.r*
t
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THE INDIAN EMPIRE :
ITS PEOPLE, HISTORY, AND PRODUCTS.
By the HON. SIR W. W. HUNTER, K. C.S.I., C.S.I., C.I. E., LL.D.
Member of the Viceroy's Legislative Council,
Director-General of Statistics to the Government of India.
Being a Revised Edition, brought up to date, and incorporating the general
results of the Census of 1881.
" It forms a volume of more than 700 pages, and is a marvellous combination of
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fruitful. Nothing could bo more lucid than Sir William Hunter's expositions of the
economic and political condition of India at the present time, or more interesting
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THE FOLLOWING WORKS HAVE ALREADY APPEARED:
Third Edition, post 8vo, cloth, pp. xvi. 428, price i6s.
ESSAYS ON THE SACRED LANGUAGE, WRITINGS,
AND RELIGION OF THE PARSIS.
BY MARTIN HAUG, PH.D.,
Late of the Universities of Tubingen, Gottingen, and Bonn ; Superintendent
of Sanskrit Studies, and Professor of Sanskrit in the Poona College.
EDITED AND ENLARGED BY DR. E. "W. WEST.
To which is added a Biographical Memoir of the late Dr. HAUG
by Prof. E. P. EVANS.
I. History of the Researches into the Sacred Writings and Religion of the
Parsis, from the Earliest Times down to the Present.
II. Languages of the Parsi Scriptures.
III. The Zend-Avesta, or the Scripture of the Parsis.
IV. The Zoroastrian Religion, as to its Origin and Development.
" ' Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the Parsis,' by the
late Dr. Martin Haug, edited by Dr. E. W. West. The author intended, on his return
from India, to expand the materials contained in this woi-k into a comprehensive
account of the Zoroastrian religion, but the design was frustrated by his untimely
death. We have, however, in a concise and readable form, a history of the researches
into the sacred writings and religion of the Parsis from the earliest times down to
the present a dissei'tation on the languages of the Parsi Scriptures, a translation
of the Zend-Avesta, or the Scripture of the Parsis, and a dissertation on the Zoroas-
trian religion, with especial reference to its origin and development." Times.
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TEXTS FROM THE BUDDHIST CANON
COMMONLY KNOWN AS " DHAMMAPADA."
With Accompanying Narratives.
Translated from the Chinese by S. BEAL, B.A., Professor of Chinese,
University College, London.
The Dhammapada, as hitherto known by the Pali Text Edition, as edited
by Fausboll, by Max Mailers English, and Albrecht Weber's German
translations, consists only of twenty-six chapters or sections, whilst the
Chinese version, or rather recension, as now translated by Mr. Beal, con-
sists of thirty-nine sections. The students of Pali who possess Fausboll's
text, or either of the above-named translations, will therefore needs want
Mr. Beal's English rendering of the Chinese version ; the thirteen above-
named additional sections not being accessible to them in any other form ;
for, even if they understand Chinese, the Chinese original would be un-
obtainable by them.
"Mr. H.-al's rendering of the Chinese translation is :i most valuable aid to the
critical study of the work. It contains authentic texts gathered from ancient
canonical books, and generally connected with some incident in the history of
liuddha. Their great interest, however, consists in the light which they throw upon
everyday life in India at the remote period at which they were written, and upon
the method of teaching adopted by the founder of the religion. The method
employed was principally parable, and the simplicity of the tales and the excellence
of the morals inculcated, as well as the Strange hold which they have retained upon
tin- minds of million hem a very remarkable study."- Tinnx.
"Mr. iVal, by making il accessible ii: ress, has added' to the great ser-
vices 1. rendered to the comparativi ni. story." Acvdnni/.
"Valuable as exhibiting the doctrine of the Muddhists in its purest, least adul-
; form, it bi i -:> reader face to face witli that simple creed and. rule
of conduct whi'-l; Vf( Mlie minds of myriads, and which is now nominally
d by 745 millions, who have overlaid its austere simplicity with innumerable
cereni' en its maxim . chiQg, and so Inverted its leading
principle that a religion whose founder denied a God, now worships that founder as
a -d himself." Scolsr^an.
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THE HISTORY OF INDIAN LITERATURE.
BY ALBRECHT WEBER.
Translated from the Second German Edition by JOHN MANN, M.A., and
THEODOR ZACHARIAE, Ph.D., with the sanction of the Author.
Dr. BUHLER. Inspector of Schools in India, writes: "When I was Pro-
fessor of Oriental Languages in Elphinstone College, I frequently felt the
want of such a work to which I could refer the students."
Professor COWELL, of Cambridge, writes : "It will be especially useful
to the students in our Indian colleges and universities. I used to long for
such a book when I was teaching in Calcutta. Hindu students are intensely
interested in the history of Sanskrit literature, and this volume will supply
them with all they want on the subject."
Professor WHITNEY, Yale College, Newhaven, Conn., U.S.A., writes :
" I was one of the class to whom the work was originally given in the form
of academic lectures. At their first appearance they were by far the most
learned and able treatment of their subject ; and with their recent additions
they still maintain decidedly the same rank."
" la perhaps the most comprehensive and lucid survey of Sanskrit literature
extant. The essays contained in the volume were originally delivered as academic
lectures, and at the time of their first publication were acknowledged to be by far
the most learned and able treatment of the subject. They have now been brought
up to date by the addition of all the most important results of recent research."
Times.
Post 8vo, cloth, pp. xii. 198, accompanied by Two Language
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A SKETCH OF
THE MODERN LANGUAGES OF THE EAST INDIES.
BY ROBERT N. GUST.
The Author has attempted to fill up a vacuum, the inconvenience of
which pressed itself on his notice. Much had been written about the
languages of the East Indies, but the extent of our present knowledge had
not even been brought to a focus. It occurred to him that it might be of
use to others to publish in an arranged form the notes which he had collected
for his own edification.
" Supplies a deficiency which has long been felt." Times.
" The book before us is then a valuable contribution to philological science. It
passes under review a vast number of languages, and it gives, or professes to give, in
every case the sum and substance of the opinions and judgments of the best-informed
writers." Saturday Review.
Second Corrected Edition, post 8vo, pp. xii. 116, cloth, price
THE BIRTH OF THE WAR-GOD.
A Poem. BY KALIDASA.
Translated from the Sanskrit into English Verse by
RALPH T. H. GRIFFITH, M.A.
" A very spirited rendering of the Kumdrasambhava, which was first published
twenty-six years ago, and which we are glad to see made once more accessible."
Times.
" Mr. Griffith's very spirited rendering is well known to most who are at all
interested in Indian literature, or enjoy the tenderness of feeling and rich creative
imagination of its author." Indian Antiquary.
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A CLASSICAL DICTIONARY OF HINDU MYTHOLOGY
AND RELIGION, GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY, AND
LITERATURE.
BY JOHN DOWSON, M.R.A.S.,
Late Professor of Hindustani, Staff College.
" This not only forms an indispensable book of reference to students of Indian
literature, but is also of great general interest, as it gives in a concise and easily
accessible form all that need be known about the personages of Hindu mythology
whose names are so familiar, but of whom so little is known outside the limited
circle of savants." /
" It is no slight gain when such subjects are treated fairly and fully in a moderate
space ; and we need only add that the few wants which we may hope to see supplied
in now editions detract but little from the general excellence of Mr. Dowson's work."
Saturday Keview.
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SELECTIONS FROM THE KORAN.
BY EDWARD WILLIAM LANE,
Translator of " The Thousand and One Nights ;" &c., <fcc.
A New Edition, Revised and Enlarged, with an Introduction by
STANLEY LANE POOLE.
"... Has been long esteemed in this country as the compilation of one of the
greatest Arabic scholars of the time, the late Mr. Lane, the well-known translator of
the 'Arabian Xights.' . . . The present editor has enhanced the value of his
relative's work by divesting the text of a great (leal of extraneous matter introduced
by way of comment, and prefixing an introduction."
"Mr. Poole is both a generous and a learned biographer. . . . Mr. Poole tells us
the facts ... so far as it is possible for industry and criticism to ascertain them,
and for literary skill to present them in a condensed and readable form." English-
man, Calcutta.
Post 8vo, pp. vi. 368, cloth, price 143.
MODERN INDIA AND THE INDIANS,
BEING A SERIES OF IMPRESSIONS, NOTES, AND ESSAYS.
BY MONIER WILLIAMS, D.C.L.,
Hoii. LL.D. of the University of Calcutta, I Fun. Member of the Bombay Asiatic
Society, Boden Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Oxford.
Third Edition, revised and augmented by considerable Additions,
with Illustrations and a Map.
" In this volume we have the thoughtful in> htful man on some
of the most important questions connected with our Indian Kmpire. . . . An en-
lightened observant man, travel I i ant people, Professor
r Williams has brough^ before the public In a pleasant I'm-m more <>t' the ma
and en i'n Ilidi:in subjects than we ever remember in have seen in
uny one work, ife not only <! Lehman for this able
contribution to the stud.. India a subject with which we should bo
specially familiar but he deserves iho lhanks of every i o or Hindu,
Buddhist and Moslem, for his clear exposition of their manners, 1heir creeds, and
their necessities." Times.
Post 8vo, pp. xliv. 376, cloth, price 143.
METRICAL TRANSLATIONS FROM SANSKRIT
WRITERS.
With an Introduction, many Prose Versions, and Parallel Passages from
Classical Authors.
BY J. MUIR, C.I.E., D.C.L., LL.D., Ph.D.
"... An agreeable introduction to Hindu pnetrv." 7.
"... A volume which may bo taken as a fair illustration alike of Ilie v<
and moral sentiments and of the legendary lore of the best Sanskrit writers."
Edinburgh Daily Review.
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THE GULISTAN;
OK, ROSE GARDEN OF SHEKH MUSHLIU'D-DIN SADI OF SHIRAZ.
Translated for the First Time into Prose and Verse, with an Introductory
Preface, and a Life of the Author, from the Atish Kadah,
BY EDWARD B. EASTWICK, C.B., M.A., F.R.S., M.R.A.S.
" It is a very fair rendering of the original." Times.
" The new edition has long been desired, and will be welcomed by all who take
any interest in Oriental poetry. The Gulistan is a typical Persian verse-book of the
highest order. Mr. Eastwick's rhymed translation ... has long established itself in
a secure position as the best version of Sadi's finest work." Academy.
" It is both faithfully and gracefully executed." Tablet.
In Two Volumes, post 8vo, pp. viii. 408 and viii. 348, cloth, price 283.
MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS RELATING TO INDIAN
SUBJECTS.
BY BRIAN HOUGHTON HODGSON, ESQ., F.R.S.,
Lute of the Bengal Civil Service ; Corresponding Member of the Institute ; Chevalier
of the Legion of Honour ; late British Minister at the Court of Nepal, &c., &C.
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
SECTION I. On the Kocch, B6d6, and Dhimal Tribes. Part I. Vocabulary.
Part II. Grammar. Part III. Their Origin, Location, Numbers, Creed, Customs,
Character, and Condition, with a General Description of the Climate they dwell in.
Appendix.
SECTION II. On Himalayan Ethnology. I. Comparative Vocabulary of the Lan-
guages of the Broken Tribes of Ne"pal. II. Vocabulary of the Dialects of the Kiranti
Language. III. Grammatical Analysis of the Vayu Language. The Vayu Grammar.
IV. Analysis of the Bahing Dialect of the Kiranti Language. The Bdhing Gram-
niar. V. On the Vayu or Hayu Tribe of the Central Himalaya. VI. On the Kiranti
Tribe of the Central Himalaya.
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
SECTION 111. On the Aborigines of North-Eastern India. Comparative Vocabulary
of the Tibetan, B6d6, and Gard Tongues.
SECTION IV. Aborigines of the North-Eastern Frontier.
SECTION V. Aborigines of the Eastern Frontier.
SECTION VI. The Indo-Chinese Borderers, and their connection with the Hima-
layans and Tibetans. Comparative Vocabulary of Indo-Chinese Borderers in Arakan.
Comparative Vocabulary of Indo-Chinese Borderers in Tenasserim.
SECTION VII. The Mongolian Affinities of the Caucasians. Comparison and Ana-
lysis of Caucasian and Mongolian Words.
SECTION VIII. Physical Type of Tibetans.
