81'!^ Mr. E. L. Layard's Rambles in Ceylon. 



animal approaching to black. Lower down I detected none of these, 

 but I procured several new Helices and the Pterocyclos, allied to that 

 before mentioned found in the cave at Tondemanaar in my district, 

 but larger and coarser, with the wing more free, the spire not ex- 

 serted ^^. The Tondemanaar shell measures : diameter 9 lines, axis 4 ; 

 whorls 5 ; umbilicus very open ; the ground colour is whitish, marked 

 with transverse wavy reddish brown lines ; spire slight, exserted ; 

 operculum pyramidal, rough, multispiral, hollow, partially retractile ; 

 animal livid brown 2'. It is found in some abundance in a cave in the 

 curious limestone formation of the Jaffna peninsula, which at Tonde- 

 manaar crops out in a large mass. The best idea I can give of this 

 remarkable formation is comparing it to a huge wave of liquid mud, 

 which has rolled over the country and been suddenly arrested and 

 hardened in its course. The whole of this nmddy stream appears to 

 have been full of bubbles, and this cave merely a large one ; I should 

 say, 40 yards long by 10 broad: it is raised above the surrounding 

 country, and the centre, where the crust was thin, has fallen in and 

 lies in crumbled fragments below. A solitary banian-tree, planted 

 doubtless by some passing crow, springs from the bottom of the cave, 

 and among its roots and the crevices of the weather-worn fragments 

 lie the Pterocycli I have described. In no other place in the whole 

 of the Northern peninsula could I find a single specimen, — its dry 

 and burning soil affords them no shelter ; but down in the cave it is 

 always cool and moist, and ferns (only, otherwise, found down deep 

 wells in this province) abound in the wildest luxuriance. There are 

 several of these caves about Jaffna ; the most celebrated is that near 

 Pootoor, called Nurahverri, which assumes the shape of a natural 

 well, said to communicate with the sea. It is of a vast depth, and 

 bottles previously corked have been lowered into it and brought up 

 filled with salt water, though the upper surface is perfectly fresh. 

 Of the Helices I defer giving you any information (I have observed 

 about forty species here, many of which are undescribed) until Mr. 

 Benson shall have examined them. I should probably only describe 

 many well-known species, and run my letter to an enormous length : 

 it has already exceeded the limits I had assigned to it, and I shall 

 therefore close, and resume it again if I find anything to amuse you 

 further on. 



I do not think I shall be able to write till I reach Anarajahpoora, 

 for there are no Rest-Houses along the road I am going, and I have 

 neither table nor chair, and must trust to chance for accommodation. 

 So, till you hear from me again, believe me yours very truly, 



E. L. Layard. 



Note A. — Since the above was written, Mr. W. H. Benson writes 

 me word that a Cyclostoma in the British Museum (supposed to have 

 been received from me, but sent by a cousin of mine, Mr. Fred. Layard) 

 is not the true C. cornu venatorium, as labeled by him, but C. Heli' 



'^ P. Cingalensis, B. 



*' The Tondemanaar Pterocyclos is Pt. rupestris, Benson, var. picta, 

 Troschel. 



