Chapter II. 



SUITABILITY OF CEYLON FOR THE 

 STUDY OF OPHIOLOGY. 



Ceylon is an ideal country for the study of 

 Snakes. There are many Eastern countries con- 

 taining more snakes, and more varieties, but in few 

 other countries are there so many varieties to be 

 found in so small an area. 



This is chiefly due to the geographical con- 

 ditions prevalent in Ceylon, where so many different 

 formations of country are to be met with, and so 

 many different temperatures and climates. There 

 are the mountains beloved of the earth-snakes, the 

 swamplands, where the pythons and water snakes 

 abound ; the jungle bounded paddy fields, where 

 the cobras, rat-snakes, and other varieties indulge 

 in their evening frog hunting ; the Patana covered 

 downs of Uva, giving cover to snakes of all 

 descriptions, which are seldom seen except when 

 the grass is being burnt down ; and the sandy 

 Jaffna district, the home of the Russell's Viper, 

 the Bungarus Caeruleus and the Echis Carinata. 

 Represent- Although many genera are represented in 



ationof Ccylon, the number of representatives to be found 

 Ceylon. of cach gcnus is comparatively small. Thus the 

 large family of Bungarums (or Kraits), eleven in 

 number, have only two representatives in Ceylon, 

 the Bungarus Ceylonicus and the Bungarus Caeru- 

 leus, the latter being very rare and only found in 

 Jaffna. The large family of the Trimeresuri is only 

 represented by the T. Trigonocephalus. Lycodon 

 Aulicus and L. Carinatus are the only specimens 

 of the Lycodontidae to be found in Ceylon, and 

 the Tropidonoti are only found in the forms 