SECTION IX. The Aborigines of Central India. Comparative Vocabulary of the
Aboriginal Languages of Central India. Aborigines of the Eastern Ghats. Vocabu-
lary of some of the Dialects of the Hill and Wandering Tribes in the Northern Sircars.
Aborigines of the Nilgiris, with Remarks on their Affinities. Supplement to the
Nilgirian Vocabularies. The Aborigines of Southern India and Ceylon.
SECTION X. Route of Nepalese Mission to Pekin, with Remarks on the Water-
Shed and Plateau of Tibet.
SECTION XL Route from Kathmandu, the Capital of Nepal, to Darjeeliug in
Sikim. Memorandum relative to the Seven Cosis of Nepal.
SECTION XII. Some Accounts of the Systems of Law and Police as recognised in
the State of Nejial.
SECTION XIII. The Native Method of making the Paper denominated Hindustan,
Nepalese.
SECTION XIV. Pre-eminence of the Vernaculars ; or, the Anglicists Answered ;
Being Letters on the Education of the People of India.
" For the study of the less-known races of India Mr. Brian Hodgson's ' Miscellane-
ous Essays ' will be found very valuable both to the philologist and the ethnologist."
Times.
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THE LIFE OR LEGEND OF GAUDAMA,
THE BUDDHA OF THE BURMESE. With Annotations.
The "Ways to Neibban, and Notice on the Phongyies or Burmese Monks.
BY THE EIGHT KEY. P. BIGANDET,
Bishop of Ramatha, Vicar- Apostolic of Ava and Pegu.
"The work is furnished with copious notes, which not only illustrate the subject-
matter, but form a perfect encyclopaedia of Buddhist lore." Times.
"A work which will furnish European students of Buddhism with a most valuable
help in the prosecution of their investigations." Edinburgh Daily Review.
" Bishop Bigandet's invaluable work." Indian Antiquary.
" Viewed in this light, its importance is sufficient to place students of the subject
under a deep obligation to its author." Calcutta Review.
" This work is one of the greatest authorities upon Buddhism." Dublin Review.
Post 8vo, pp. xxiv. 420, cloth, price 183.
CHINESE BUDDHISM.
A VOLUME OF SKETCHES, HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL.
BY J. EDKINS, D.D.
Author of "China's Place in Philology," "Religion in China," &c., &c.
"It contains a vast deal of important information on the subject, such as is only
to be gained by long-continued study on the spot."
" Upon the whole, we know of no work comparable to it for the extent of its
original research, and the simplicity with which this complicated system of philo-
sophy, religion, literature, and ritual is set forth." British Quarterly Review.
" The whole volume is replete with learning. ... It deserves most careful study
from all interested in the history of the religions of the world, and expressly of those
who are concerned in the propagation of Christianity. Dr. Kdkins notices in terms
of just condemnation the exaggerated praise bestowed upon Buddhism by recent
English writers." Record.
Post 8vo, pp. 496, cloth, price i8s.
LINGUISTIC AND ORIENTAL ESSAYS.
WRITTEN FROM THE YEAR 1846 TO 1878.
BY ROBERT NEEDHAM CUST,
Late Member of Her Majesty's Indian Civil Service ; Hon. Secretary to
the Royal Asiatic Society ;
and Author of " The Modern Languages of the East Indies."
" We know none who has described Indian life, especially the life of the natives,
with so much learning, .sympathy, and literary talent." Aecu
"They seem to us to be full of suggestive and original remarks." SI. James's Gazette.
"II ins a vast amount of information. The result of thirty-five years
of inquiry, reflection, and speculation, and that on subjects as full of fascination as
of foo'l for tliou/lit." Tnhlet.
.''luaintance with the history and antiquities of India
as t<> entitle him to having authority." Minlmrgh Daily Review.
tks with the authority of personal experience It is this
.nt association with the country and the people which gives such a vividness
to many of the pages." Athcnaum.
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BUDDHIST BIRTH STORIES; or, Jataka Tales.
The Oldest Collection of Folk-lore Extaut :
BEING THE JATAKATTHAVANNANA,
For the first time Edited in the original Pali.
BY V. FAUSBOLL ;
And Translated by T. W. RHYS DAVIDS.
Translation. Volume I.
"These are talcs supposed to have been told by the Buddha of what he bad seen
and heard in his previous births. They are probably the nearest representatives
of the original Aryan stories from which sprang the folk-lore of Europe as well as
India. The introduction contains a most interesting disquisition on the migrations
of these fables, tracing their reappearance in the various groups of folk-lore legends.
Among other old friends, we meet with a version of the Judgment of Solomon." Times.
" It is now some years since Mr. Rhys Davids asserted his right to be heard on
this subject by his able article on Buddhism in the new edition of the ' Encyclopaedia
Britannica.'" Leeds Mercury.
" All who are interested in Buddhist literature ought to feel deeply indebted to
Mr. Rhys Davids. His well-established reputation as a Pali scholar is a sufficient
guarantee for the fidelity of his version, and the stylo of his translations is deserving
of high praise." Academy.
" No more competent expositor of Buddhism could be found than Mr. Rhys Davids.
In the Jutaka book we have, then, a priceless record of the earliest imaginative
literature of our race ; and ... it presents to us a nearly complete picture of the
social life and customs and popular beliefs of the common people of Aryan tribes,
closely related to ourselves, just as they were passing through the first stages of
civilisation." St. James's Gazette.
Post 8vo, pp. xxviii. 362, cloth, price 143.
A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY;
OR, A THOUSAND AND ONE EXTRACTS FROM THE TALMUD,
THE MIDRASHIM, AND THE KABBALAH.
Compiled and Translated by PAUL ISAAC HERSHON,
Author of " Genesis According to the Talmud, 'V&c.
"With Notes and Copious Indexes.
" To obtain in so concise and handy a form as this volume a general idea of the
Talmud is a boon to Christians at least." Times.
" Its peculiar and popular character will make it attractive to general readers.
Mr. Hershon is a very competent scholar. . . . Contains samples of the good, bad,
and indifferent, and especially extracts that throw light upon the Scriptures."
British Quarterly Review.
" Will convey to English readers a more complete and truthful notion of the
Talmud than any other work that has yet appeared. " Daily News.
" Without overlooking in the slightest the several attractions of the previous
volumes of the ' Oriental Series,' we have no hesitation in saying that this surpasses
them all in interest." Edinburgh Daily Review.
" Mr. Hershon has . . . thus given English readers what is, we believe, a fair set
of specimens which they can test for themselves." The Record
" This book is by far the best fitted in the present state'of knowledge to enable the
general reader to gain :i fair and unbiassed conception of the multifarious contents
of the wonderful miscellany which can only be truly understood so Jewish pride
asserts by the life-long devotion of scholars of the Chosen People." Inquirer.
" The value and importance of this volume consist in the fact that scarcely a single
extract is given in its pages but throws some light, direct or refracted, upon thosa
Scriptures which are the common heritage of Jew and Christian alike." John Bull.
" It is a capital specimen of Hebrew scholarship ; a monument of learned, loving,
light-giving labour." Jewish Herald.
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THE CLASSICAL POETRY OF THE JAPANESE.
BY BASIL HALL CHAMBERLAIN,
Author of " Yeigo Heiikaku Shiran."
11 A very curious volume. The author has manifestly devoted much labour to the
task of studying the poetical literature of the Japanese, and rendering characteristic
specimens into English verse." Daily .'
" Mr. Chamberlain's volume is, so far as we arc aware, the first attempt which has
been made to interpret the literature of the Japanese to the Western world. It is to
the classical poetry of Old Japan that we must turn for indigenous Japanese thought,
and in the volume before us we have a selection from that poetry rendered into
graceful English verse." Tablet.
"It is undoubtedly one of the best translations of lyric literature which has
appeared during the close of the last year." Celestial Empire.
"Mr. Chamberlain set himself a difficult task when he undertook to reproduce
Japanese poetry in an English form. But he has evidently laboured con amore, and
his efforts are successful to a degree." London and China Express.
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THE HISTORY OF ESARHADDON (Son of Sennacherib),
KING OF ASSYRIA, B.C. 681-668.
Translated from the Cuneiform Inscriptions upon Cylinders and Tablets in
the British Museum Collection ; together with a Grammatical Analysis
of each Word, Explanations of the Ideographs by Extracts from the
Bi-Lingual Syllabaries, and List of Eponyms, &c.
Br ERNEST A. BUDGE, B.A., M.R.A.S.,
Assyrian Exhibitioner, Christ's College, Cambridge.
" Students of scriptural archaeology will also appreciate the ' History of Esar-
haddon.' " Times.
" There is much to attract the scholar in this volume. It does not pretend to
popularise studies which are yet in their infancy. Its primary object is to translate,
but it does not assume to be more than tentative, and it offers both to the professed
Assyriologist and to the ordinary non-Assyriological Semitic scholar the means of
controlling its results.'' Academy.
"Mr. Budge's book is, of course, mainly addressed to Assyrian scholars and
students. They are not, it is to be feared, a very numerous class. But the more
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in his laborious task." Tablet.
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THE MESNEVI
(Usually known as THE MESNEVITI SHERIF, or HOLY MESNEVI)
OF
MEVLANA (OUR LORD) JELALU 'D-DIN MUHAMMED ER-RUMI.
Book the First.
Together with some Account of tie Life and Acts of the Author,
of his Ancestors, and of his Descendants.
Illustrated by a Selection of Characteristic Anecdotes, as Collected
by their Historian,
MEVLANA SHEMSU-'D-DIN AHMED, EL EFLAKI, EL 'ARIFI.
Translated, and the Poetry A'crsil'n'il, in English,
llv JAMES AV. Jl ED HO USE, M.R.A.S., &c.
" A complete treasury of occult Oriental lore."
"This book will be a very valuable help In the i ntof Persia, who is
tU of olit ihiin;: ,-iu insight into a very important department of the literature
extant in that language." TabLt.
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EASTERN PROVERBS AND EMBLEMS
ILLUSTRATING OLD TRUTHS.
BY REV. J. LONG,
Member of the Bengal Asiatic Society, F.R.G.S.
" We regard the book as valuable, and wish for it a wide circulation and attentive
reading. " Record.
" Altogether, it is quite a feast of good things." Olobf.
" It is full of interesting matter." Antiquary.
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INDIAN POETRY;
Containing a New Edition of the "Indian Song of Songs," from the Sanscrit
of the "Gita Govinda" of Jayadeva ; Two Books from "The Iliad of
India" (Mahabharata), "Proverbial Wisdom " from the Shlokas of the
Hitopadesa, and other Oriental Poems.
BY EDWIN ARNOLD, C.S.I., Author of "The Light of Asia."
" In this new volume of Messrs. Trlibner's Oriental Series, Mr. Edwin Arnold does
good service by illustrating, through the medium of his musical English melodies,
the power of Indian poetry to stir European emotions. The ' Indian Song of Songs '
is not unknown to scholars. Mr. Arnold will have introduced it among popular
English poems. Nothing could be more graceful and delicate than the shades by
which Krishna is portrayed in the gradual process of being weaned by the love of
' Beautiful Radha, jasmine-bosomed Radha,'
from the allurements of the forest nymphs, in whom the five senses are typified."
Times.
" No other English poet has ever thrown his genius and his art so thoroughly into
the work of translating Eastern ideas as Mr. Arnold has done in his splendid" para-
phrases of language contained in these mighty epics." Daily Telegraph.
" The poem abounds with imagery of Eastern luxuriousness and sensuousm ss ; the
air seems laden with the spicy odours of the tropics, and the verse has a richness and
a melody sufficient to captivate the senses of the dullest." Standard.
" The translator, while producing a very enjoyable poem, has adhered with toler-
able fidelity to the original text." Overt and Mail.
" We certainly wish Mr. Arnold success in his attempt ' to popularise Indian
classics,' that being, as his preface tells us, the goal towards which he bends his
efforts." Allen's Indian Mail.
Post 8vo, pp. xvi. 296, cloth, price IDS. 6d.
THE MIND OF MENCIUS ;
OR, POLITICAL ECONOMY FOUNDED UPON MORAL
PHILOSOPHY.
A SYSTEMATIC DIGEST OF THE DOCTRINES OF THE CHINESE PHILOSOPHER
MENCIUS.
Translated from the Original Text and Classified, with
Comments and Explanations,
By the REV. ERNST FABER, Rhenish Mission Society.
Translated from the German, with Additional Notes,
By the REV. A. B. HUTCHINSON, C.M.S., Church Mission, Hong Kong.
