ANIMAL LIFE.

117

as great a range of variation as do the races of mankind. In
Ceylon, not only is it possible in many cases to distinguish
between the low-country and the up-country members of the
same species, but it is said that the individuals of a single
herd will often bear some perceptible hereditary brand.
In an interesting and useful guide to “Sport in the Low-Country
 of Ceylon,” by Mr. Alfred Clark of the Forest
Department (Colombo, 1901, A, M. &amp; J. Ferguson), we are
sold that “the old head clerk of the Mannar Kachcheri, who
had measured scores of elephants brought there for
shipment to India, claimed, and with justice, that he
could tell at a glance whether any elephants brought up
came from the Northern, Eastern, or Southern Provinee.”
[nformation on these points is generally vague, the characters
shemselves are often so subtle as to render description
difficult, and the analysis of specific characters has not yet
been carried to sucha degree of refinement here as in Europe
and America. There is consequently some uncertainty as
to the exact limits of
a given species, both
as between membersfrom
different localities in
Ceylon and also between
the Ceylonese and Indian
representatives ofa given
type.
Thus, with regard to
the Ceylonese monkeys
of the genus Semnopithecus,
 it has been pointed
out that S. cephaloplerus
and S. ursinusare closely
allied to S. johnit of the
Nilgiris, and “whether
or not they are to be
regarded as distinct species,
 or only local races of
one and the same species,
depends solely on the
meaning attached to the ————
term species.”* . . }
The following table contains a list of the mammals hitherto
 recorded from Ceylon, chiefly compiled from Dr. W. T.
Blanford’s work on Mammalia (1888-1831) in the “ Fauna of
British India, including Ceylon and Burma.”
* Anderson, J., “Anatomical and Zoological Researches,” London, 1878,
3. 24.