62 



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, 5 ' 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- 

 &rt> 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 Cerws orizus, Kelaaet, Prod. 4 Sorex montanus, S. ferrugineus, 

 F. Zegl., p, 83. and Feroculus macropus. 



