SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE FAUNA OF CEYLON. 



By A. WiLLBY. 



AMONG the introductory paragraphs of Sir J. Emerson 

 Tennent's " Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon " 

 (1861), the following quotation reproduced from his classical 

 '' Account of the Island" (1859) contains a succinct statement of 

 the principal literature written in the English language in which 

 the Fauna of Ceylon had been dealt with in a more or less compre- 

 hensive or special manner before his time. 



I will repeat in full the paragraph to which I am referring, 

 because Sir Emerson Tennent's words will perhaps form a fitting 

 prelude to the quarterly record of observations and experiences, 

 of which this is the first number to issue from the Ceylon Govern- 

 ment Press : — 



Regarding the Fauna of Ceylon, little has been published in any collective 

 form, with the exception of a volume by Dr. Kelaart, entitled Prodromus 

 Faanm Zcylanicce [1852] ; several valuable papers by Mr. Edgar L. Layard 

 in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History for 1852 and 1853 ; and some 

 very imperfect lists appended to Pridhani's Compiled Account of the Island 

 [1849]. Knox, in the charming narrative of his captivity, published in the 

 reign of Charles II. [1681], has devoted a chapter to the animals of Ceylon, 

 and Dr. Davy [1821] has described some of the reptiles ; but with these 

 exceptions the subject is almost untouched in works relating to the Colony.'- 

 Yet a more than ordinary interest attaches to the inquiry, since Ceylon, 

 instead of presenting, as is generally assumed, an identity between its fauna 

 and that of Southern India, exhibits a remarkable diversity, taken in 

 connection with the limited area over which the animals included in it are 

 distributed. The Island, in fact, may be regarded as the centre of a geo- 

 graphical circle, possessing within itself forms whose allied species radiate far 

 into the temperate regions of the north as well as into Africa, Australia, and 

 the Isles of the Eastern Archipelago. 



In the light of our present knowledge of zoogeography it is, no 

 doubt, an exaggeration to claim Ceylon as an important centre of 



* Of course this reproach no longer holds good since the issue, under the 

 editorship of Dr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., of many volumes of "The Fauna of 

 British India, including Ceylon and Burma," a monumental work which was 

 commenced in 1888 under the authority of the Secretary of State for India in 

 Council, and is still in course of publication, new volumes bein^ added to the 

 series periodically. 



B 25-03 



