HILL TOPS m CEYLON. 



137 



seen at once that these are far greater than any climatic 

 differences between the mountain tops, while the soil differences 

 are almost nil, the geological formation of Ceylon being very 

 uniform. The chief climatic differences between mountains 

 of similar heights are in the amount and distribution of the 

 rainfall, and yet far greater differences are to be found between 

 the many places in the plains, or in the mountain zone, in 

 which very many species of Ceylon live, and this whether these 

 species be endemic to the Island or not. To take the first that 

 comes to liand in Trimen's Flora, Naravelia zeylanica Hves in 

 Galle, Colombo, Kalutara, Kandy, Lunugala, whose rainfalls 

 are as follows : — 



Galle. Colombo. Kalutara. Kandy. 



January 



February 



March 



April 



May 



Jiine 



July 



August 



September 



October 



November 



December 



Year 



Lunu- 

 gala.* 



8-90 



5-35 



2-68 



9-04 



7-08 



2-91 



2-20 



4-77 



7-79 



13-43 



1303 



11-63 



88-81 



It also lives in tropical India, the Himalaya, Assam, Malaya, 

 Java, &c., places in which the climatic range is very varied. 



Or take Bocagea Thwaitesii, a Ceylon endemic. This lives 

 in Ratnapura, Maturata, Maskeliya, Ambagamuwa, and on 

 Doluwakanda, places which show an enormous range of 

 climates. 



Or, again, it may be objected that why should a species stay 

 confined to a mountain top, when others with similar mechan- 

 isms are found all over the country, and in India, &e. ? As 

 every stage may be found from species with very limited 

 distribution to species on two or three mountains, species 

 occurring over larger ranges, and species all but universally 

 distributed, we may probably conclude that they were evolved 



* No rainfall record, but Pa^sara, close by, has. 



7(6)08 



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