Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon

by Sir James Emerson Tennent

Footnote 4841: [(return)]

Hæmopsis paludum. In size the cattle leech of Ceylon is somewhat larger than the medicinal leech of Europe: in colour it is of a uniform brown without bands, unless a rufous margin may be so considered. It has dark striæ. The body is somewhat rounded, flat when swimming, and composed of rather more than ninety rings. The greatest dimension is a little in advance of the anal sucker; the body thence tapers to the other extremity, which ends in an upper lip projecting considerably beyond the mouth. The eyes, ten in number, are disposed as in the common leech. The mouth is oval, the biting apparatus with difficulty seen, and the teeth not very numerous. The bite is so little acute that the moment of attachment, and the incision of the membrane is scarcely perceived by the sufferer from its attack.

Footnote 4851: [(return)]

Even men, when stooping to drink at a pool, are not safe from the assault of the cattle leeches. They cannot penetrate the human skin, but the delicate membrane of the mucous passages is easily ruptured by their serrated jaws. Instances have come to my knowledge of Europeans into whose nostrils they had gained admission and caused serious disturbance.

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INDEX.

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• ABOU-ZEYD, his account of fish on dry land, [350] n.
• Abyssinia, fishes of, [352].
• Acalephæ, [398]. See Radiata.
• Acanthopterygii, [360].
• Accipitres, [245].
• Acherontia Sathanas, [427]
• Adam's Peak, elephants on the summit, [109].
• Ælian's account of the mermaid, [69].
  • his statement as to the export of elephants from Ceylon, [77] n., [209]n.
  • error as to the shedding of the elephant's tusks, [79] n.
  • describes elephants killing criminals with their knees.[87] n.
  • error as to elephants' joints, [102].
  • his account of Ceylon tortoises, [293].
  • his account of the superiority of the elephants of Ceylon, [209] n.
  • his description of the performances of the trained elephants at Rome, [237].
  • his account of the sword-fish, [328].
  • describes a Cheironectes, [331].
• African elephant, its peculiarities, [65].
  • not inferior to the Indian in tractability, [208].
• Albino buffalo, [57].
  • deer, [59].
• Albyrouni, on the pearl oyster, [375].
• Alce, described by Pliny and Cæsar, [101] n.
• Alexandria, story of the dogs at, [34].
• Alligator, [283]. See Crocodile.
• Almeida, Manoel de, on burying fishes, [353] n.
• Amboina, mermaids at, [70].
• Ampullaria, its faculty of burying itself, [355].
• Anabas, [354].
  • Daldorf's account of, doubted, [349]. [350].
  • accidents from, [351] n.
• Angling bad in Ceylon, [335] n., [341].
• Annelidæ, leeches, [479].
  • land-leech, its varieties, [482].
  • land-leech, its teeth and eyes, [480].
  • its tormenting bite, [482].
  • list of, [485].
• Anseres, [260].
• Ansted, Prof., on the geology of Ceylon, [61].
  • his statement as to the height of Indian elephants, [100] n.
• Antiochus, elephants used by, [208].
• Antipater, the first to bring the Indian elephant to Europe, [207].
• Ant-lion, [411]. See Insects.
• Ants, [420] See Insects.
  • red, [420]. [422].
  • white, [412]. See Termites.
  • their faculty in discovering food, [421].
• Armandi's work on the use of elephants in war, [208] n.
• Aphaniptera, [433].
• Arachnidæ, spiders, [464].
  • extraordinary webs, [464].
  • Olios Taprobanius, [470].
  • Mygale fasciata, [465].
  • erroneously called "tarentula," [ib].
  • anecdote of, [466].
  • spiders, the Mygale, [465].
  • birds killed by it, [468].
  • Galeodes, [470].
  • ticks, their multitude, [471].
  • mites, [472].
  • Trombidium tinctorum, [472].
  • list of, [485].
• Argus cowrie, [369].
• Aripo, the sea-shore, [373].
• Aristotle, account of fishes migrating overland, [344].
  • sounds made by elephants, [97].
  • his error as to the elephant's knees, [101].
• Armitage, Mr., story of an elephant on his estate, [139].
• Articulata, list of, [485].
• Athenæus, anecdotes of fishes on dry land, [346].
• Avicula, [373]. See Pearl Fishery.
• Avitchia, story of, [244]. See Jackdaw.
• Ayeen Akbery, elephant stomach described in, [128].

