64 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



the nimble little wretches mounting my boot with surprising rapidity, like 

 so many caterpillars. This was my first acquaintance with the much-to-be- 

 execrated, land-leeches 

 of Ceylon, one of the in- 

 tolerable curses of this 

 beautiful island, of all 

 its plagues the worst, 

 as I was afterwards to 

 learn by much suffer- 

 ing. This species of 

 leech (Hcemadijisa cey- 

 lanica) is one of the 

 smallest of its family, 



Fig. 62. — Land-leeches of Ceylon, running after their prey. 



but at the same time the most unpleasant. Excepting near the sea and in 

 the highest mountains, they swarm in myriads in every wood and bush ; 

 and in some of the forests, particularly near the river banks and in the 

 marshy jungle of the highlands and the lower hills, it is impossible to 

 take a single step without being attacked by them. Not only do they 

 creep along the ground seeking what they may devour — they are on every 

 bush and tree, from which they frequently drop on to the head or neck of 

 the passer-by, while they always creep up his legs ; nay, they can even 

 spring to reach their victim. When they have sucked their fill they are 

 about as large as an ordinary leech ; but when fasting they are no thicker 

 than a thread and scarcely more than half an inch long. They wriggle 

 through the elastic texture of a stocking with the greatest rapidity. Often 

 the bite is felt at the time, but as often it is not. Once at an evening 

 party I first became aware of a leech by seeing a red streak of blood run- 

 ning down my white trousers. 



" To be rid of the leech a drop of lemon-juice suffices, and for this pur- 

 pose, when you walk out in Ceylon, you always put a small lemon in your 

 pocket. I have often used instead a drop of the carbolic acid or the spirit 

 I carried about for preserving small animal specimens. The result of the 

 bite is very different with different persons. Those who have a tender 

 skin — and I am unfortunately one of them — feel a painful throbbing in 

 the wound for some days, and a more or less disagreeable inflammation of 

 the surrounding skin. As these leeches always by preference attack these 

 inflamed and irritated spots with fresh bites, the wound by constant aggra- 

 vation often becomes so serious as to be even dangerous. When the Eng- 

 lish seized Kandy in 1815 they had to toil for weeks through the dense 

 jungle of the damp hill country, and they lost a great many men from the 

 incessant attacks of the swarms of leeches. In neighborhoods which are 



