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.
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 Faunæ Zeylanicæ 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.
- Trimesuras viridis, Lucep.
- Ceylonensis, Gray.
- nigro-marginatus, Gthr.
- Megæra trigonoerphalux, Latr.
- Trigonocephalus hypnalis, Wagl.
- Dabois elegans, Gray.
- Pelamys bicolor, Doud.
- Aturia lapemoides, Gray.
- Hydrophis sublævis, Gray.
- Chersydrus granulatus, Merr.
- Cerberus cinereus, Gray.
- Tropidophis schistosus, Daud.
- Python reticulatus, Gray.
- Cylindrophis rufa, Gray.
- maculata, Linn.
- Aspidura brachyorrhos, Boie.
- Haplocercus Ceylonensis, Gthr.
- Ohgodon subquadratus, Dum. & Bib.
- subgriseus, Dum. & Bib.
- sublineatus, Dum. & Bib.
- Simotes Russellii, Daud.
- purpurascens, Schleg.
- Ablabes collaris, Gray.
- Tropidonotus quincunciatus, Schleg.
- var. funebris.
- var. carinatus.
- stolatus, Linn.
- chrysargus, Boie.
- Cynophis Helena, Daud.
- Coryphodon Blumenbachii, Merr.
- Cyclophis calamaria, Günther.
- Chrysopelea ornata, Shaw.
- Dendrophis picta, Gm.
- punctulata, Gray.
- Dryiophis prasina, Reinw.
- Passerita, myeterizans, Linn.
- var. fusca.
- Dipsas multimaculata Reinw.
- Dipsadomorphus Ceylonensis, Gray.
- Lycodon aulicus, Dum. & Bib.
- Cercaspis carinata, Kuhl.
- Bungarus fascinatus, Schneid.
- Naja tripudians, Merr.
Chelonia.