462 Mr. W. T. Blanford on the Classification of 
tain whether the animals of the West-Indian species differ in 
any particular. 
21. Catavutus, 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 Pupinine, that they may 
fairly claim to be formed into a distinct subfamily, differing 
from the typical Pupinine not only in shape, but in their thick 
epidermis and sculpture, and, in general, their solidity and opa- 
* This alliance of the Ceylonese hill-fauna to that of the Himalayas, 
with its marked Malayan affinities (the counexion 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 havmg 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 Anamullies, 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, Hehe 
basileus, Bens., was undiscovered until six years ago, although it abounds 
at the foot of the Anamullies. 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. 
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