is coolies
disembowelled, the aperture in the stomach being left expanded by a
stick placed across it. On returning in the afternoon with a view to
secure the head, they found that the creature had crawled for some
distance, and made its escape into the water.]

TESTUDINATA. _Tortoise_,--Of the _testudinata_ the land tortoises are
numerous, but present no remarkable features beyond the beautiful
marking of the starred variety[1], which is common, in the north-western
province around Putlam and Chilaw, and is distinguished by the bright
yellow rays which diversify the deep black of its dorsal shield. From
one of these which was kept in my garden I took a number of flat ticks
(_Ixodes_), which adhered to its fleshy neck in such a position as to
baffle any attempt of the animal itself to remove them; but as they were
exposed to constant danger of being crushed against the plastron during
the protrusion and retraction of the head, each was covered with a horny
case almost as resistant as the carapace of the tortoise itself. Such an
adaptation of structure is scarcely less striking than that of the
parasites found on the spotted lizard of Berar by Dr. Hooker, each of
which presented the distinct colour of the scale to which it adhered.[2]

[Footnote 1: Testudo stellata, _Schweig_.]

[Footnote 2: HOOKER'S _Himalayan Journals_, vol. i. p. 37.]

The marshes and pools of the interior are frequented by the
terrapins[1], which the natives are in the habit of keeping alive in
wells under the conviction that they clear them of impurities. The
edible turtle[2] is found on all the coasts of the island, and sells for
a few shillings or a few pence, according to its size and abundance at
the moment. At certain seasons the turtle on the south-western coast of
Ceylon is avoided as poisonous, and some lamentable instances are
recorded of death which was ascribed to their use. At Pantura, to the
south of Colombo, twenty-eight persons who had partaken of turtle in
October, 1840, were seized with sickness immediately, after which coma
succeeded, and eighteen died during the night. Those who survived said
there was nothing unusual in the appearance of the flesh except that it
was fatter than ordinary. Other similarly fatal occurrences have been
attributed to turtle curry; but as they have never been proved to
proceed exclusively from that source, there is room for believing that
the poison may have been contained in some other ingredient. I