FAUNA OF CEYLON. 3 



vol. XIV., pp. 409-418, 1902 ; also in the same Journal on p. 629, a 

 note on the "Food of the King Cobra," by E. H. Aitken]. But 

 whereas the cobra occurs in Ceylou, where the manifold symbolic 

 uses to which it has been put have rendered it sacred and classical, 

 the more dreaded hamadryad is not found here. 



The shelter attributed to the Lord of Lanka beneath the mant- 

 ling hood of the sacred Naga, cobra di capello, is a picturesque 

 example of the ancient interpretation of divine influence in the 

 East. The effigies which commemorate this miracle are executed 

 in brass and wood (see Fig. 1), and are described as the " Serpent- 

 canopied Buddha" [c/. Sir M. Monier-Williams, "Buddhism," 

 London, 1889, p. 480, and frontispiece]. 



The examples of distribution selected from the Mammalian 

 section of the fauna seem to indicate that Ceylon is an outlier of 

 India rather than itself a centre of distribution, and that it 

 bears the same relation to India that Tasmania does to the island 

 continent of Australia or the British Isles to the continent of 

 Europe. From this point of view the Fauna of Ceylon may be 

 regarded as a Relict Fauna, the members of which have been 

 separated from their continental allies by subsidence of land and 

 encroachment of sea since the Tertiary Epoch. 



Excluding the category of Oceanic Islands, it is a generally 

 accepted axiom that the terrestrial fauna of any island has reached 

 its destination by means of former land connections between the 

 island and neighbouring continental areas. Thus it is calculated 

 that at least ninety-five per cent, of the British species of animals 

 have reached the British Isles by previous land-connections with 

 Scandinavia and the Arctic Continent in the north and with France 

 and Belgium to the south-east.* 



Before proceeding further with our analytical sketch of the 

 Fauna of Ceylon, it will be interesting to consider more closely 

 (with the assistance of Dr. Blanf ord's Memoir to which I have 

 referred above) the relation of Ceylon to the Indian Peninsula. 



The Indian region is divided into two main sub-regions by the 

 Indo-Gangetic Plain, which extends from the Arabian Sea to the 

 Bay of Bengal and " forms a geological boundary of the highest 

 importance," 



The Transgangetic sub-region includes the Himalayas, Assam, 

 Burma, &c. The Cisgangetic sub-region includes the Indian 

 Peninsula proper and Ceylon. 



The Indian Peninsula is again divided into two very unequal 

 parts by the Western Ghats or Sahyadri mountains which separate 



* Scharff, R. F. The History of the European Fauna. London, 1899. (Contemp. 

 Sci. Ser.) 



