Igft ZOOLOGY. [Part n. 



diiced within less than a month. This faculty of re- 

 production is doubtless designed to enable the creature 

 to escape from its assailants : the detaching of the 

 hmb is evidently its own act ; and it is observable, that 

 when reproduced, the tail generally exhibits some varia- 

 tion from its pre\4ous form, the diverging spines being 

 absent, the new portion covered with small square 

 uniform scales placed in a cross series, and the scuta 

 below being seldom so distinct as in the original mem- 

 ber.^ In an officer's quarters in the fort of Colombo, 

 a Geckoe had been taught to come daily to the dinner- 

 table, and always made its appearance along with the 

 dessert. The family were absent for some months, during 

 which the house underwent extensive repairs, the roof 

 having been raised, the walls stuccoed, and ceihngs 

 whitened. It was natm^ally surmised that so long a sus- 

 pension of its accustomed habits would have led to 

 the disappearance of the little hzard ; but on the 

 return of its old friends, at their first dinner it made 

 its entrance as usual the instant the cloth had been re- 

 moved. 



Crocodile. — The Portuguese in India, hke the Spa- 

 niards in South America, affixed the name of lagarto 

 to the huge reptiles which infest the rivers and estu- 

 aries of both continents ; and to the present day the 

 Europeans in Ceylon apply the term alligator to what 

 are in reality crocodiles., which literally swarm in the 

 still waters and tanks throughout the northern pro- 

 vinces, but rarely frequent rapid streams, and have 

 never been found in the marshy elevations among the 

 hills. Their instincts in Ceylon present no variation 

 from then' habits in other countries. There would ap- 

 pear to be two well-distinguished species in the island, 

 the Allie Kimboola ^, the Indian crocodile, Avhich inhabits 

 the rivers and estuaries throughout the low countries of 

 tlie coasts, attaining the length of sixteen or eighteen 



' Brit. 3Im. Cat. p. 143 ; Keli- | ^ Crocodilus biporcatus^ Cuvier. 

 akt's Prod. Faun, -Zeylan., p. 183. 