" Mr. Faber is already well known in the field of Chinese studies by his digest of
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A COMPARATIVE HISTORY OF THE EGYPTIAN AND
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UDANAVARGA.
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BEING THE NORTHERN BUDDHIST VERSION OF DHAMMAPADA.
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OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF RELIGION TO THE
SPREAD OF THE UNIVERSAL RELIGIONS.
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University of Leyden.
Translated from the Dutch by J. ESTLIN CARPENTER, M.A.
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A HISTORY OF BURMA.
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RELIGION IN CHINA.
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THE LIFE OF THE BUDDHA AND THE EARLY
HISTORY OF HIS ORDER.
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rities." Daily News.
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THE SANKHYA APHORISMS OF KAPILA,
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College.
Edited by FITZEDWARD HALL.
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BUDDHIST RECORDS OF THE WESTERN WORLD,
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THE ORDINANCES OF MANU.
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THE LIFE AND WORKS OF ALEXANDER
CSOMA DE KOROS,
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published Documents.
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MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS RELATING TO
INDO-CHINA.
Reprinted from "Dalrymple's Oriental Repertory," "Asiatic Researches,"
and the "Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal."
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
I. Some Accounts of Quedah. By Michael Topping.
II. Report mado to the Chief and Council of Balambangan, by Lieut. James
Barton, of his several Surveys.
III. Substance of a Letter to the Court of Directors from Mr. John Jesse, dated
July 20, 1775, at Borneo Proper.
IV. Formation of the Establishment of Poolo Peenang.
V. The Gold of Limong. By John Macdonald.
VI. On Three Natural Productions of Sumatra. By John Macdonald.
VII. On the Traces of the Hindu Language and Literature extant amongst the
Malays. By William Marsden.
VIII Some Account of the Elastic Gum Vine of Prince-Wales Island. By James
Howison.
IX. A Botanical Description of Urceola Elastica, or Caoutchouc Vine of Sumatra
and Pulo-Pinang. By William Roxburgh, M.D.
X. An Account of the Inhabitants of the Poggy, or Nassau Islands, lying off
Sumatra. By John Crisp.
XI. Remarks on the Species of Pepper which are found on Prince-Wales Island.
By William Hunter, M.D.
XII. On the Languages and Literature of the Indo-Chinese Nations. By J.
Leyden, M.D.
XIII. Some Account of an Orang-Outang of remarkable height found on the Island
of Sumatra. By Clarke Abel, M.D.
XIV. Observations on the Geological Appearances and General Features of Por-
tions of the Malayan Peninsula. By Captain James Low.
XV. Short Sketch of the Geology of Pulo-Pinang and the Neighbouring Islands.
By T. Ware.
XVI. Climate of Singapore.
XVII. Inscription on the Jetty at Singapore.
XVIII. Extract of a Letter from Colonel J. Low.
XIX. Inscription at Singapore.
XX. An Account of Several Inscriptions found in Province Wellesley. By Lieut. -
Col. James Low.
XXL Note on the Inscriptions from Singapore and Province Wellesley. By J. W.
Laidlay.
XXII. On an Inscription from Keddah. By Lieut.-Col. Low.
XXIII. A Notice of the Alphabets of the Philippine Islands.
XXIV. Succinct Review of the Observations of the Tides in the Indian Archipelago.
XXV. Report on the Tin of the Province of Mergui. By Capt. G. B. Tremenheere.
XXVI. Report on the Manganese of Mergui Province. By Capt. G. B. Tremenheere.
XXVII. Paragraphs to be added to Capt. G. B. Tremenheere's Report.
XXVIII. Second Report on the Tin of Mergui. By Capt. G. B. Tremenheere.
XXIX. Analysis of Iron Ores from Tavoy and Mergui, and of Limestone from
Mergui. By Dr. A. Ure.
XXX. Report of a Visit to the Pakchan River, and of some Tin Localities in the
Southern Portion of the Tcnasserim Provinces. By Capt. G. B. Tremenheere.
XXXI. Report on a Route from the Mouth of the Pakchan to Krau, and thence
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Forlong.
XXXII. Report, &c. , from Capt. G. B. Tremenheere on the Price of Mergui Tin Ore.
XXXIII. Remarks on the Different Species of Orang-utan. By E. Blyth.
XXXIV. Further Remarks. By E. Blyth.
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MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS RELATING TO INDO-CHINA
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CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
XXXV. Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting the Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
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XXXVI. On the Local and Relative Geology of Singapore. By J. B. Logan.
XXXVII. Catalogue of Reptiles inhabiting the Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
By Theodore Cantor, M.D.
XXXVIII. Some Account of the Botanical Collection brought from the Eastward,
in 1841, by Dr. Cantor. By the late W. Griffith.
XXXIX. On the Flat-Horned Tauriue Cattle of S.E. Asia. By E. Blyth.
XL. Note, by Major-General G. B. Tremenheere.
General Index.
Index of Vernacular Terms.
Index of Zoological Genera and Sub-Genera occurring in Vol. II.
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THE SATAKAS OF BHARTRIHARI.
Translated from the Sanskrit
By the REV. B. HALE WORTHAM, M.R.A.S.,
Rector of Eggesford, North Devon.
" A very interesting addition to Triibncr's Oriental Series." Saturday Review.
" Many of the Maxims in the book have a Biblical ring and beauty of expression."
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ANCIENT PROVERBS AND MAXIMS FROM BURMESE
SOURCES ;
OB, THE NITI LITERATURE OF BURMA.
BY JAMES GRAY,
Author of "Elements of Pali Grammar," "Translation of the
Dh&mmapada," &c.
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and "guide" in its concrete signification. As applied to books, it is a
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MASNAVI I MA' NAVI:
THE SPIRITUAL COUPLETS OF MAULANA JALALU-'D-DIN
MUHAMMAD I RUMI.
Translated and Abridged by E. H. WHINFIELD, M.A.,
Late of H.M. Bengal Civil Service.
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MANAVA-DHARMA-CASTRA:
THE CODE OF MANU.
ORIGINAL SANSKRIT TEXT, WITH CRITICAL NOTES.
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of Law in the University of Calcutta.
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many years past, and it is believed, therefore, that Prof. Jolly's work will
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LEAVES FROM MY CHINESE SCRAP-BOOK.
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LINGUISTIC AND ORIENTAL ESSAYS.
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CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
PAGE.
XXXV. Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting the Malayan Penin-
sula and Islands. By Theodore Cantor, M.I). . 1-64
XXXVI. On the Local and Relative Geology of Singapore. By
|. I\. Logan, Esq. ....... 64-112
XXXVII. Catalogue of Reptiles inhabiting the Malayan Peninsula
and Islands. By Theodore Cantor, M.I). . . 112-257
XXXVIII. Some Account of the Botanical Collection brought from
the Eastward, in 1841, by Dr. Cantor. By the late
W. Griffith 257-278
XXXIX. On the Flat-Horned Taurinc Cattle of S.K. Asia, IJy
Ed. Blyth, Esq 278-297
XL. Note, by Major-General G. 1!. Tremenhecrc . . 297-299
General Index 301-6
Index of Vernacular Terms 307-9
Index of Zoological Genera and Sub-Gene: a occur; ing in Vol. II. . 310-11
MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS.
XXXV.
CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING THE
MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS.
Collected or observed by THEODORE CANTOR, M.D., Bengal
Medical Service.
["Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal," vol. xv. pp. 171-203, 241-279.]
QUADRUMANA.
SIMIAD^E.
Gen. PITHECUS, Geoffroy.
PITHECUS SATYRUS, Geoffroy.
SYN. Simla Satyrus, Linnd.
Simia Agrias, Schreber.
Singe de Wurmb, Audebert.
Papio Wurmbii, Latreille.
Pithecus Satyrus, Desmarest.
Simia Wurmbii, Kuhl.
Orang Pandak, Raffles.
Simia Satyrus, j
Simia Abelii, > apud Fischer.
Simia Wurmbii, )
Simia Satyrus, apud Ogilby.
Satyrus rufus, Lesson.
Pithecus Satyrus, apud Martin.
Simia Satyrus, apud Schinz.
" Orang 'Utan" of the Malays. 1
HAB. Borneo, Sumatra*
1 [See above, vol. i. pp. 172-178, and 301-318.]
* Localities printed in italics signify those from whence the animals of the
catalogue were obtained ; in ordinary type those previously given by authors.
VOL. II. B
2 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
The physiognomy and the colour of the face exhibit a marked
difference in living individuals from the two localities.*
Gen. HYLOBATES, Illiger.
HYLOBATES LAR, Ogilby.
SYN. Grand Gibbon, Buffon.
Homo Lar, Linne, Mantiss.
Simia longimana, Schreber.
Simia longimana, Grand et Petit Gibbon, Erxleb.
Simia Lar, Linne Syst.
Le Gibbon, Audebert.
Pithecus Lar, Desmarest.
Simia albimana, Vigors and Horsfield.
Simia Lar, apud Fischer.
Hylobates Lar, Lesson apud Martin.
Hylobates albimanus, apud Schinz.
" Ungka etam " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Siam, Burmah, Tenasserim.
LIGHT-COLOURED VAR.
SYN. Petit Gibbon, Buffon,
Sirnia Lar, j3 Linne.
Pithecus variegatus, Geoff.
Pithecus variegatus, apud Kuhl.
Pithecus variegatus, apud Desmarest.
Hylobates variegatus, Ogilby.
Hylobates leuciscus, apud Cantor (" Ann. and Mag. of
Nat. Hist.").
" Ungka putih " and " Wow-wow " of the Malays of the
Peninsula.
The colour varies from blackish-brown to light-brown, yellowish-
or dirty- white, sometimes uniform, sometimes mottled. The
index and middle toes of both or of one foot are in some indi-
viduals, of whatever sex or shade of colour, united by a broad
web throughout the whole of the first phdanx; in some partially
so, and in others not. The ribs vary from twelve (7 + 5) to thir-
teen pairs (7 + 6) as observed by Mr. Blyth (" Journal Asiatic
Society," 1841, vol. x. p. 839).
* An excellent likeness of a young male Bornean Orang Utan, living in my
possession upwards of two years, has lately been taken by Mr. Thornam, one
of the artists of the scientific expedition on his Danish Majesty's ship
Galathca*
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 3
HYLOBATUS AGILIS, F. Cuvier.
Var. UNGKA ETAM, Martin.
SYN. Ungka etam, Raffles.
Oungka, Hylobates Lar, F. Cuv.
Simla Lar, Vigors and Horsfield.
Hylobates Rafflesii, Geoff, apud Ogilby.
Hylobates variegatus, Miiller apud Schinz.*
" Ungka etam " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula (Malacca, Pitrlis, Keddah, Pungah).
Sumatra.
The first phalanges of the index and middle toes are in some
individuals of either sex partially or entirely united by a v/eb.
Sometimes the first phalanx of the middle toe is partially united
to the fourth.
An adult male examined had thirteen pair of ribs (6 + 7), an
adult female fourteen (7 + 7), a young male on the left side thir-
teen (7 4- 6), on the right twelve (7 + 5). In these three indi-
viduals the stomach was constricted at the fundus and the pyloric
part, which characters, when compared with specimens of Hylo-
bates agilis from Sumatra, will go far to decide the identity of that
species and H. Rafflesii. On the Malayan Peninsula the latter
appears to be less numerous than H. Lar. The light-coloured
var. of H. agilis I have not seen.
HYLOBATES LEUCISCUS, Kuhl.
SYN. " Wou-wou," Camper.
Simia leucisca, Schreber.
Simia moloch, Audebert.
Pithecus cinereus, Latreille.
Pithecus leuciscus, Geoffrey.
Pithecus leuciscus, apud Desmarest.
Simia leucisca, apud Fischer.
Hylobates leuciscus, apud Ogilby.
Hylobates leuciscus, apud Schinz. f
HAB. Borneo (?).
Java.
Gen. SEMNOPITHECUS, F. Cuv.
SEMNOPITHECUS OBSCURUS, Reid.
SYN. Simia maura (?), Lin. Lotong, apud Rarfles.f
Semnopithecus leucomystax, Temm. in MSS.
* Schinz gives as a synonym, Pithecus variegatus, Geoff., which, however,
is Hylobates Lar, Var.
"h Among the syn. occurs Ungka futi, Raffles, which is Hylobates agilis.
