nd minuter
zoophytes, the labours of Dr. Kelaart amongst the Diatomaceae being the
solitary exception.
[Footnote 1: Commonly called "harvest-men."]
Nothing is so likely to act as a stimulant to future research as an
accurate conception of what has already been achieved. With equal
terseness and truth Dr. Johnson has observed that the traveller who
would bring back knowledge from any country must carry knowledge with
him at setting out: and I am not without hope that the demonstration I
now venture to offer, of the little that has already been done for
zoology in Ceylon, may serve to inspire others with a desire to resume
and complete the inquiry.
J. EMERSON TENNENT
London: November 1st, 1861.
CONTENTS.
* * * * *
CHAPTER I.
MAMMALIA.
Neglect of zoology in Ceylon
Labours of Dr. Davy
Followed by Dr. Templeton and others
Dr. Kelaart and Mr. E.L. Layard
Monkeys
The Rilawa, _Macacus pileatus_
Wanderoos
Knox's account of them
Error regarding the _Silenus Veter (note)_
Presbytes Cephalopterus
Fond of eating flowers
A white monkey
Method of the flight of monkeys
P. Ursinus in the Hills
P. Thersites in the Wanny
P. Priamus, Jaffna and Trincomalie
No dead monkey ever found
Loris
Bats
Flying Fox, _Pteropus Edwardsii_
Their numbers at Peradenia
Singularity of their attitudes
Food and mode of eating
Horse-shoe bat, _Rhinolophus_
Faculty of smell in bat
A tiny bat, _Scotophilus foromandelicus_
Extraordinary parasite of the bat, the _Nycteribia_
_Carnivora_.--Bears
Their ferocity
Singhalese belief in the efficacy of charms (_note_)
Leopards
Erroneously confounded with the Indian _cheetah_
Curious belief
Anecdotes of leopards
Their attraction by the smallpox
Native superstition
Encounter with a leopard
Monkeys killed by leopards
Alleged peculiarity of the claws
Palm-cat
Civet
Dogs
Cruel mode of destroying dogs
Their republican instincts
Jackal
Cunning, anecdotes of
The horn of the jackal
Mungoos
Its fights with serpents
Theory of its antidote
Squirrels
Flying squirrel
Tree-rat
Story of a rat and a snake
Coffee-rat
Bandicoot
Porcupine
Pengolin
Its habits and gentleness
Its skeleton
_Ruminantia_.--The Gaur
Oxen
Humped cattle
Encounter of a cow and a leopard
Draft oxen
Their treatment
A _Tavalam_
Attempt
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