MAMMALIA. 
[Chap. I. 
come elevated into mountain ranges, — a change which 
took place during the same revolution that raised the 
great plains of Siberia and Tartary and many parts of 
north-western Europe. At the same time the great 
continent whose position between the tropics has been 
alluded to, and whose previous existence is still in- 
dicated by the Coral islands, the Laccadives, the Mal- 
dives, and the Chagos group, underwent simultaneous 
depression by a counteracting movement. 1 
But divested of oriental mystery and geologic con- 
jecture, and brought to the test of " geographical dis- 
tribution," this once prodigious continent would appear 
to have connected the distant Islands of Ceylon and 
Sumatra and possibly to have united both to the Malay 
peninsula, from which the latter is now severed by the 
Straits of Malacca. The proofs of physical affinity be- 
tween these scattered localities are exceedingly curious. 
A striking dissimilarity presents itself between some 
of the Mammalia of Ceylon and those of the continent 
of India. In its general outline and feature, this branch 
of the island fauna, no doubt, exhibits a general resem- 
blance to that of the mainland, although many of the 
larger animals of the latter are unknown in Ceylon; 
but, on the other hand, some species discovered there 
are peculiar to the island. A deer 2 as large as the 
Axis, but differing from it in the number and arrange- 
ment of its spots, has been described by Dr. Kela- 
art, to whose vigilance the natural history of Ceylon is 
indebted, amongst others, for the identification of two 
new species of monkeys 3 , a number of curious shrews 4 , 
1 The Ancient World, by D. T. 3 Presbytes ursinus, Blyth, and 
Ansted, M.A., &c, pp. 322—324, P. Thersites, Elliot. 
2 Cervus orizus, Kelaakt, Prod. 4 Sorex montanus, S. ferrugineus, 
F. Zegl, p, 83. and Feroculus macropus. 