J The hab. Pinang and Singapore, in neither of which islands Senino-
pithecus femoralis appears to occur, tends to prove that Sir S. Raffles did not,
B 2
4 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
Semnopithecus obscurus, apud Martin.
Presbytes obscura, Gray, List of Mamm. B.M.
Semnopithecus sumatranus, Miiller apud Schinz.*
Semnopithecus halonifer, Cantor (" Proceed. Linn. Soc.").
"Lotong," or " Lotong etam," of the Malays of the
Peninsula.
HAH. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang, Singapore.
District adjacent to Singapore, in the Malayan Peninsula.
SEMNOPITHECUS ALBOCINEREUS, Schinz.
SYX. Cercopithecus albocinereus, Desmarest.
Simia albocinerea, Fischer.
Semnopithecus dorsatus (young), Waterhouse MSS.f apud
Martin.
Presbytes cinerea, Gray, List.
Semnopithecus albimanus, Is. Geoff. (?)
" Ka-ka " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
The young of this species, described by Martin (p. 481), is,
from the peculiar distribution of the colours, as easily distinguished
from the young of S. obsatrus as it is difficult to distinguish the
adults of these two species. Both attain to the same size, have
in common the shape of the body, the white marks of the face,
and the general distribution of colours. In the adult of the
present species the prevailing colours are clear ashy-grey above
and white below. On either parietal bone the hairs form a
whorl, and the anterior are directed forward, projecting beyond
the eyebrows. The two whorls are distinct in the young, though
the hairs of the head are too short to mingle with the long, erect,
divergent black hairs of the eyebrows. Just below the spot where
the two whorls come in contact the skull is naked, thus forming
a rather broad, triangular forehead. The general colour of
as it has been supposed, refer to that species. His short description indicates
S. obscurus (Lotong), the most common species in both islands. SirS. Rallies
evidently did not describe the living animal, or he would not have omitted one
of the most striking characters viz., the white marks of the face, which in
preserved specimens become obliteiatcd, so that the face appears uniformly
black. The omission of this character by Sir S. Raffles, and subsequently by
later describers of this species, has given rise to confusion.
* Schinz repeats .5". feinoralis, Martin, as a syn. for S. sitniatranus, and
says in a note that Miiller, in his monograph of Semnopithecus t refers that
species to his 5\ snniairanns (Schin/, Syn. Mam. i. p. 39, not.;). Were even
the two identical, the species should not have been re-named, as S. fdiioralis,
Ilorsfield, not Martin, would take precedence, being the denomination under
which Dr. Horsfield described it in the "Appendix to the Life of Sir T.
Stamford Rallies," 1830.
t Martin, p. 481, refers the young S. dorsatus to S. feinoralis, but the de-
scription is that of the young of the present species.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 5
5. obscurus, both in the young and adult state, is considerably
darker. On the upper parts a blackish or brownish ash colour
prevails, lighter below, which acquires in some individuals a
whitish appearance from the white skin of the stomach, which
is but scantily covered with hairs. Of parietal whorls there is no
trace ; the hairs of the head, directed backwards, originate in a
peak as far down as the glabella, and are smoothed down on the
top of the head from the occipital crest backward.
SEMNOPITHECUS CRISTATUS, Horsfield.
SYN. Simia cristata, Chingkau, Raffles.
Semnopithecus pruinosus, Desmarest.
Semnopithecus pruinosus, apud Lesson.
Semnopithecus cristatus, apud Martin.
Presbytes cristata, Gray :* List.
Semnopithecus cristatus, apud Schinz.*
HAD. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Sumatra, Borneo, Banka.
The whitish colour round the eyes and mouth is present, though
less distinct in this than in the preceding two species.
SEMNOPITHECUS FEMORALIS, Horsfield.
SYN. Semnopithecus chrysomelas, Miiller apud Martin and
Schinz.
HAB. Purlis (on the Malayan Peninsula).
Borneo, Java (?), Sumatra (?).
In a young male of this apparently everywhere difficultly pro-
curable species the face during life was intense black, except the
white-haired lips and the chin, which were of a milk-white colour.
In the preserved specimen the latter soon changed into the dull
brownish-black of the rest of the face. The interdigital membrane,
often loosely connecting the first phalanges of the four fingers and
toes in S. obscurus, albocinereus, cristatus, and other Malayan mon-
keys, was also present in this individual, in which even the first and
second phalanges of the index and middle toe were thus connected.
In preserved specimens the interdigital web becomes shrivelled
and indistinct, and therefore, being at all times a very question-
able if not altogether inadmissible specific character, ought in
such state to be least relied upon. On its arrival at Pinang
the animal was in too sickly a state to allow of its natural habits
being observed.
* Gray quotes S. mourns > Horsfield, and Schinz S. femoralis, Martin, as
synonyms, both of which are species in physiognomy, colours, and, as far as
S. manrus is concerned, in habits, distinctly different from the present one.
6 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
Gen. CERCOPITHECUS, apud Ogilby.
CERCOPITHECUS CYNOMOLGUS, Ogilby.
SYN. Simia cynomolgus, Linne.
Simia aygula, Linne.
Simia attys, Schreber.
Macacus cynomolgus, Desmarest.
Simia fascicularis, Raffles.
Cercocebus aygula, Geoff, apud Horsfield.
Macacus cynomolgus, apud Gray : List.
Macacus cynomolgus, apud Schinz.
" Kra " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Sumatra, Java, Banka, Borneo, Celebes, Timor, Tenasserim,
Nicobar Islands.
The first phalanges of the four fingers and toes, and in some
individuals also the second phalanges of the toes, are united by a
membrane.
Gen. PAPIO, apud Ogilby.
PAPIO NEMESTRINUS, Ogilby.
SYN. Simia nemestrinus, Linne.
Simia platypygos, Schreber.
Simia fusca, Shaw.
Macacus nemestrinus, Desmarest.
Simia carpolegus, Raffles.
Macacus nemestrinus, apud Gray : List.
Macacus nemestrinus, apud Schinz.
" Broh " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. J y inans, Malayan Peninsula.
Sumatra, Borneo.
The interdigital membrane of the first phalanges of the four
fingers and index and middle toe occurs also in this species.
LEMURIDyE.
Gen. NYCTICEBUS, Geoffroy.
NYCTICEBUS TARDIGRADUS, Waterhouse (" Cat. Zool. Soc.' ; ).
SYN. Lemur tardigradus, Linne' apud Raffles. 1
Nycticebus bengalensis, Geoff.
Nycticebus javanicus, Geoff.
T oris tardigradus, Geoff.
1 [O. Mohnike, 1. 1. p. 397.]
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 7
Stenops javanicus, Van der Hoeven.
Stenops tardigradus, Wagner apud Schinz.
" Kukang " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Siam, Tenasserim, Arracan, Bengal, Sylhet, Assam.
The sublingual appendage is cartilaginous, of a white colour ;
the apex divided in a number of fine points. The new-born is
of the same colour as the adult, but paler, and has the dense
soft fur mixed with a number of long hairs, grey at the base, white
at the point. In a male, measuring from the apex of the nose to
the root of the tail one foot two and a half inches, the tail
five-eighths of an inch, the dimensions of the intestinal canal
were :
Small intestines 3 feet o-J inch.
Large ditto 2 3^ inches.
Caecum 3i
Gen. GALEOPITHECUS, Pallas.
GALEOPITHECUS TEMMINCKII, Waterhouse.
SYN. Lemur volans, Linn, apud Marsden and Raffles.
" Kubong " or " Kurbong " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Singapore, Pinang, and other Islands in the Straits of
Malacca, Lancavy Islands, Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Pelew Islands, Siam.
Two individuals are never of precisely the same design and
ground-colour, which colour varies from clear ashy-grey to
greyish-brown or chestnut. The white spots on the back of the
anterior extremities appear to be constant in every age. Though
there are four mammae situate in pairs one above the other close
to the axilla of a number of females with young, none had more
than one offspring, which was carried wrapped in the wide
mantle-like membrane. In several shot on the hills at Pinang
the stomach contained vegetable matter, but no remains of insects.
In confinement, plantains constitute the favourite food, but de-
prived of liberty the animal soon pines and dies. The anterior
margin of the broad smooth tongue has a fringed appearance,
produced by a number of rounded papillae. In a male, measur-
ing from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail one foot
four inches, the tail nine inches, the intestinal canal was of the
following dimensions :
Small intestines 4 feet 4 inches.
Large ditto 7 7
Csscum o ii
Costae verae seven pairs, spuriae six pairs.
8 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
CARNIVORA.
CHEIROPTERA INSECTIVORA.
Gen. RHINOPOMA, Geoffrey.
RHINOPOMA HARDWICKII, Gray.
SYN. Vespertilio (Rhinopoma) Hardwickii, Elliot.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Southern Mahratta country, Calcutta, Allahabad,* Agra,f
Mirzapore.
A single male, in no way differing from Bengal individuals,
was obtained by Captain Congalton, H.C. steamer Diana, in
a cave on an island in Girbee river, in latitude 8 on the
Malayan Peninsula.
This species is provided with a true caecum, the existence of
which in all Cheiroptera has erroneously been denied, or restricted
to the cardiac caecum observed in the genera Vampyrus and
Pteropns. The present species and Megaderma spasina, also
possessing a true caecum, thus presents a higher organization
than has hitherto been attributed to Cheiroptera.
Length of the small intestine . . . . i\ inches.
large ditto i inch.
caecum QjV
Gen. MEGADERMA, Geoffroy.
MEGADERMA SPASMA, Geoffroy.
SYN. Vespertilia spasma, Schreber.
Megaderma trifolium, Geoffroy.
Megaderma spasma, apud Fischer.
Megaderma spasma, apud Schinz.
HAB. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Singapore, Java, Ternate.
Incis.- ; Canin. *~* : Mol. ^d
4 i i 5-5
Length of the head and body . . . 3 J inches.
inter-femoral membrane i inch.
Extent of the flying membrane . . .14 inches.
The five caudal vertebrae project one quarter of an inch beyond
the pelvis, but are completely enveloped in the inter-femoral
membrane, and therefore not apparent. The inguinal warts are,
* Numbers inhabit the subterraneous Hindoo place of worship within the
fort at Allahabad.
t In the Taj- Mahal.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 9
as in the Rhinolophi, most developed in the adult female. A
true caecum, though smaller than in Rhinopoma Hardwickii, is
present in this species.
Length of the small intestines .... 7 inches.
large ditto I T ^- inch.
caecum o T V
Gen. NYCTINOMUS, Geoffrey.
NYCTINOMUS TENUIS, Horsfield.
SYN. Nyctinomus tennis, apud Fischer.
Molosse grele, Temminck.
Dysopes tenuis, Schinz.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Borneo.
Two individuals had the back of a velvety snuff colour, becom-
ing a shade lighter on the under parts. Entire length of the
larger, four and four-eighth inches, of which the tail one and a
half inch; extent of the flying membrane ten and four-eighth
inches. In the size of the ears some difference exists in the two.
Gen. TAPHOZOUS, Geoffrey.
TAPHOZOUS MELANOPOGON, Temminck.
SYN. Taphozous melanopogon, apud Schinz.
HAB. Pulo-Tikus, Pulo-Ldncavy ', Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Caves of Cannera.
Temminck's description, as quoted by Schinz, is taken from the
adult male, the Malayan individuals of which differ in having the
black beard surrounded by a broad light-brown band, covering, like
a pelerine, the chest and shoulders. The rest of the lower parts are
either white or brownish-white. The flying membrane in the
adult male is whitish ; in the females and young males it is blackish
or brownish between the legs, along the sides of the body, and the
arms. The colour of the female and young male is on the back
of a more or less brownish mouse-grey, becoming much lighter or
whitish beneath, but both are destitute of the black beard, which,
out of a number of between forty and fifty from different Malayan
localities, occurred but in seven males, although some of the
beardless males, in size and extent of flying membrane, equalled
or even slightly exceeded the bearded. The entire length of the
largest male was four inches, of which the tail measured one
inch ; extent of flying membrane, fifteen and four-eighth inches.
Dentition :
Incis. - ; Canin. ; Mol. 14
4 i i 5-5
io CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
TAPHOZOUS SACCOLAIMUS, Temminck.
SYN. Taphozous pulcher, Elliot MSS. apud Blyth.
H AB. Pinang.
Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, Southern India.
