Mr. Hay gives interesting

particulars illustrating the local distribution of certain snakes.

He writes :—‘ I have had a great many specimens of Dendiophis

pictus brought to me while I have been here (Yatiyantota), but

none of D. caudolineatus ;” on the other hand, “ on Hopewell I

found D. caudolineatus to be a common snake, and I only came

across one specimen of D. pictus.”

Coluber helena and Lycodon aulicus, both frequently taken in

Colombo, occur at Yatiyantota, but apparently not at Balangoda ;

at any rate they were not found on the Hopewell estate, where

Lycodon carinatus was rather common, The burrowing snake,

Cylindrophis maculatus, is another species which is often taken

in Colombo and other parts of the low-country (ey., Tangalla,

Sigiriya) ranging up to the elevation of Kandy, but was not

found by Mr. Hay on Hopewell, though very common on the

adjoining estate Allupolla, the highest point of which lies at a

lower elevation than 3,000 ft. above the sea, lower in fact than

the lowest point of Hopewell.

With the exception of the earth snakes (Uropeltidz), Mr. Hay

found that by far the commonest snake on Hopewell was the

poisonous pit viper, Ancistrodon hypnale, one of the snakes known

as “karawala”’ (Sinhalese). Two living specimens of this snake

were sent to the Museum in October last by Mr. E. E. Green, who

obtained them from Dumbara. One of them died after a few

weeks of captivity, but the other survived until near the middle

' of December, feeding upon insects. It has also been sent to the

Museum by Mr. G. G. Ross Clarke from Calsay estate, Nanu-oya,

where it is associated with Dipsas ceylonensis.

5. Symbiosis between Bees and Mites.—A remarkable instance

of symbiosis or special adaptation on the part of a host for the

accommodation of its parasite has been brought to light in recent

years by two independent observers, Messrs. E. E. Green and

R. C. L. Perkins.

118 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA.

The hosts are species of the great black wood-boring bees, very

common in Ceylon, of the family Xylocopide belonging to the

genus Coptorthosoma.* This genns is characterized principally

by the structure of the basal segment of the abdomen, which fits

against the hinder wall of the thorax. This segment is attached

to the thorax by a somewhat narrow pedicle below ; the rest of

the front wall of the segment presents a sharply truncate free

border and a concave anterior surface. When the border of the

basal abdominal segment is closely applied to the thorax a closed

chamber is produced owing to the aforesaid concavity of its front

wall. “If,” says Mr. Perkins, ‘‘the basal concavity of the first

abdominal segment be examined in the female bee, a distinct

orifice will be found in the middle, generally small and overhung

with hairs, but in some species large and quite exposed.”

This orifice leads into a wide chamber which projects back-

wards, filling a large part of the interior of the segment.

The chamber is inhabited by species of mites (Acaridz), two

of which have been named Greenia perkinsi and Greenia alfkeni

by Dr. A. C. Oudemans. Sometimes the acarids are so numerous

as to fill the chamber, and occasionally they may be noticed

projecting through the orifice. Perkins found the chamber in the

females only of seven species of Coptorthosoma, namely, C. latipes,

tenuiscapa, cestuans, verticalis, cwrulea, caffra, and trepida. The

last two species are from South Africa, the others from the Indo-

Malay region.

The fact that the chamber is only found in the female bees is

interesting, because “the male bees are short-lived and vagrant,

rarely returning to the nest for more than a few days ” [Perkins ],

so that it is an advantage to the parasites to confine themselves to

the more stable females. Mr. Perkins, however, found that “ not

every species of Koptorthosoma possesses the chamber, for Dr.

Willey has brought home from New Britain females of a species,

very closely allied to K. wstuans, which show no more trace of it

than do the males of those species above mentioned.”

Also no species of the genus Xylocopa in its restricted sense

were found to be provided with an acarid chamber in the

female,

* Sometimes written “ Koptorthosoma.”

