[Footnote 1:  Cervus orizus, KELAART, Prod.  F. Zeyl., p. 83.]

[Footnote 2:  Presbytes ursinus, Blyth, and P. Thersites, Elliot.]

[Footnote 3:  Sorex montanus, S. ferrugineus, and Feroculus macropus.]

[Footnote 4:  Herpestes fulvescens, KELAART, Prod.  Fann.  Zeylan., App. p. 42.]

[Footnote 5:  Sciurus Tennentii, Layard.]

[Footnote 6:  Sciuropterus Layardi, Kelaart.]

[Footnote 7:  There is a rat found only in the Cinnamon Gardens at Colombo, Mus Ceylonus, Kelaart; and a mouse which Dr. Kelaart discovered at Trincomalie, M. fulvidi-ventris, Blyth, both peculiar to Ceylon.  Dr. TEMPLETON has noticed a little shrew (Corsira purpurascens, Mag.  Nat.  Hist. 1855, p. 238) at Neuera-ellia, not as yet observed elsewhere.]

But the Ceylon Mammalia, besides wanting a number of minor animals found in the Indian peninsula, cannot boast such a ruminant as the majestic Gaur[1], which inhabits the great forests from Cape Comorin to the Himalaya; and, providentially, the island is equally free of the formidable tiger and the ferocious wolf of Hindustan.

[Footnote 1:  Bos cavifrons, Hodgs, B. frontalis, Lamb.]

The Hyena and Cheetah[1], common in Southern India, are unknown in Ceylon; and though abundant in deer, the island possesses no example of the Antelope or the Gazelle.

[Footnote 1:  Felis jubata, Schreb.]

List of Ceylon Mammalia.

A list of the Mammalia of Ceylon is subjoined.  In framing it, as well as the lists appended to other chapters on the Fauna of the island, the principal object in view has been to exhibit the extent to which its natural history had been investigated, and collections made up to the period of my leaving the colony in 1850.  It has been considered expedient to exclude a few individuals which have not had the advantage of a direct comparison with authentic specimens, either at Calcutta or in England.  This will account for the omission of a number which have appeared in other catalogues, but of which many, though ascertained to exist, have not been submitted to this rigorous process of identification.

The greater portion of the species of mammals and birds contained in these lists will be found, with suitable references to the most accurate descriptions, in the admirable catalogue of the collection at the India House, now in course of publication under the care of Dr. Horsfield.  This work cannot be too highly extolled, not alone for the scrupulous fidelity with which the description of each species is referred to its first discoverer, but also for the pains which have been taken to elaborate synonymes and to collate from local periodicals and other sources, little accessible to ordinary inquirers, such incidents and traits as are calculated to illustrate characteristics and habits.