In two males captured at Pinang, in houses in the valley, the
colours somewhat differ from Temminck's description, quoted by
Schinz. In the larger, the head and back are of a sooty black,
with a few white dashes, the lower parts of a pure white. The
flying membrane is black between the legs, along the sides of the
body and the arms, and between the index, second, and third
fingers ; the rest being dull, semi-transparent white. The length
from the apex of the nose to the posterior margin of the inter-
femoral margin is four and seven-eighth inches, of which the tail
measures one inch ; the extent of the flying membrane eighteen
inches. Dentition as in T. melanogogon. The smaller differs in
having the chest of a pale brownish white, the abdomen and the
pubes light rust-coloured, leaving the sides pure white. Mr. Blyth
quotes Taphozous pulcher, Elliot, from Southern India, as being
" black brown above with white pencillings, and pure white below ; '
(" Journ. As. Soc." xiii. 1844, p. 492), from which, as well as from
Mr. Elliot's specimen, at present in the Museum of the Asiatic
Society, it appears that the Indian more resemble the Malayan
individuals than those of the Indian Archipelago, described by
Temminck. The internal surface of the gular sac secretes an
odorous oily fluid of a light brown colour.
Gen. RHINOLOPHUS, Geoffrey ; RHINOLOPHUS, Gray.
RHINOLOPHUS AFFINIS, Horsfield.
HAB. Pinang.
Java.
Of two individuals, the male is reddish-brown above, light greyish-
brown beneath ; the female is above golden fulvous, which becomes
lighter on the lower parts.
Entire length of the male . 2^ inches female, 2| inches.
Tail oj female, of ,,
Extent of flying membrane . ii| female, 12^
Incis. ; Canin. 1 ~ 2 . Mol. 5 5
4 i i ' 5-5
The inguinal warts are highly developed in the female.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS, n
HIPPOSIDEROS, Gray.
A. Adult male with a frontal pore, with a tuft of rigid hairs.
HIPPOSIDEROS DIADEMA, Gray?
SYN. Rhinolophus Diadema, Geoffrey?
HAD. Pinatig, Malayan Peninsula.
Timor.
The Malayan individuals are, according to age and sex, of a
more or less intense reddish or greyish-brown above, under certain
lights assuming a golden lustre, owing to the whitish points of the
hairs ; beneath they are of a lighter greyish-brown. Individuals
occur of a light golden-brown, in colours resembling Rhinolophus
larvatus, Horsfield. In the adult male the livid flesh-coloured
nasal appendage is larger, more complicated, and somewhat
different from the figure given by Geoffrey St. Hilaire (" Ann. du
Museum," xx. pi. 5 and 6), which resembles the female in the
simpler appendage and the absence of the frontal pore. The
latter organ in the adult male is large, secreting a yellowish-brown
oily fluid, the odour of which resembles that of Arctictis Binturong,
Fischer. A female during lactation presented a great inequality in
the development of the inguinal warts, of which the right measured
one-quarter of an inch in length. At the time of her capture it
was reported that a young one had been " sucking 7/ the right wart.
Not having myself observed the young clinging to that organ, I
cannot vouch for the correctness of a statement which, if authentic,
would tend to explain the use, being to afford support to the young
when not sucking. The size of the Malayan individuals appears to
exceed those from Timor, the entire length of the former being
five and six-eighth inches, of which the tail measures two inches.
Extent of the flying membrane, twenty-one and a half to twenty-
two inches. The extremity of the second phalanx of the fourth
and fifth fingers is bifid, or terminating with two minute diverging
joints, a structure also existing in the Malayan individuals of the
following species :
Incis. Canin.=; Mol.
4 i 1 5-5
HIPPOSIDEROS NOBILIS, Gray.
SYN. Rhinolophus nobilis, Horsfield.
Rhinolophus nobilis, apud Fischer.
Rhinolophe fameux, Temminck.
Rhinolophus nobilis, apud Schinz.
HAB. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Timor, Amboyna.
The frontal pore is less developed than in the former species,
i2 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
as compared with which the present is of a more slender form,
though of a size little less inferior. Entire length, five and four-
eighth inches, of which the tail measures two and one-eighth
inches ; extent of flying membrane, twenty-one and four-eighth
inches. Dentition similar to that of H. Diadema. In the valley
of Pinang single individuals of both species are at night abroad at
all seasons, but during the rains they are particularly numerous.
HYPPOSIDEROS VULGARIS, Gray.
SYN. Rhinolophus vulgaris, Horsfield.
Rhinolophus insignis, var. apud Temminck.
Rhinolophus insignis, Horsf. apud Schinz.
Rhinolophus vulgaris, Horsf., female of insignis, apud
Schinz.*
HAB. Pinang.
Java.
Entire length, four inches, of which the tail measures one and
three-eighths ; extent of flying membrane fourteen inches.
Incis. - ; Canin. ^ ; Mol. ll 4
4 J i 5-5
HIPPOSIDEROS MURINUS, Gray.
SYN. Rhinolophus murinus, Elliot.
H AB . Pinang.
Southern Mahratta country, Nicobar Islands.
Entire length, two and four-eighth inches, of which the tail
measures one inch ; t extent of flying membrane, nine and four-
eighth inches. Dentition similar to that of the last species.
B. Forehead simple.
HIPPOSIDEROS GALERITUS, N.S.
H. prosthematis simplicis membranu transversa lata, alte erecta,
auriculas tangente ; auricularum, late pyriformium, apicibus laciniii
exsertis, besse postico lobuloque basali villosis ; vellere longo,
denso, molli, bicolore ; supra saturate, subtus pallidius-fusco-
rufescenti. Latet fxmina.
HAB. Pinang.
Entire length, three inches, of which the tail measures one inch ;
extent of the flying membrane, ten and four-eighth inches.
Incis. - ; Canin. 1=1; Mol. *4-
4 i * 5-5
* The only individual of Rhinolophus vti!garis, Horsfield, observed at Pinang
happened to be a male.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 13
The livid flesh-coloured nasal appendage is simple but large,
occupying the whole upper part of the face and the forehead ; the
horse-shoe or nasal disc covers the short, rounded, hairy muzzle,
which has two leaves on either side ; the transversal membrane is
concave, as broad and as long as the horizontal horse-shoe, which
it joins under a right angle, while its sides are almost in contact
with the ears. The latter are sub-erect, broader than long, their
breadth equalling the length of the head; the shape is broad,
pyriform, narrowing towards the apex, which appears like a small
artificially-rounded flap, scarcely elevated above the level of the
fur covering the vertex. More than two-thirds of the back of the
ear is covered with fur, leaving a narrow naked line along the
external margin, which, as well as the singular shape of the ear
itself, affords a distinguishing character. The hairs are buff or
whitish at the base, the other half of their length brown. The
general colour of the upper parts is deep brown, with a slight
reddish hue, becoming a shade lighter beneath.
This species somewhat resembles Hipposideros apiculatus, Gray
( Vespertilio speoris, Schneider apud Schreber ; Rhinelophus speoris,
Georfroy), from which, however, it differs in the absence of the
frontal pore, in the shape of the ears, and in colours. A solitary
male was captured in the valley of Pinang.
Gen. VESPERTILIO, Linn'e ; VESPERTILIO, Gray.
VESPERTILIO ADVERSUS, Horsfield ?
SYN. Vespertilio adversus, Fischer ?
Vespertilio adversus, Temminck ?
Vespertilio cineraceus, Blyth MSS.
HAB. Pinang.
Java, Calcutta.
This bat, having the characteristic distinction of the upper incisor
described by Horsfield, is above greyish-brown, beneath light
greyish, measuring in length three and two-eighth inches, of which
the tail is one and four-eighth inch ; extent of flying membrane,
ten and four-eighth inches. It differs from V. adversus in having
on each side five molars, of which but two are spurious, which cha-
racter also obtains in V. cineraceus, Blyth MSS., arid specimen in
the Museum Asiatic Society, which (as observed by Mr. Blyth), as
well as the present, may prove varieties of V. adversus, Horsfield.
KIRIVOULA, Gray.
KIRIVOULA PICTA, Gray.
SYN. Vespertilio ternatanus, Seba ?
.Vespertilio pictus, Pallas apud Horsfield.
Vespertilio kerivoula, Boddaert.
Vespertilio kerivoula, apud Geoffrey.
; 4 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
HAB. Pinang.
Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Ceylon.
KIRIVOULA TENUIS, Gray.
SYN. Vespertilio tenuis, Temminck apud Schinz.
HAB. Pinang.
Java, Sumatra, Borneo.
A single male, in colours slightly differing from Temminck's,
being above of a dark greyish-brown, many of the hairs with white
points, beneath of a lighter shade. Entire length, three and two-
fourth inches, of which the tail one and four-eighth inch ; extent
of flying membrane, ten inches.
Incis. ?T2 Canin. I L: Mol.-^ 5
6 i J 5-5
Trilatitus, Gray.
TRILATITUS HORSFIELDII, Gray.
SYN. Vespertilio tralatitus, Horsfield.
Vespertilio Gartneri, Kuhl apud Schinz.
HAB. Pinang.
Java, Sumatra.
Scotophilus, Leach apud Gray.
SCOTOPHILUS TEMMINCKII, Gray.
SYN. Vespertilio Temminckii, Horsfield.
Vespertilio Belangerii, Isid. Geoff.
Vespertilio noctulinus, Isid. Geoff.
Scotophilus castaneus, Gray.
Nycticeius Temminckii, Schinz.
Nycticeius Belangerii, Temminck apud Schinz.
Nycticeius noctulinus, Temminck apud Schinz.
" Klavvah " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Singapore, Pinang, Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Timor, Pondicherry, Calcutta.
As observed by Schinz, this species is very variable in its
colours, according to age, all of which variations occur in indi-
viduals inhabiting Pinang and the Malayan Peninsula. The fol-
lowing are the specific names attributed to different individuals of
this species :
1. Vespertilio Temminckii, as originally described and figured in
" Zoological Researches in Java." Back dark brown, greyish-
brown underneath. Entire length, four inches six lin., of which
the tail one five-eighth of an inch ; extent of flying membrane,
twelve inches.
2. Scotophilus caslaneus, Gray.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 15
3. Nycticeius Belangeri, Temminck apud Schinz. Hairs of
the back brown at the base, chestnut or olive-chestnut at the apex ;
beneath light yellowish-brown, Isabella, or whitish. Entire length,
3^'', of which the tail i" n'" ; extent of flying membrane, 13".
Incis. T -=I ; Canin. ; Mol. 4>4
6 i i' 5-5
4. Nycticeius noctulinus, Temminck apud Schinz, is the very
young. Above, more or less intense brown or rust-coloured ;
beneath, isabella or light greyish-brown. Entire length, three to
three two-eighth inches, of which the tail seven-eighth to one two-
eighth of an inch ; extent of flying membrane, eight six-eighth to
nine inches. In this state it has frequently been observed clinging
to the mother.
Incis. 2 ~-; Canin. II ; Mol. f
6 i i 5-5
This species is exceedingly numerous, forming large congrega-
tions in sheltered situations on the Malayan Peninsula, and in the
caves of the numerous islands of limestone which stud the shores
from Maulrnein to Java, and in such localities large deposits of
guano occur. The latter ("Ty Klawah" of the Malays i.e., bats'
manure) has been tried by agriculturists at Pinang, but has been
found much less efficacious than the guano obtained from the swift
(Collocalta}, producing the edible nests.
FRUGIVORA.
Gen. PTEROPUS, Brisson.
PTEROPUS EDULIS, Geoffroy. 1
SYN. Pteropus javanicus, Desm. apud Horsfield.
Pteropus Edvvardsii, Geoffroy.
" Kalong " of the Javanese.
" Kluang" of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
Java, Sumatra, Banda, Bengal, Assam.
Gen. CYNOPTERUS, Fred. Cuvier.
CYNOPTERUS MARGINATUS, F. Cuv.
SYN. Vespertilio Marginatus, Buchan Hamilton, MSS.
Pteropus marginatus, Geoffroy.
Pteropus titthsecheilus, Temm.
Pachysoma tittheecheilus, Temm.
1 [O. Mohnike, 1. 1. pp. 399-402. ]
1 6 CATALOGUE Of MAMMALIA INHABITING
Pachysoma brevicaudatum, Is. Geoff.
Pteropus brevicaudatus, Schinz.
Pachysoma Diardii, Isid. Geoff.
Pteropus Diardii, Schinz.
