s Layardi, _Kelaart_.]

[Footnote 7: There is a rat found only in the Cinnamon Gardens at
Colombo, Mus Ceylonus, _Kelaart_; and a mouse which Dr. Kelaart
discovered at Trincomalie, M. fulvidiventris, _Blyth_, both peculiar to
Ceylon. Dr. TEMPLETON has noticed a little shrew (Corsira purpurascens,
_Mag. Nat. Hist_. 1855, p. 238) at Neuera-ellia, not as yet observed
elsewhere.]

But the Ceylon Mammalia, besides wanting a number of minor animals found
in the Indian peninsula, cannot boast such a ruminant as the majestic
Gaur[1], which inhabits the great forests from Cape Comorin to the
Himalaya; and, providentially, the island is equally free of the
formidable tiger and the ferocious wolf of Hindustan. The Hyena and
Cheetah[2], common in Southern India, are unknown in Ceylon; and, though
abundant in deer, the island possesses no example of the Antelope or the
Gazelle.

[Footnote 1: Bos cavifrons, _Hodgs_.; B. frontalis, _Lamb_.]

[Footnote 2: Felis jubata, _Schreb_.]

Amongst the Birds of Ceylon, the same abnormity is apparent. About
thirty-eight species will be presently particularised[1], which,
although some of them may hereafter be discovered to have a wider
geographical range, are at present believed to be unknown in continental
India. I might further extend this enumeration, by including the Cheela
eagle of Ceylon, which, although I have placed it in my list as
identical with the _Hematornis cheela_ of the Dekkan, is, I have since
been assured, a different bird, and is most probably the _Falco bido_ of
Horsfield, known to us by specimens obtained from Java and Sumatra.

[Footnote 1: See Chapter on the Birds of Ceylon.]

As to the Fishes of Ceylon, they are of course less distinct; and
besides they have hitherto been very imperfectly compared. But the
Insects afford a remarkable confirmation of the view I have ventured to
propound; so much so that Mr. Walker, by whom the elaborate lists
appended to this work have been prepared, asserts that some of the
families have a less affinity to the entomology of India than to that of
Australia.[1]

[Footnote 1: See Chapter on the Insects of Ceylon.]

But more conclusive than all, is the discovery to which I have alluded,
in relation to the elephant of Ceylon. Down to a very recent period it
was universally believed that only two species of the elephant are now
in existence, the African and the Asiatic; distinguished by certain
peculiarities in the shape of the craniu