4^ Mr. W. T. Blaaford on the Classification of 



tain whether the animals of the West-Indian species differ in 

 any particular. 



21. Cataulus, Pfr. 



The rather numerous known species of this genus are, with 

 two exceptions, confined to the island of Ceylon, these exceptions 

 being one species, of abnormal form, from the Nicobar Islands, 

 and a second, recently discovered in the Anamully Hills of South 

 India, and specimens of which are amongst Mr. Hugh Cuming's 

 rich collection. 



I have already mentioned that the nearest approach to this 

 genus is in a Himalayan species of Megalomastoma^. The 

 species of these two genera agree so well amongst themselves in 

 form, and differ so much from the other Pupinince, that they may 

 fairly claim to be formed into a distinct subfamily, differing 

 from the typical Pupinina not only in shape, but in their thick 

 epidermis and sculpture, and, in general, their solidity and opa- 



* This alliance of the Ceylouese hill-fauna to that of the Himalayas, 

 with its marked Malayan affinities (the connexion being, in most cases, 

 through the hill-fauna of Southern India) is a much more rational expla,- 

 nation of any similarity which may exist between the animals inhabiting 

 Ceylon and Sumatra than Sir Emerson Tennent's very startling suggestion 

 of a former continuity of land between the two islands (Nat. Hist. Ceylon, 

 pp. 60-67), an hypothesis in favour of which there is no geological evidence 

 whatever. It would require too much space to enter into the matter at 

 full length ; and Dr. Falconer has amply refuted Sir Emerson Tennent's 

 strongest argument (Nat. Hist. Review, vol. iii. p. 95). It is notorious 

 that the fauna of the plains of Ceylon, by far the greater portion of the 

 island, is identical with that of the plains of Southern India ; the sole 

 distinctions are founded on the species of animals inhabiting the isolated 

 mass of hills in Southern Ceylon. But, the elephant-fallacy having been 

 disposed of by Dr. Falconer, a comparison of lists of the known animals 

 inhabiting Ceylon, Sumatra, and the hills of Southern India respectively 

 would soon settle the question. 



The fact is that the similarity of the Ceylon and South-Indian fauna is 

 very marked, but that while Ceylon has enjoyed the advantage of a con- 

 siderable European population scattered widely over its surface, and the 

 presence of an unusual number of naturalists, there are few accessible 

 parts of the world the natural history of which has been more neglected 

 than the hills of Southern India. With the exception of the Nilgiris, 

 scarcely anything is known concerning them. The AnamuUies, exceeding 

 the Nilgiris in height, and nearer to Ceylon, have only at rare intervals 

 been visited, and then chiefly by sportsmen ; and of the ranges further 

 south the very names are unknown to naturalists. So ignorant have we 

 been of their Molluscan fauna that the largest land-shell in India, Helix 

 basileus, Bens., was undiscovered until six years ago, although it abounds 

 at the foot of the AnamuUies. Later still, species of Tanalia and Cataulus, 

 genera hitherto supposed to be peculiar to Ceylon, have been obtained 

 from the same neighbourhood. Helix basileus also belongs to a Ceylonese 

 (and perhaps Malay?) type not previously met with in the Indian penin- 

 sula ; and there can be no rational doubt that, with the further exploration 

 of the South-Indian hills, the claims of those of Ceylon to be considered 

 a distinct zoological province will vanish completely. 



