68 
MAMMALIA. 
[Chap. T. 
which of the two was the " Taprobane " of antiquity. 
Gtemma Frisius, Sebastian Munster, Julius Scaliger, 
Ortelius and Mercator contended for the former; 
Salmasius, Bochart, Cluverius, and Vossius for Ceylon : 
and the controversy did not cease till it was terminated 
by Delisle about the beginning of the last century. 
VIII. Cetacea. — Whales are so frequently seen that 
they have been captured within sight of Colombo, and 
more than once their carcases, after having been flinched 
by the whalers, have floated on shore near the light- 
house, tainting the atmosphere within the fort by their 
rapid decomposition. 
Of this family, one of the most remarkable animals 
on the coast is the dugong a phytophagous cetacean, 
numbers of which are attracted to the inlets, from the 
bay of Calpentyn to Adam's Bridge, by the still water 
and the abundance of marine algas in these parts of the 
gulf. One which was killed at Manaar and sent to me to 
Colombo 2 in 1847, measured upwards of seven feet in 
length ; but specimens considerably larger have been 
taken at Calpentyn, and their flesh is represented as 
closely resembling veal. 
The rude approach to the human outline, observed in 
the shape of the head of this creature, and the attitude 
of the mother when suckling her young, clasping it to 
her breast with one flipper, while swimming with the 
other, holding the heads of both above water ; and when 
disturbed, suddenly diving and displaying her fish-like 
tail, — these, together with her habitual demonstrations 
of strong maternal affection, probably gave rise to the 
fable of the (i mermaid ;" and 'thus that earliest invention 
1 Halicore dugung, F. Cuv. Museum of the Natural History 
i 2 The skeleton is now in the Society of Belfast. 
