484 



ARTICULATA. 



[Chap. XIII, 



found in Ceylon, nearly double the size of the European 

 one, and with a prodigious faculty of engorging bloody 

 there is another pest in the low country, which is a 

 source of considerable annoyance, and often of loss, to 

 the husbandman. This is the cattle leech 5 , which 

 infests the stagnant pools, chiefly in the alluvial lands 

 around the base of the mountain zone,, whither the 

 cattle resort by day, and the wild animals by nighty to 

 quench their thirst and to bathe. Lurking amongst 

 the rank vegetation that fringes these deep pools, and 

 hid by the broad leaves, or concealed among the stems 

 and roots covered by the water, there are quantities of 

 these pests in wait to attack the animals on their ap- 

 proach to drink. Their natural food consists of the 

 juices of lumbrici and other invertebrata ; but they 



two inches long, but reaching to 

 six inches when extended. Mr. 

 Thwaites, to whom I am indebted 

 for these particulars, adds that he 

 saw in a tank at Kolona Korle 

 leeches which appeared to him 

 natter and of a darker colour than 

 those described above, but that he 

 had not an opportunity of ex- 

 amining them particularly. 



Mr. Thwaites states that there 

 is a smaller tank leech of an olive- 

 green colour, with some indistinct 

 longitudinal strise on the # upper 

 surface; the crenated margin of a 

 pale yellowish-green ; ocelli as in 

 the paddi-field leech ; length, one 

 inch at rest, three inches when ex- 

 tended. 



Mr. E. L. Layard informs us, 

 Mag. Nat. Hist p. 225, 1853, that 

 a bubbling spring at the village of 

 Tonniotoo, three miles S. W. of 

 Moeletivoe, supplies most of the 

 leeches used in the island. _ Those 

 in use at Colombo are obtained in 



the immediate vicinity. 



1 Hcemopsis 'pallidum. In size 

 the cattle leech of Ceylon is some- 

 what larger than the medicinal 

 leech of Europe ; in colour it is of a 

 uniform brown without bands, un- 

 less a rufous margin may be so con- 

 sidered. It has dark striae. The 

 body is somewhat rounded, flat 

 when swimming, and composed of 

 rather more than ninety rings. 

 The greatest dimension is a little 

 in advance of the anal sucker ; the 

 body thence tapers to the other 

 extremity, which ends in an upper 

 lip projecting considerably beyond 

 the mouth. The eyes, ten in 

 number, are disposed as in the 

 common leech. The mouth is oval, 

 the biting apparatus with difficulty 

 seen, and the teeth not very 

 numerous. The bite is so little 

 acute that the moment of attach- 

 ment, and the incision of the mem- 

 brane is scarcely perceived by the 

 sufferer from its attack, 



