318 
EEPTILES. 
[Chap. IX. 
viscous fluid, resembling that of snails, eels, and some 
salamanders. Specimens are rare in Europe owing to 
the readiness with which it decomposes, breaking down 
into a flaky mass in the spirits in which it is attempted 
to preserve it. 
The creature is about the length and thickness of an 
ordinary round desk ruler, a little flattened before and 
rounded behind. It is brownish, with a pale stripe 
along either side. The skin is furrowed into 350 circu- 
lar folds, in which are imbedded minute scales. The 
head is tolerably distinct, with a double row of fine 
curved teeth for seizing the insects and worms on which 
it is supposed to live. 
Naturalists are most desirous that the habits and me- 
tamorphoses of this creature should be carefully ascer- 
tained, for great doubts have been entertained as to the 
position it is entitled to occupy in the chain of creation. 
Batrachians. — In the numerous marshes formed by 
the overflowing of the rivers in the plains of the low 
country, there are many varieties of frogs, which, both 
by their colours and by their extraordinary size, are cal- 
culated to excite the surprise of a stranger. In the 
lakes around Colombo and the still water near Trin- 
comalie, there are huge creatures of this family, from 
six to eight inches in length of an olive hue, deepen- 
ing into brown on the back and yellow on the under 
side. A Kandyan species, recently described, is of much 
smaller dimensions, but distinguished by its brilliant 
colouring, a beautiful grass green above and deep orange 
underneath. 2 
1 A Singhalese variety of the 
Rana cutiporal and the Malabar 
bull-frog, Hylarana Malabarica. A 
frog named by Blyth Rana ro- 
busta, proves to be a Ceylon spe- 
cimen of the R. cutipora. 
2 R. Kandiana, Kelaart. 
