? EQUUS ZEYLANICUS. 261 
? EQUUS ZEYLANICUS. 
By E. J. Wayuanp, F.G.S., 
Assistant Mineral Surveyor for Ceylon. 
(With two Plates.) 
I.—INTRODUCTION. 
T a meeting of the Ceylon Natural History Society held 
on Friday, December 17, 1915, Dr. Joseph Pearson 
exhibited two teeth of a horse (a canine and the first upper 
left molar), which were recovered from a bed of gray sandy 
clay ata depth of 23 feet below the surface, and about 135 feet 
below mean sea level, in a trench opened by the Colombo 
Drainage Works at Wellawatta. 
Wellawatta is a southern suburb of Colombo, and is situated 
about 4 miles south of the Fort. The trench was opened 
between the main road and the railway line ; it ran more or 
less parallel to both, and was approximately 200 yards from 
the sea at the point where the teeth were obtained. The 
section exposed above the teeth was as follows :-— 
Feet. 
Vegetable earth 4 
Vegetable earth and sea sand 4 
Clean sand 54 
Coral fragments 14 
Gray sandy clay 8k 
The bottom of the gray sandy ip was not egohed’ As 
may be expected, lateral variations along the section were 
to be seen ; thus, the stratum of clean sand passes horizontally 
into sandstone, while coral fragments give place to solid 
reef near Wellawatta station. The teeth were discovered at 
a depth of 8 feet below the stratum of coral fragments, and 
were fortunately saved by a kangany, who had the intelligence 
to realize the remarkable nature of the find. 
On the supposition that horses were unknown in Ceylon 
before the days of European occupation, the occurrence of 
the teeth in the gray sandy clay could only be accounted for 
by postulating some exceptional circumstances of natural 
