NOTES. 141 



The Brahminy Lizard {Mahuia carinaia) is alleged to have 

 poisonous properties. There is a strong local belief in regard to this, 

 and deaths of persons from the bite or scratch of this lizard have 

 been registered in the Vital Statistics of Ceylon. The learned 

 A. Mendis Gunasekara, MudaHyar, made mention of a girl thirteen 

 years old in the Galle District, whose death was caused " by poison 

 caused by a ' hikanala ' (Brahminy Lizard) licking'one of her toes." 



" It is stated in Sinhalese medical \A'orks dealing with snakes 

 and their poisons that hikanalas are often hatched from the eggs of 

 cobras, polongas, and mapilas, all highly venomous snakes." As 

 pointed out by Dr. Willey in Spolia Zeylanica, equivocal genera- 

 tion is impossible in the animal kingdom. Tamil and Hindu writers 

 on snake poison also point out that the bite, scratch, or a touch of 

 the saHva pf the Brahminy Lizard is highly poisonous. 



The Brahmmy Lizard in reality is harmless, though it is believed 

 both here and in South India to inflict a poisonous bite. 



The name " karawala " is indiscriminately applied both to 

 harmless snakes such as Lycodon aulicus and also to the poisonous 

 snakes belonging to the genus Bungarus. Dr. Willey recorded a 

 case of a woman having been bitten by the harmless Lycodon 

 aulicus who died from fright, in the belief that she had been bitten 

 by a poisonous " karawala.'" 



In India Lock wood. Kipling mentions that even in the country a 

 fly-catcher, a sparrow, and a shrike are all spoken of as '- chiriyas," 

 birds merely. He attributes this lack of observation to be peculiar 

 to Orientals. Science teaching and special societies arid institutions 

 takuig up branches of study like the Ceylon Natural History Society 

 can help to dispel much ignorance that exists. 



GERARD A. JOSEPH. 



18. The Elephant Stylobate in the Colombo Museum. — An ele- 

 phant stylobate was dug up late in 1894 in a private land , a mile from 

 the town of Anuradhapura, close to the Anuradhapura-Kurunegala 

 road, by the Archaeological Commissioner. The parts of the struc- 

 ture were kept together loosely in the grounds of the office of the 

 Archaeological Commissioner at Anuradhapura. With other 

 " finds " handed over by the Archaeological Commissioner to the 

 Colombo Museum was the elephant stylobate, which Dr. Pearson, 

 the Director, has had erected on the lawn near the Ubrary. An 

 illustration is given here of the structure as it now stands. It is 

 20 feet square and 4 feet high. When new it must have been a very 

 striking object, and even now it arrests attention, and is a fine 

 specimen of work of the days of the Sinhalese monarchy. Mr. Bell 

 says that along with the stylobate were found two pieces of Buddhist 

 railing, which he thinks belong to the top and went round as a wall. 

 These pieces he has promised to send to the Museum to be placed on 



