Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and: Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History, Antiquities and; Productions, Volume 1Tennent, James Emerson, Sir
History
Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and: Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History, Antiquities and; Productions, Volume 1
Tennent, James Emerson, Sir
Natural history -- Sri Lanka; Sri Lanka
In the shrubberies around my house at Colombo the graceful little
hylas[1] were to be found in great numbers, crouching under broad leaves
to protect them from the scorching sun; some of them utter a sharp
metallic sound at night, similar to that produced by smacking the lips.
They possess in a high degree the power of changing their colour; and
one which had seated itself on the gilt pillar of a dinner lamp was
scarcely to be distinguished from the or-molu to which it clung. They
are enabled to ascend glass by means of the suckers at the extremity of
their toes. Their food consists of flies and minute coleoptera.
[Footnote 1: The tree-frog, Hyla leucomystax, _Gracer_.]
_List of Ceylon Reptiles_.
I am indebted to Dr. Gray of the British Museum for a more complete
enumeration of the reptiles of Ceylon than is to be found in Dr.
Kelaart's published lists; but many of those new to Europeans have been
carefully described by the latter gentleman in his _Prodromus Faunae
Zeylanicae_ and its appendices, as well as in the 13th vol. _Magaz. Nat.
Hist._ (1854).
Saura.
Monitor dracæna, _Linn._
_Hydrosaurus salvator, Wagl._
_Mabouya elegans, Gray_.
_Riopa punctata, Linn._
_Hardwichii, Gray_.
_Tiliqua rufescens, Shaw_.
_Eumeces_ Taprobanius, _Kel._
Nessia Burtoni, _Gray_.
_Acontias_ Layardi, _Kelaart_.
Argyrophis bramieus, _Daud._
Rhinophis Blythii, _Kelaart_.
Mytilia Gerrardii, _Gray_.
Templetonii, _Gray_.
animaculata, _Gray_.
melanogaster, _Gray_.
Siluboura Ceylonica, _Cuv._
Uropeltis Saffragamus, _Kelaart_.
grandis, _Kelaart_.
pardalis, _Kelaart_.
Dapatnaya Laukadivana, _Kel._
Trevelyanii, _Kelaart_.
Hemidactylus frenatus, _Schleg._
Leschenaultii, _Dum & Bib._
_trihedrus, Less._
maculatus, _Dum & Bib._
Piresii, _Kelaart_.
Coctoei, _Dum & Bib._
Peripia Peronii, _Dum & Bib._
Gymnodactylus Kandianus, _Kel._
Sitana Ponticercana, _Cuv._
Lyriocephalus scutatus, _Wagl._
Ceratophora Stoddartii, _Gray_.
Salea Jerdoni, _Gray_.
Calotes ophiomachus, _Gray_.
versicolor, _Dum. & Bib._
Rouxii, _Dum. & Bib._
mystaceus, _Dum. & Bib._
Chamelo vuelgaris, _Daud._
Ophidia.
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