• Baker, Mr., his theory of the passion for sporting, [142] n.
  • its accuracy questionable, [142] n.
• Badger, the Ceylon, [38]. See Mongoos.
• Bandicoot rat, [44].
• Barbezieux, on the elephant, [104].
• Batocera rubus, [406].
• Batrachia, [318].
• Bats, [13] See Mammalia and Cheiroptera.
  • orange-coloured bats, [14].
  • bats do not hybernate in Ceylon, [18].
  • horse-shoe bat, [19].
  • sense of smell and touch, [19].
  • small bat, Scotophilus Coromandelicus, [20].
  • their parasite (Nycteribia), [20]-22.
• Batticaloa, musical fish, [380].
• Bears, [22]. See Mammalia.
  • ferocity of, [23].
  • charm to protect from, [25] n.
• Beaters for elephants, [150].
• Beaver, on African elephant, [234].
• Beckman's account of fishes on dry land, [346].
• Bees, [419]. See Insects.
• Beetles, [405]. See Insects.
  • instincts of the scavenger beetle, [405].
  • coco-nut beetle, [407].
  • tortoise beetle, [408].
• Bell, Sir Charles, on the elephant's shoulder, [108].
• Benary, his derivation of the word elephant, [76] n.
• Bengal mode of taking elephants, [164].
• Bennett's account of Ceylon, [Introd].
  • work on its Ichthyology, [323].
• Bernier, on the Ceylon elephant, [209].
• Bertolacci, on form of chank shell, [372].
• Bestiaries, [104].
• Bicho de Mar. See Holothuria.
• Birds of Ceylon, [241].
  • their number and character, [ib].
  • few songsters, [242].
  • pea-fowl, [244].
  • eagles and hawks, [245].
  • owls, devil bird, [246]. [247].
  • swallows, [248].
  • edible bird' nests, [248].
  • kingfisher, sun birds, [249].
  • bulbul, tailor bird, weaver bird, [251].
  • crows, anecdotes of, [253].
  • paroquets, [256].
  • pigeons, [257].
  • jungle-fowl, [259].
  • grallæ, flamingoes, [260].
  • list of Ceylon birds, [265].
• Bird-eating spiders, [469].
• Birds' nests, edible, [248].
• Blainville, De, on the age of the elephant, [232].
• Blair, on the anatomy of the elephant, [123] n.
• Bles, Marcellus, on the elephants of Ceylon, [113] n., [215] n.
• Blood-suckers, [275].
• Blyth, Mr., of Calcutta, his cultivation of zoology, [4].
  • his revision of this work, [Introd].
• Boa, [303]. See Python.
• Boar, wild, [59].
• Bochart, [68].
  • his derivation of the word "elephant," [76] n.
• Bora-chung, a curious fish, [367].
• Bosquez, Demas, account of a mermaid, [70].
• Bowring, Sir John, on the fishes of Siam, [348].
• Broderip, on the elephant, [122].
• Browne, Sir Thomas, vulgar errors, [100]. [105].
  • error as to elephants' joints, [102].
• Brun, Le, account of the elephants at Colombo, [77] n.
• Bruno or Braun, his account of the Guinea worm, [397].
• Buchanan, story of buffalo "rogues," [115] n.
• Buffalo, [54]. See Mammalia.
  • its temper, [54].
  • sporting buffaloe, [55].
  • peculiar structure of its foot, [56].
  • rogue buffalo, [115] n.
  • buffalo's stomach and its water-cells, [129] n.
• Buffon, on the elephant, [113] n., [215].
• Bugs, [433]. See Insects and Coffee-bug.
• Buist, Dr., account of fish fallen from clouds, [362].
• Bulbul, [251]. See Birds.
• Bulimi, their vitality, [357].
• Bullia, curious property of, [370].
• Bullocks for draught, [50].
• Burying fishes, [351].
• Butterflies, [403]. [425]. See Insects.
  • migration of, [403] n.
  • the spectre butterfly, [426].

