50 
SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
On the way to the hot springs we passed the fresh footprint of an 
elephant and the dung of a crocodile in the jungle far from water. 
We also flushed a large talagoya (Varanus bengalensis), about 2\ feet 
long, which forthwith scampered up the trunk of a tree, finally stop¬ 
ping on the lower side of a slightly overhanging main branch some 25 
feet from the ground. I watched it in this unusual position for a 
minute, or so, when it suddenly made a flying leap to the ground with 
limbs outspread, breaking its fall somewhat by a bush below, and 
then ran off rapidly. It is rather remarkable to see one of these 
unwieldy fat reptiles running up a tree after the manner of a tree- 
lizard. In this instance it was obviously a flight manoeuvre, 
not a regular mode of progression. The talagoya, or edible 
monitor, is essentially a ground-dwelling lizard, and I have often seen 
the young, when alarmed, take refuge in termite nests. In the 
North-Central Province I have seen termite nests which had been 
dug open by men for the alleged purpose of taking talagoya eggs. 
In some places, but not in all, not, for instance , in the Hambegamuwa 
division, the large lizards are much sought after on account of their 
edible and strengthening properties, and in fact talagoya curry is a 
native delicacy. The stomach of a specimen, which I dissected at 
Horana some years ago, contained 12 entire cockroaches, a fact in 
harmony with their terrestrial habits. Last June I saw one which 
had been shot high up on a tree on the Dambulla-Trincomalee road 
and had not fallen down. It seems justifiable to conclude that the 
young individuals take to holes and that older ones frequently ascend 
trees, as a flight manoeuvre. 
It is appropriate to add here a few remarks upon the water moni¬ 
tor or kabaragoya (Varanus salvator ), the flesh and fat of which are 
reputed to be poisonous. Large specimens are sluggish creatures 
on land, but active enough in water, and I have no record of their 
ascending trees when full-grown or half-grown, but once beside a 
tank in the Vanni country (at Erupotana) I saw a little bevy of young 
kabaragoyas peeping out of a hole in the high branch of a tree. 
They had probably climbed up for safety, rather than for food, so 
that, so far as the observations go, they seem to point to the conclu¬ 
sion that old talagoyas and young kabaragoyas ascend trees only 
under exceptional circumstances. The stomach of a kabaragoya 
was found to contain the skeleton of a large frog, a slug, and insect 
remains. 
The hot springs of Mahapelessa bubble up wdth slight rhythmic 
convulsions like a miniature geyser ; the water is not too hot for 
the hand to be immersed. A fuller account of the hot springs 
of Ceylon, their temperature, periodicity, and distribution, is to 
be found in the Administration Report (Mineral Survey, 1907) 
by Mr. James Parsons, who told me that the springs at Maha¬ 
pelessa will be described in detail in the forthcoming report for 
1908. 