Pachysoma Duvaucellii, Is. Geoff.
Pteropus pyrivorus. Hodgson apud Gray.
HAD. Singapore, Pinang, Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
Java, Sumatra, Southern Mahratta country, Bengal, Nipal.
The colour is very variable, not only individually, but according
to age and sex, which has given rise to several supposed distinct
species. But they all resemble each other in habits and dentition ;
they occupy one common place of rest, and their new-born or
very young are of a uniform colour. The ears of the adult are in
all more or less distinctly margined with white.
r. Cynopterus inarginatus. Back reddish or brownish grey ;
lighter underneath.
2. Pachysoma titthcecheilus. 3. Pier opus brevicaudatus. Male :
back reddish or olive brown ; a tuft of hair on the sides of the
neck, the chest, and the sides of the greyish abdomen rusty or
orange-coloured. Female : above, yellowish or greyish brown,
beneath lighter. In some individuals from Malacca the flying
membrane is of a light reddish-brown.
4. Pachysoma Diardii. Back greyish-brown, abdomen greyish,
brown on the sides.
5. Pachysoma Duvaucellii: pale greyish-brown.
The following is a description of a new-born : The upper part
of the head, the nape of the neck, the back and the posterior sur-
face of the humerus and femur were covered with dense, soft,
short hairs of a dark greyish-brown ; all the rest of the body was
naked, of a greyish-black colour. The eyelids were not yet
separated. The joints of the bones of the extremities were car-
tilaginous. The nails of the thumb and index were developed,
but the feet and nails of the toes had already attained the size of
the adult. The tongue was considerably extensile. The teeth
present were :
Incis. 1; Canin.
4 I -- 1 2.2
Entire length, one and four -eighth of an inch, of which the
slightly projecting tail two-eighth inch ; extent of the flying
membrane, six and four-eighth inches.
In an individual measuring two and four-eighth inches in length,
with an extent of the membrane of nine inches, the face and the
lower parts, excepting the throat, have become scantily covered
with light brownish-grey short hairs. The eyelids were separated.
The shoulder, elbow, hip and knee joints had become ossified,
the other joints still remaining cartilaginous.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 17
INSECTIVORA.
Gen. TUPAIA, Raffles.
SVN. " Tupai Press," Raffles and Horsfield.
Cladobates ferrugineus, F. Cuv. apud Schinz.
Sorex Glis, Diard and Duvaucel.
Glisorex ferruginea, Temminck.
Hylogale ferruginea, Desmarest.
Herpestes, " Calcutta Journ. Nat. Hist." *
" Tupai tana " of the Malays of Pinang.
HAD. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
Sumatra, Java, Borneo.
The young of this very numerous species in hilly jungle is easily
tamed, and becomes familiar with its feeder, though towards
strangers it retains its original mistrust, which in mature age is
scarcely reclaimable. In a state of nature it lives singly or in
pairs, fiercely attacking intruders of its own species. When
several are confined together they fight each other, or jointly attack
and destroy the weakest. The natural food is mixed insectivorous
and frugivorous. In confinement individuals may be fed exclu-
sively on either, though preference is evinced for insects ; and
eggs, fish, and earth-worms are equally relished. A short peculiar
tremulous whistling sound, often heard by calls and answers in the
Malayan jungle, marks their pleasurable emotions, as, for instance,
on the appearance of food ; while the contrary is expressed by
shrill protracted cries. Their disposition is very restless, and
their great agility enables them to perform the most extraordinary
bounds in all directions, in which exercise they spend the day, till
night sends them to sleep in their rudely constructed lairs in the
highest branches of trees. At times they will sit on their haunches,
holding their food between the fore-legs, and after feeding they
smooth the head and face with both fore-paws, and lick the lips
* Vol. ii. p. 458, pi. xiiU. The explanation accompanying this figure is
as follows : " Searching for Col. Farquhar's drawing of Rhizomys Sumatrensis,
already referred to, I found in the Society a drawing of a bushy-tailed Herpestes,
differing merely from Mr. Hodgson's Gulo Urva in hnving the tail of one uni-
form colour with the body, without the yellow tip. There is no name or letter
on the drawing to show from whence it came, and to prevent its following the
fate of Colonel Farquhar's Khizomys we here afford a copy of it." PI. xiii
represents no Herpestes : the elongated muzzle, the proximity of the large eye
to the ear, which is exposed and not hidden by the hairs of the cheek, are
characters foreign to every known species of Herpestes. The draughtsman has
very correctly represented a Tupaia, and the drawing reappearing as a Her-
pesles in the " Calcutta Journal of Natural History" has by Mr. Blyth been
traced to be the original of pi. ix., " Asiatic Researches," vol. xiv., where it
properly accompanies the description of Sorex Glis (i.e., Tupaia Urniginea) of
MM. Diard and Duvaucel.
VOL. II. C
I 8 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
and palms. They are also fond of water, both to drink and to
bathe in. The female usually produces one young ; she has four
mammse, the anterior pair of which is situated on the lower
lateral part of the chest, the posterior on the side of the abdomen.
On the lower surface of the tongue the frenum is continued to
within a short distance of the apex in a raised line, on either side
of which the skin is thickened, fringed at the edges, and thus
presenting a rudimentary sublingual appendage, somewhat similar
to that observed in Nycticebus tardigradus, though in Tupaiaferru-
^inca the fringes of the margin only are free, the rest being at-
tached to the tongue, but easily detached by a knife. The lateral
raised lines of the palms and soles, the posterior part of the first
phalanges, and the third phalanx (second of the thumbs), which
is widened into a small soft disc in fact, all the points which rest
upon the ground are studded with little transversely curved ridges
or duplicatures, similar to those observed under the toes of some
of the Geckotidtz, which fully account for the precision, the
aplomb, with which these animals perform the astounding leaps
from below, barely touching with the soles the point dappui
above. In a cage the tupai will continue for hours vaulting from
below, back downwards, poise itself for an instant, continuing
back downwards under the horizontal roof, and regain the point of
starting, and thus describe a circle the diameter of which may
be three to four times the length of the animal in far shorter
time than is required for the description. In a young male, mea-
suring from the nose to the root of the tail seven and three-
fourth inches, the tail six and a half inches, the dimensions of the
intestinal canal were :
Small intestines . . 3 feet 4- inches ; diameter, \ inch.
Large ditto . . . o ., 3
Csecum . . . . . o o
Costce vene, 8 pairs; spurice, 5 pairs = 13 pairs.
This species* is infested with a tick of the following description :
Ixodes Tupaice. Body suboval, shining dark green olive, scaly
plate, palpi casing the pointed sucker, and the legs pale reddish-
brown. Length when swollen three-eighth inch.
Gen. GYMNURA, Raffles.
GYMNURA RAFFLESII, Vigors and Horsfield.
SYN. Viverra gymnura, Raffles.
" Ti'kus ambang biilan," Raffles.
II A 1 1. Malacca.
Sumatra, Singapore.
* Single li^ht-coloured individuals occur, with the back, limbs, and abdomen
greyish, whitish, or isabella.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 19
In a district not distant from Malacca the animal is said to be
numerous, though not to be seen in other localities.
Gen. SOREX, Linne.
SOREX MURINUS, Linne'.*
SYN. Sorex myosurus, Pallas apud Schinz.
Sorex ceerulescens, var. Raffles ?
" Chincorot " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Pinang.
Java.
Dark brownish-grey above ; beneath, light brownish-grey. Feet
and tail flesh-coloured in the living animal, changing to cinereous
after death. In the young the colour is more of a bluish-grey,
slightly mixed with brown on the back. Length of the head and
body, five and a half inches ; tail, three inches.
Incis. : Canin. ; Mol.
2 O 5-5
The present differs from the " musk shrew " of Bengal (" Choo-
chundr ") in its proportionally broader, more developed, and from
the head more diverging ear, which characters also distinguish it
from Sorex nigrescent (gray), which it somewhat resembles in its
colours. The smell of musk emitted by the adult animal, and
which in the young is barely perceptible, is much less intense than
that of the Bengal musk-shrew.
CARNIVORA.
Gen. URSUS, Linne ; HELARCTOS, Horsfield.
HELARCTOS MALAYANUS, Horsfield.
SYN. Ursus Malayanus, Raffles and Horsfield. 1
" Bniang " of the Malays.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Sumatra, Tenasserim Provinces, Assam, Nipal.
Colour of the young : Snout and lips pale ferrugineous. Head,
back, and outside of the limbs, black mixed with pale rust colour,
in consequence of many of the black hairs having the point, or a
part next to the point, of the latter colour. Ears, tail, paws, and
* The following synonyms are given in Gray's "List of Mam. in British
Museum:" Sorex myostirus, Pallas. Geoff. Ann. Mus. xvii. ; S. Soneratii and
S. giganieus, I. Geoff. Mem. xv. ; S. indictis, Geoff. Mem. Mus. i. ; S. capettsiS)
Geoff. Ann. Mus. xvii. ; S. Ptlorides, Shaw, Mus. Lever. ; S. carulescens, Shaw,
Zool. ; S. crassicaudatus, Licht. Saugeth ; S. nepalensis, Hodgson ; S. moschatits,
Robinson, Assam. Olivier, Voy. Buffon, H. N. Suppl. vii.
1 [O. Mohnike, 1. 1. pp. 417 f.]
C 2
20 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
inner side of the extremities shining black. The somewhat
woolly hairs of the abdomen are faintly marked with ferrugineous,
and are mixed with longer stiff black hairs. As observed by
Schinz, the mark on the breast is very variable in its form. It
may be compared to a crescent, assuming, according to the smaller
or greater breadth of the limbs, the shape of the letter U, of a
horse-shoe, or a heart. In the living animal it is of a pale rust
or orange colour ; in some individuals with a few small blackish
spots, fading after death to a yellowish-white. A very old male
presented the following dentition :
Incis. -5 ; Canin. 1=1- Mol. 4.4(2 + 2
6 i i 6.6(3 + 3)
In a young female three feet in length, the intestinal canal mea-
sured fifteen feet. It had neither caecum nor valve to mark the
transition. She had ten grinders in either jaw, of which four were
spurious, six true.
Gen. ARCTICTIS, Temminck.
ARCTICTIS BINTURONG, Fischer.
SYN. Viverra ? Binturong, Raffles.
Paradoxums albifrons, F. Cuvier.
Ictides ater, F. Cuvier.
Arctictis penicillata, Temminck.
Ictides ater, Blainv. " Calcutta Journ. of Nat. Hist." *
u Unturong " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Tenasserim, Arracan, Assam, Bhotan. Nipal.
Java and Sumatra are quoted by M. Schinz, but neither Dr.
Horsfield, nor Sir S. Raffles, nor M. Temminck (" Discours Pre-
liminaire, Fauna Japonica"), mentions the Binturong as inhabiting
either of the two islands.
The general colour of either sex is black, sprinkled on the body
and extremities with pale ferrugineous, produced by some of the
hairs having a part next to the point of that colour. In both
sexes nearly all the hairs of the head, face, and throat are thus
* In the third vol. of " Calcutta Journ. of Nat. Hist," p. 410, occurs the
following passage : " The Bintitrong\\^ { -> first discovered in Java, but the first
notice of its existence on the continent of India will be found in the second
volume of this Journal, p. 457 " (sic), &c. Sir Stamford Raffles, who pub-
lished the first account of this animal, distinctly states that it was discovered
at Malacca (not Java, as erroneously stated) by Major Farquhar, and Malacca
is situated on the continent of India as well as Tena?serim. The fact of its
inhabiting Bhotan was, according to Cuvier ("Regne Animal"), first made known
by Duvaucel ; and the author of the article "Ictides" in the " Penny Cyclo-
paedia," 1838, gives Mr. Hodgson's authority of the Binturong inhabiting
Nipal (Kachar, though they occasionally occur in the central region of Nipal).
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 21
marked, which communicates to these parts a whitish or greyish
appearance. In the young of either sex there is a faint trace of
a white spot over the eyes. The long ear-tufts are always black,
the margin of the auricle being either white or pale rust-coloured.