• Cæcilia, [317]. See Reptiles.
• Cæsar's description of the "alce," [100] n.
• Cajan, [373] n.
• Caldera, in Chili, musical sounds under water, [383].
• Calotes, the green, [276].
• Camel, attempt to domesticate in Ceylon, [53] n.
  • stomach of, [128].
  • antipathy to the horse, [83] n.
• Camper, on the anatomy of the elephant's stomach, [125].
• Carawala, [296]. See Reptiles.
• Carnivora, [74].
• Carpenter bee, [418]. See Insects.
• Caterpillars, stings of, [429].
• Cats attracted by the Cuppa-may-niya, 33.
• Centipede, [474]. See Myriapoda and Scolopendræ.
• Ceratophora, [279].
• Cerithia, [381].
  • probably musical, [381] n.
• Cermatia, [473]. See Myriapoda.
• Cetacea, [68]. [74].
  • described by Megasthenes and Ælian, [69].
• Chameleon, [278]. See Reptiles.
• Chank shell, Turbinella rapa, [371]. See [Greek: Kochlious] and Schenek.
• Cheetah, [26]. See Leopard.
• Cheironectes, described by Ælian, [331].
• Cheiroptera, [13]. [74].
• Chelifer, [475].
• Chelonia, [322].
• Chena cultivation, [130].
• Cicada, [432]. See Insects.
• Cirrhipeda, [486].
• Cissa, [252].
• Civet, [32]. See Genette.
• Climbing fish (Anabas scandens), [349].
• Cluverius, [68].
• Cobra de Capello, anecdotes of, [297].
  • legend of, [297] n.
  • a white cobra, [298] n.
  • a tame cobra, [299] n.
  • cobra crossing the sea, [300].
  • curious belief as to the cobra, [300]. [301].
  • worship of, [303].
• Cobra-tel, poison, [272]. See Kabara-tel.
• Coecilia glutinosa, [317].
  • attacked and killed by ants, [422].
• Coco-nut beetle, [407].
• Coffee-bug, Lecanium Caffeæ, [436].
• Coffee rat, [43].
• Coleoptera, [405].
• Columbidæ, [257].
• Conchology. See Shells.
• Cooroowe, elephant catchers, [181].
• Corral for taking elephants, [156]. [164]. See Elephant.
  • process of its construction, [170].
  • mode of conducting the capture, [156]. [169].
• Corse, Mr., account of elephants, [114].
• Cosmas Indico pleustes, his reference to chanks at Marallo, [371].
• Cotton-thief, [250]. See Tchitrea.
• Crabs, [477]. See Crustacea.
• Cripps, Mr., on sounds produced by elephants, [98].
  • his story of an elephant which feigned death, [135].
  • his account of fishes after rain, [343].
• Crocodile, [282]. See Reptiles.
  • its sensibility to tickling, [285].
  • habit of the crocodile to bury itself in the mud, [286].
  • its flesh eaten, [284] n.
  • their vitality, [288] n.
  • one killed at Batticaloa, [287].
• Crows, [233]. See Birds.
  • anecdotes of, [254].
  • story of a crow and a dog, [255].
• Cruelty to turtle, &c., [291].
• Crustacea, calling crabs, [477].
  • Sand crabs (ocypode), [478].
  • Painted crabs, [478].
  • Paddling crabs, [478].
  • Hermit crabs, [478].
  • Pea crabs, [479].
  • List of Ceylon Crustacea, [486].
• Ctesias' error as to the elephant's knee, [101].
• Cumming, Mr. Gordon, on the power of the elephant in overturning trees, [218] n.
• Cuppa-moy niya plant, its attraction for cats, [33] n.
• Cuvier, on the elephant, [133].
  • on the structure of its tusks, [228].
  • on the elephant's age, [232].