348 REVIEWS — NATURAL HISTORY OF CEYLON. 



By Sir Jas. Emerson Tennent, K.C.S., LL.D., &c., author of 

 " Ceylon : an Account of the Island — Physical, Historical, and 

 Topographical," &c. London : Longman, Green, Longman, and 

 Roberts. 1862. 



Sir Jas. E. Tennent has here, as he informs us in his preface, given 

 us a separate and much enlarged edition of the portion of his work 

 on Ceylon which relates to Zoology. The additions chiefly belong to 

 the narratives and anecdotes to which he could not well devote the 

 necessary space in his larger work. The book in its present form is 

 not only highly creditable to the knowledge and zeal of its author, 

 and a very useful contribution to the department of geographical 

 zoology, but a most entertaining and instructive companion to the 

 lover of Nature, and admirably calculated to encourage a taste for 

 natural history studies in the young of both sexes. It is a choice 

 volume for the family and school library, and other collections which 

 are expected to unite entertainment with instruction. We have taken 

 it up now with the intention of making a few interesting extracts 

 which will justify our recommendations, and make our readers desirous 

 of seeing the work itself. We begin with a passage relating to one of 

 the bats, which, from its numbers and curious habits, occupies a con- 

 spicuous place in the Ceylon fauna : 



" But of all the bats, the most conspicuous from its size and numbers, and the 

 most interesting from its habits, is the rousette of Ceylon ; the ' flying fox,' as 

 it is called by Europeans, from the similarity to that animal in its head and ears, 

 its bright eyes, and intelligent little face. In its aspect it has nothing of the 

 disagreeable and repulsive look so common amongst the ordinary vespertilionidse j 

 it likewise differs from them in the want of the nose-leaf, as well as of the tail. 

 In the absence of the latter, its flight is directed by means of a membrane at- 

 tached to the inner side of each of the hind legs, and kept distended at the 

 lower extremity by a projecting bone, just as a fore-and-aft sail is distended by ' 

 a 'gaff'.' 



" In size the body measures from ten to twelve inches in length, but the arms 

 are prolonged, and especially the metacarpal bones and phalanges of the four 

 fingers over which the leathery wings are distended, till the alar expanse mea- 

 sures between four and five feet. Whilst the function of these metamorphosed 

 limbs in sustaining flight entitles them to the designation of ' wings,' they are 

 endowed with another faculty, the existence of which essentially distinguishes 

 them from the feathery wings of a bird, and vindicates the appropriateness of 

 the term Cheiro-ptera, or ' winged hands,' by which the bats are designated. 

 Over the entire surface of the thin membrane of which they are formed, sen- 

 tient nerves of the utmost delicacy are distributed, by' means of which the: 



