FAUNA OP 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 countries, in some cases also in 

 Malabar. 



Thus, the chestnut and blue magpie of Ceylon {Gissa nrnata*) 

 and the yellow-fronted barbet {Gyanop^ flavifrons^), inhabitants 

 of the upland forests, are peculiar to the island, while their 

 congeners are Transgangetic and Himalayan species (Gates and 

 Blanford). 



The remarkable legless Batrachian, IcMhyopMs 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, Eastern 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 {Opliio- 

 cephalus striatus J), which belongs to a distinctively Oriental 

 family, the Ophiocephalid^, 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 {Ghanna 

 orientalis §) of the same family, said to be common in the low- 

 country paddy fields (Haly, M. S.), 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 Gates [Gates, E. W. Fauna Brit. Ind. Birds, vol. I., 

 p. 29, 1S89], the explanation being that the genus 6V.v.s'« is as nearly related to Pica, 

 the Magpie, as it is to Gumilux, 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 (fJopxi/chus ■laularix') of Colombo and the low-country, the 

 "Polli-cha" of the Siighalese. The Magpie-robin also occurs in the Kandy 

 District and elsewhere. 



f Described under the synonym of Meff/tlama ffdrifro/is by Legge [Birds of 

 Ceylon, p. 212]. 



X Known as the " Murrel " to Indian anglers (see Thomas. H. S. The Rod in 

 India. Mangalore. 1873). 



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