+R. C. L. Perkins. On a special acarid chamber formed within the basal

abdominal segment of bees of ‘the genus Koptorthosoma (Xylocopine). aay

Monthly Mag. (second series), vol. X., February, 1899, pp. 37-39.

t A drawing of the chamber eowine the position which it occupies in the

body of the bee is reproduced in a paper entitled “On some Parasites of Xylocopu

fenuiscapa, Westw.,” by E. E. Green, in Ent. Monthly Mag. ita ea vol.

XIII., October, 1902, pp. 232, 233. be

NOTES. 119

Quite recently Dr. Oudemans* has returned to this subject.

having ascertained that the existence of an acarid chamber in

wood-boring bees had been noticed many years ago.

Of late years, as indicated above, this example of symbiosis was

discovered in February, 1895, by Mr. Green, who found it in two

species of Coptorthosoma, C. tenwiscapa and C. bryorum, occurring

in Ceylon, and sent specimens to Colonel Bingham, the well-

known hymenopterist, and to Mr. A. D. Michael, the acarologist in

London, but did not publish his discovery. Quite independently,

in October of the same year, Mr. Perkins made the same observa-

tion and published the paper on the subject quoted above. Dr.

Oudemans points out that Mr. Perkins was therefore the “ official

discoverer” so far as the present incident is concerned.

Dr. Oudemans, however, has since unearthed earlier records of

this form of symbiosis in various journals, proceedings, and

archives of societies in Holland. In 1856 R. T. Maitland, a

Dutch entomologist, described an abdominal sac in Yylocopa

(Coptorthosoma) latipes containing acarid parasites, which he

named Gamasus saccicola. Still earlier, in 1846, a similar instance

was described by H. Zollinger, the bee-host being probably refer-

able to Coptorthosoma cestuans and the acarid parasite a species

of Trichotarsus.

Finally, the observation goes back to the year 1839, when Herr

Brilman recorded somewhat vaguely the occurrence of mites in

the abdomen of wood-boring bees.

Between 1856 and 1898 the phenomenon appears to have been

overlooked, a circumstance which illustrates how effectually an

interesting and important biological observation may be buried

in a publication unless it is followed up and placed in a category

with analogous facts drawn from other sources,

END OF VoL. I.

* A.C. Oudemans. Symbiose von Coptorthosoma und Greenia. Hine Priori-

tatsfrage. Zool. Anz. Bd. XXVII., December, 1903, pp. 137-139. This paper

contains further bibliographical references.

x 25-03

vga

ops ~ Ay “t as '

SPOLIA ZEYLANICA,

THE CQLOMBO- MUSEHU Mr

CHY LON.

VOL 2 PARTI. APRIL, 1903.

CONDENTDS:.

PAGE

1. Willey, A.—

Constitution of the Fauna of Ceylon ... Se 1

2. Manders, N.—

Variation in Catochrysops pandava usa Ee 14

3. Mackwood, F. M.—

Nyctalemon patroclus in Kandy ar 3 16

4. Manders, N.—

2 Note on Mycalesis subdita a dap 18

5. Willey, A.—

The Mahseer and the Murrel in Ceylon ae 19

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CONTENTS.

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tion of Ceylon Crows in the Malay Peninsula me 23

2. Camerano, Professor Lorenzo— |

Gordians of Ceylon... Se ee 34

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et Vou. I. Par? HI. NOVEMBER, 1903.

CONTENTS.

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1. Shipley, Arthur E.—

Some Parasites from Ceylon 5 a te 45

ai 2. im Thurn, E.—

) Sketch of the Ceylon Peark Fishery of 1905 a 56

| 3. Lewis, F.—

‘ Nidification of Gallinago stenura ap sea 66

3 4. Green, B. E.—

Nesting Habits of Vrypoxylon intrudens and Stigmus

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Nematodes in the Collection of the Colombo Museum ... 91

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