devoted his attention
and leisure to the identification of the specimens forwarded from
Ceylon, and to their description in the Calcutta Journal. To him, and
to the gentlemen I have named, we are mainly indebted for whatever
accurate knowledge we now possess of the zoology of the colony.

[Footnote 1: Dr. DAVY, brother to the illustrious Sir Humphry Davy,
published, in 1821, his _Account of the Interior of Ceylon and its
Inhabitants_, which contains the earliest notice of the Natural
History of the island, and especially of its ophidian reptiles.]

[Footnote 2: _Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal_, vol. xv. p. 280, 314.]

The mammalia, birds, and reptiles received their first scientific
description in an able work published in 1852 by Dr. Kelaart of the army
medical staff[1], which is by far the most valuable that has yet
appeared on the Singhalese fauna. Co-operating with him, Mr. Layard has
supplied a fund of information especially in ornithology and conchology.
The zoophytes and Crustacea have I believe been partially investigated
by Professor Harvey, who visited Ceylon in 1852, and more recently by
Professor Schmarda, of the University of Prague. From the united labours
of these gentlemen and others interested in the same pursuits, we may
hope at an early day to obtain such a knowledge of the zoology of Ceylon
as will to some extent compensate for the long indifference of the
government officers.

[Footnote 1: _Prodromus Faunae Zeylanicae; being Contributions to the
Zoology of Ceylon_, by F. KELAART, Esq., M.D., F.L.S., &c. &c. 2
vols. Colombo and London, 1852.]

[Illustration: CEYLON MONKEYS.

1. _Presbytes cephalopterus._
2. _P. thersites_
3. _P. Priamus_
4. _Macacus pileatus_]

I. QUADRUMANA. 1. _Monkeys_.--To a stranger in the tropics, among
the most attractive creatures in the forests are the troops of
_monkeys_ that career in ceaseless chase among the loftiest
trees. In Ceylon there are five species, four of which belong to one
group, the Wanderoos, and the other is the little graceful grimacing
_rilawa_[1], which is the universal pet and favourite of both
natives and Europeans. The Tamil conjurors teach it to dance, and in
their wanderings carry it from village to village, clad in a grotesque
dress, to exhibit its lively performances. It does not object to smoke
tobacco. The Wanderoo is too grave and melancholy to be trained to
these drolleries.

[Footnote 1: _Macacus pileatus_, Shaw and Desmarest.