The tail is black, but the hairs of the anterior or basal half are
whitish at the root, or in some uniformly of that colour. The
pupil is vertically contracted by the influence of light : the iris is
of a beautiful Vandyke brown. In its habits the Binturong is
both arboreal and terrestrial, and nocturnal, sleeping until the sun
is below the horizon, when it displays great agility in searching
for smaller quadrupeds, birds, fishes, earthworms, insects, and
fruit. The howl is loud, resembling some of the Malayan Para-
doxuri. The young are easily tamed, but the old animal retains
its natural fierceness. Between the anus and penis is situated a
large pyriform gland, exceeding two inches in length, partially
divided by a deep naked fossa, commencing from the latter organ.
The gland secretes a light brown oily fluid of a peculiarly intense
but not foetid or sickening odour. In a young male, measuring
from the nose to the root of the tail two feet three and five-eighth
inches, the tail two feet two and a half inches, the intestines were
of the following dimensions :
Small intestines 7 feet n inches.
Large ditto i ,, 10
Caecum o oj
The circumference of the small intestines about seven-eighth
inches ; of the large but little more ; but the rectum was thickened
two inches in circumference.
The short caecum is crescent-shaped or lengthened pyriform.
The stomach is remarkably lengthened cylindrical ; the parietes
much thickened towards pylorus. (Esophagus enters close to the
fundus ventriculi, in consequence of which there is but a slight
difference between the curvatures.
Length along the greater curvature . . i foot 2 inches.
smaller . . i i
The circumference from cardia round fundus ventriculi measured
five and a half inches ; round pylorus two six-eighth inches. Both
the gall-bladder and the spleen presented a remarkably elongated
shape. The former organ, lengthened pyriform, measured in
length two inches ; ductus cysticus two and a half inches. The
spleen, tapering to a narrow point, was half an inch broad, and
eight and a half inches in length. Costae verse, 9 pairs ; spurise,
5 pairs = 14 pairs.
22 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
Gen. MUSTELA, Linnc ; PUTORIUS, Cuvier.
PUTORIUS NUDIPES, Fred. Cuvier.
SYN. Mustela nudipes, Desmar. apud Schinz.
" Pulasan " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Sumatra, Borneo. .
The muzzle and the soles of the feet are pale flesh-coloured.
The animal is said to inhabit the densest jungle, and is most diffi-
cult to obtain.
MUSTELA, Cuvier.
MUSTELA FLAVIGULA, Boddaert.
SYN. Viverra quadricolor, Shaw.
Marte a gorge doree, Desmarest.
Mustela Hardwickii, Horsfield.
Martes flavigula, Hodgson apud Gray.
" Anga Prao " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Nipal.
The Malayan individuals differ from those from Northern India,
originally described, in having the fur shorter and less dense, the
head pale brown, the neck and back pale yellowish-brown, becom-
ing darker towards the tail, which, as well as the posterior extre-
mities, is black. The anterior extremities are greyish-brown ; the
feet and the streak behind the ear deep brown ; the lips whitish ;
the throat and chest yellowish- white, or ochreous ; the scanty hairs
of the abdomen pale brownish.
Gen. LUTRA, Storr.
LUTRA NAIR, Fred. Cuvier.
SYX. Lutra indica, Gray.
"Anjing Aver " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
1 1 A i;. Malayan Peninsula.
China, Bombay, South Mahratta country.
LUTRA BARANG, Raffles.
SYX. " Barang Barang," or " Ambrang," Raffles.
Lutra leptonyx, Wagner apud Schinz.
Lutra Simung, Schinz ? *
* In Schinz's diagnosis of Lutra Si/nnti^ is said, "ungvibus robustis fal-
cularibus" (" die Niigel an den /ehen sind stark und gekiiimmt"), which, if
the passage refers to Lutra liptonv.\\ 1 1m -,!'; M, must be a mistake, as the
original dia;;i. sly states " ungvibus brcvibus sublamnaribus." As
Sciiin/. describes Lutra Jlaran^ "ungvibus minutissimis obtUSlS," Zw/ra leptonyx
is probably meant, and thus the one species is mistaken for the other.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 23
" Mumrang," or " Amrang " of the Malays of the Penin-
sula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Sumatra, Borneo.
The young are very playful, and soon become sufficiently domes-
ticated to roam about the house, and to appear when called. Its
voice is a short shrill whistling, not unlike the sound of the cricket,
but stronger. Its food is not confined to fishes and Crustacea ;
birds and insects are equally relished. The muzzle is hairy, but
in the old animal the hairs become rubbed off. The Malayan
individuals appear to attain to a greater size than the Sumatran,
described by Raffles. An old male measured from the apex of
the nose to the root of the tail two feet eight and a half inches ;
the tail one foot eight inches. In a young male two feet two
inches, and the tail one foot two-eighth of an inch in length, the
simple intestinal canal measured nine feet and one inch, with a
circumference throughout of about two and two-eighth inches. No
caecum. Each of the kidneys consisted of ten loosely connected
glands.
AONYX, Lesson.
AONYX LEPTONYX, Gray : List.
SYN. Lutra leptonyx, Horsfield.
Lutra cinerea, Illiger.
Lutra perspicillata, Is. Geoff.
Mustela Lutra, Marsden.
Aonyx Horsfieldii, Gray.
Lutra Barang, apud Schinz ?
" Anjing Ayer " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Singapore, Nipal.
This, as well as the two preceding species, inhabits numerously
the banks of the Malayan rivers, and all are at times used by the
Malays in river-fishing.
Gen. CANIS, Linne ; CUON, Hodgson.
CUON PRIMSEVUS, Hodgson.
SYN. Canis primsevus, Hodgson.*
Chrysseus primsevus, Hamilton Smith.
Chrysaeus soccatus, Cantor.
"Anjing titan " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
* Mr. Ogilby considers Canis Dukhunensis, Sykes, and Canis prinuzvis,
Hodgson, to be identical, and apparently not different from C. sumatrensis,
Hardwicke (" Mem. on the Mammalogy of the Himalayahs," apud Royle).
Colonel Sykes, on the contrary, describes C. Dukhunensis as being "essentially
distinct from Canis Quaff, or Sumatrensis, Hardwicke."
.14 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Bengal, Nipal.
Some slight differences occur in the Malayan individuals. The
inferior surface, the inside of the ears and limbs, and the lips and
throat are the same colour as the back, but much paler. A black
carpal spot, like that of the wolf, is very distinct in the male, less
so in the female. The young animal of either sex has a faint
white spot with a few blackish bristles situated nearly midway
between the angle of the mouth and the ears. Of the wavy wool
of the Buansu, the Malayan wild dog, inhabiting a tropical climate,
has but a little on the inner side of and immediately behind the
ear ; the posterior part of the abdomen is almost naked. The
short bristles of the lips, cheeks, throat, and above the eyes are
all black. In habits, so fully described by Mr. Hodgson, and in
size, the Malayan agrees with the Nipalese. In a young male,
from the nose to the root of the tail two feet eight and a half
inches in length, the tail one foot, the intestinal canal was of
the following dimensions :
Small intestines 6 feet 2 inches.
Large ditto o loj
Caecum o 4
The latter intestine is spiral, much widened at the origin.
Costae verse, 8 pairs ; spurise,, 5 pairs = 13 pairs.
The Malays mention another black wild dog (Anjing litan etam)
as also inhabiting the denses, jungle. A hyaena is also reported to
occur on the peninsula.
Mongrel curs, " pariah dogs/' of every description, infest every
village, but apparently not uninhabited places, nor localities far
distant from the dwellings of man. As they all may be said to be
in a state of half-domestication, and are of forms very different
from the wild dog, which shuns the human presence, their origin
cannot with certainty be traced to the Malayan Peninsula.
Gen. VIVERRA, Linnc.
VlVERRA ZIBETHA, Liniie.
SYN. Viverra undulata, Gray.
Viverra melanurus, Hodgson ^
Viverra orientals, Hodgson ( d Q LJ
Viverra civettoides, Hodgson (
Undescribed Civet, McClelland )
" Tanggallong " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
Southern China, Siam, Bengal, Khasyah Hills, Nipal.
Judging by the comparatively few individuals observed in the
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 25
Straits of Malacca, this species would appear to be far less
numerous than the following. Of several, the largest, which was
a female, measured from the apex of the nose to the root of the
tail two feet and eight inches ; the tail one foot eight and a half
inches. 1
VlVERRA TANGALUNGA, Gray.
SYN. Viverra zibetha, Lin. apud Raffles.
" Tangalung," Raffles.
Viverra zibetha, Lin. apud Horsfield.
Viverra zibetha, apud Fred. Cuvier.
Viverra zibetha, Lin. apud Schinz.*
" Miisang jebat " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, Amboyna, Philippines.
This species is readily distinguished from V. zibetha by a con-
tinuous longitudinal black band occupying the upper surface of
the tail, the numerous irregular rings being separated only on its
inferior half (Gray, "Proceed. Zool. Society," 1832, p. 63). The
number and distance of the half-rings on the lower surface of the
tail vary in different individuals, some of which have either the
entire tail or the anterior half or third of the tail thus marked,
the rest being black. The very young animal is generally of a
much darker ground colour than the adult, and the black marks
are therefore less conspicuous. Under certain lights the colour
appears uniformly black. Viverra tangalunga and zibetha, how-
ever similar in habits and general colours, neither live nor breed
together. Placed side by side, the living animals present a marked
dissimilarity of countenance, which, although obvious to the eye,
would be most difficult, if possible at all, to convey in words.
The female has three pairs of mammae, and produces from one to
three young. The Malays of the peninsula distinguish by different
names the zibetha and the tangalunga, but as they suppose the
civet of the former species to be of better quality, perhaps
because it is scarcer, they will frequently offer for sale individuals
of the latter exceedingly numerous species, imposing upon it the
name of V. zibetha " Tanggallong " of the Peninsula. The
largest individual of the present species observed measured in
length from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail three feet
and one inch ; the tail one foot five and a half inches. In a
younger, a female, three feet five and a half inches in length, ot
which the tail one foot and one inch, the intestinal canal was of
the following dimensions :
1 [O. Mohnike, 1. 1. p. 414.]
* The true Viverra zibetha, Linne, is quoted by Schinz under the denomina-
tions of V. bengalensis, Hardvvicke (?), and V. melanura, Hodgson.
?.6 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
Small intestines 7 feet 5 inches.
Large ditto . . ' o 9
Caecum o i ,,
Costse vene, 7 pairs ; spuree, 6 pairs = 13 pairs.
VIVERRICULA, Hodgson.
VlVERRICULA MALACCENSIS.
SYN. Viverra malaccensis, Gmelin.
Viverra Rasse, Horsfield.
Viverra Gunda, Buchanan Hamilton MSS.
Viverra indica, Geoffrey.
Viverra bengalensis, Gray : Illustr.
Viverra pallida, Gray : Illustr.
Genetta Manillensis, Eydoux.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
China, Philippine Islands, Java, Singapore, Cochin-China,
Tenasserim Provinces, Bengal, Nipal, Hindoostan, Duk-
hun, Bombay.
On the Malayan Peninsula this species appears to be more
numerous than V. zibetha; less so than V. tangalunga, and in
size inferior to either. The largest observed was three feet four
inches in length, of which the tail was one foot three and a half
inches. In a male measuring from the apex of the nose to the
root of the tail two feet and three-fourths of an inch, the tail one
foot one inch, the dimensions of the intestinal canal were :
Small intestines 4 feet o inch.
Large ditto o 8 inches.
Caecum o of inch.
The three preceding species have the following characters in
common : The pupil is vertical, oblong ; the iris of a rich brown.
They are arboreal as well as terrestrial, preying upon the smaller
quadrupeds, birds, fish, Crustacea, insects, and fruit. Naturally
very fierce, they are scarcely reclaimable except in youth, but with
age the original disposition returns. The voice is peculiar, hoarse,
and hissing.
Gen. PRIONODON, Horsfield.
PRIONODON GRACILIS, Horsfield.
SYN. Viverra? Linsang, Hardwicke.
Felis gracilis, Horsfield.
Viverra Hardwicke, Lesson.
Viverra gracilis, Desmarest apud Schinz.
Linsang gracilis, Miiller apud Gray : List, and Schinz.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Siam.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 27
The ground colour is buff, and the dark marks are of a deep
snuff colour, inclining to black with purple reflection. Length
from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail, one foot
six inches, the tail one foot three six-eighth inches.
Mr. Rappa, for many years a dealer in objects of natural history
at Malacca, who previously had been supplied with a figure and
description of Prionodon gracilis, reported in a memorandum
accompanying the specimen that it had been captured in the
jungle at some distance from Malacca. It was unknown to him-
self and to the natives. At first the animal was fierce and im-
patient of confinement, but by degrees it became very gentle and
playful, and when subsequently suffered to leave the cage, it went
in search of sparrows and other small birds, displaying great dex-
terity and unerring aim in stealthily leaping upon them. Fruit of
every description it refused. Another younger individual was cap-
tured about the same time, but contrived to make its escape.
Gen. PARADOXURUS, Fred. Cuvier ; PAGUMA, Gray.
PAGUMA LEUCOMYSTAX, Gray : List ?
SYN. Paradoxurus leucomystax, Gray ?
Amblyodon auratus, Jourdan ?
" Miisang biilan " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Singapore, Sumatra.
In a single individual observed the hairs of the body, limbs,
and anterior third of the tail are greyish-yellow at the base, next
bright rust-coloured, with the apex shining black, which produces
a mixture of ferrugineous and black, the latter prevailing on the
nape of the neck, middle line of the back, and the anterior third
of the tail. The hairs of the vertex and the bridge of the nose
are dark at the base, with yellowish points. The large oblique
whitish spot in front of the ear, produced by uniformly whitish
hairs, is on either side blended with the whitish vertex and ridge of
the nose, and is continued down the sides of the neck, forming a
large broad arrow-shaped mark. The orbits are dark brown ; the
face, lips, and throat pale brown. The long rigid white whiskers
are mixed with a few shorter black bristles. The feet are dark
brown, the posterior two-thirds of the tail uniformly black. The
lower surface and the inner side of the extremities are pale ferru-
gineous. From the apex of the nose to the root of the tail, two
feet three inches ; the tail one foot eight inches.
PAGUMA TRIVIRGATA, Gray : List.
SYN. Viverra trivirgata, Rein ward t, Mus. Leyd.
Paradoxurus trivirgatus, Gray.
" Miisang akar " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
28 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Singapore, Tenasserim.
The ground colour varies from yellowish or brownish to
blackish-grey. Fur short, peculiarly soft, silky. The dorsal streaks
are either continued, undulated (the central nearly always), or
composed of separate black spots. Some individuals have a short
white streak on the ridge of the nose. The largest male measured
from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail two feet two and
a half inches ; the tail two feet three inches.
PARADOXURUS MUSANGA, Gray.
SYN. Viverra hermaphrodita, Pallas apud Schinz.
Viverra fascia ta, Gmelin ?
Viverra Musanga, Marsden, Raffles.
Musang bulan, Raffles.
Viverra Musanga, var. javanica, Horsfield. 1
Ichneumon prehensilis, Buchanan Hamilton MSS.
Platyschista hermaphrodita, Otto \
Paradoxurus Pallassii, Gray JOT,-
Paradoxurus Crossii, Gray f a P ud SchmZ '
Paradoxurus dubius, Gray )
Paradoxurus Musangoides, Gray.
Paradoxurus typus, apud Schlegel.
Paradoxurus felinus, Wagner apud Schinz.
" Musang," or " Musang Panclan " (when the tail is with
white point : " Musang Biingkwang ") of the Malays
of the Peninsula.
HAB. Pinang) Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Timor.
The ground colour and dorsal marks of this exceedingly nu-
merous species are liable to considerable variations, the principal
of which are noted by Schinz ; individuals occur (probably of
every species) with the apex of the tail white, with elongated white
spots on the abdomen, with the tail spirally twisted. In most
the dorsal marks become indistinct or invisible in certain lights.
The female has from one to three young, of colours similar to the
adult, but less distinct ; their fur is softer, somewhat woolly, mixed
with longer stiff black hairs. The young is tamed without diffi-
culty, and is sometimes kept in houses to destroy rats and mice.
The Paradoxuri are in habits like the Civets. They have an
elliptical pupil, vertically contracted by the influence of light.
Their glandular secretion is of a peculiar (not civet or musk-like)
odour. The largest specimen of a great number measured from
the apex of the nose to the root of the tail two feet and half an
1 [O. Mohnike, 1. 1. pp. 249, 250, 413.]
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 29
inch ; the tail one foot four and a half inches. In a male mea-
suring three feet one and a half inches in length, of which the
tail was one foot four and a half inches, the intestinal canal was
of the following dimensions :
Small intestines 5 feet 8 inches.
Large ditto o 5
Caecum o i.J ,,
Costae veroe, 7 pairs; spuriae, 6 pairs = 13 pairs.
PARADOXURUS (?) DERBYANUS, Gray.
SYN. Paradoxurus (?) Zebra, Gray.
Hemigalea zebra, Jourdan.
Viverra Boiei, Miiller.
" Musang Batu " or " Sangah Prao " of the Malays of the
Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Borneo.
The ground colour varies from pale ochreous to buff, and the
dark marks, in shape and number scarcely alike in any two indi-
viduals, from snuff colour to black. The species is apparently
not numerous, and is celebrated among the Malays for its great
agility. It is said chiefly to feed upon the larger birds, such as the
Argus pheasant, which it will hunt down, following its prey till the
strength of the latter is exhausted, when it falls an easy victim to
the indefatigable pursuer. The slender vermiform make, the coun-
tenance and distribution of colours, the serrated, flattened false
molars, the soles, hairy between and under the toes, and slightly
in the centre, the somewhat removed thumb, are characters by
which this animal differs from Paradoxurus, and forms a link
between that genus and Prionodon in the same manner that
Viverricula connects Viverra to Prionodon. The largest male
observed measured from the apex of the nose to the root of the
tail two feet ; the tail one foot and four inches.
Gen. CYNOGALE, Gray.
CYNOGALE BENNETTII, Gray.
SYN. Viverra (Limictis) carcharias, Blainville.
Potamophilus barbatus, Kuhl.
Cynogale barbata, Schinz.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Sumatra, Borneo.
The very young, of which two individuals, a male and a female,
were found with the mother, differ from the adult in having a very
soft, silky, dense fur, mixed with longer hairs, which are black,
30 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
except on the chest and abdomen, where the apex is silvery.
Over the tarsus and on the upper surface of the feet some of the
hairs have a subterminal white band close to the black apex. The
posterior margin of the ear is hairy and of a silvery colour. This
animal appears of rare occurrence on the Malayan Peninsula, and
the natives are consequently not acquainted with it. The largest
male examined measured from the apex of the nose to the root of
the tail two feet three inches ; the tail eight inches.
Gen. HERPESTES, Illiger.
HERPESTES JAVANICUS, Desmarest.
SYN. Ichneumon javanicus, Geoffrey.
Mangusta javanica, Horsfield.
" Garangan," Horsfield.
HAB. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Java.
The species is numerous. The largest male measured from the
apex of the nose to the root of the tail one foot four and a half
inches ; the tail one foot one and a half inch.
HERPESTES AUROPUNCTATUS, Hodgson.
SYN. Mangusta auropunctata, Hodgson.
Herpestes nepalensis, Gray.
Herpestes Edwardsii, apud Ogilby (?).
Herpestes javanica, Hodgson apud Gray : List.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Bengal, Nipal, Scinde, Afghanistan.
This species somewhat resembles H. javanicus, but the ground
colour is lighter, and the lower surface uniformly pale yellowish-
grey ; whereas in the former species it is similar to the back, or a
shade paler. A single female observed measured from the apex
of the nose to the root of the tail one foot one inch ; the tail nine
inches.
HERPESTES GRISEUS, Desmarest.
SYN. Ichneumon griseus, Geoffrey.
Mangouste de Malacca, F. Cuvier \
Mangusta malaccensis, Fischer
Mangusta grisea, Fischer I apud Schinz.
Herpestes Edwardsii, Fischer
Mangusta Nyula, Hodgson /
Herpestes griseus, Nyool apud Ogilby.
Herpestes pallidus, Schinz.
Forsan H. nipalensis, Gray, var. apud Schinz.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 31
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Bengal, Hindoostan, Scinde, Nipal.
The present differs from the other species not only by its grey
colour, but by its broader head, particularly between the prominent
eyes, and by its shorter, blunter nose, which places the eyes com-
paratively nearer to the muzzle. In a single female, measuring
from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail one foot two and
a half inches, the tail nine and a half inches ; the intestinal canal
was of the following dimensions :
Small intestines 3 feet ij inches.
Large ditto 5s
Caecum o i
By a contraction in the middle of the greater curvature, the
stomach is distinctly separated into a cardiac and pyloric cavity.
HERPESTES BRACHYURUS, Gray.
SYN. " Musang Tiiron " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
The largest male measured from the apex of the nose to the
root of the tail one foot six and a half inches, the tail nine inches.
It is distinguished from the other species, not only by its colours
and comparatively short tail, but by its larger size and much more
robust make.
Gen. FELIS, Linne.
FELIS TIGRIS, Linne.
SYN. Tigris regalis, Gray : List.
" Harimau " or " Ri'mau " of the Malays.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
India.
Lieut.-Colonel James Low has communicated the following
denominations by which the Malays of the Peninsula distinguish
different varieties :
" Rimau Sipai," reddish coated, striped.
" Ri'mau Ballu," darker coloured.
" Daun Pi'nang," reddish coated, without stripes.
" Tuppu Kassau," darkish, without stripes, but with longer
hairs than the others.
" Puntong Prun," very dark, striped.
32 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
FELIS LEOPARDUS, Schreber.
SYN. Felis pardus, Linne ? \
Felis varia, Schreber
Felis Panthera, Erxleben 1
Felis chalybeata, Hermann / apud Gray : List.
Felis antiquorum, Fischer
Felis fusca, Meyer
Felis Nimr, Ehrenberg /
Leopardus varius, Gray : List.
Felis Leopardus, apud Schinz.
" Rimau Bintang " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
India.
DARK VAR.
SYN. Felis melas, Peron apud Gray : List.
" Rimau Kiimbang " * of the Malays of the Peninsula.
The ground colour is a shining beetle-brown, mixed with white
hairs, not, however, sufficiently to impart a grey appearance. The
black spots become distinctly visible in certain lights only. The
skin of a male killed at Malacca measured from the nose to the
root of the tail four feet four and a half inches, the tail two feet
ten and a half inches.
The leopards of the Malayan Peninsula appear to attain to a
larger size, and to be more ferocious than is generally the case in
India. Instances of their having killed and carried off Malays are
on record.
FELIS MARMORATA, Martin.
SYN. Felis Diardii, Fischer apud Schinz.
Felis Diardii, apud Jardine. Tab. 21 and 22.
Leopardus marmoratus, Gray : List.
" Rimau dahan " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
The ground colour varies from rusty-grey or fulvous to grey,
and the black markings are scarcely quite alike in any two indi-
viduals, nor is the extremity of the tail constantly black. The
adult exceeds the size given in the original description ; a female
measured from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail two
feet half an inch ; the tail one foot nine inches. The species is
numerous.
* "Kiimbang" signifies a beetle; applied par excellence to a species of
Oryctes, resembling Scarabnts nasiconn's. Linnc, which is very destructive to
cocoanut plantations. "Kimau Kiimbang," Rallies, is by Schinz referred to
Felis porous, Temminck, var. tn\ r ra. Mullcr; Felis tnclas, F. Cuvier, the
habitat of which is said to be Java and Sumatra.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 33
FELIS JAVANENSIS, Desmarest.
SYN. Felis javanensis, Desmarest apud Horsfield.
" Kuwuk," Horsfield.
Felis minuta, Temminck \
apudSchin,
Felis undata, Desmarest )
Felis Diardii, Griffith
Leopardus javanensis
T . ,
Llst
" Rimau akar " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Pinang) Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra?
The ground colour in the Malayan individuals varies from pure
grey to greyish-brown or ferruginous. The largest adult male
measured from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail one
foot eleven and a half inches, the tail ten inches ; another of equal
dimensions of the body had the tail eight inches in length. The
intestinal canal was of the following dimensions :
Small intestines ..... 3 feet 8 inches.
Large ..... o 9^
Caecum ........ o ij
In the scansorial habits of this very numerous species originates
its local denomination, " akar," signifying a climber as well as a
root.
FELIS PLANICEPS, Vigors and Horsfield.
SYN. Chaus (?) planiceps, Gray, List.
" Kuching-utan," or "jalang" of the Malays of the Penin-
sula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Sumatra, Borneo.
The Malayan individuals of this apparently not numerous
species differ from the Sumatran, originally described, in having
the whitish throat, chest and abdomen, and the inner side of the
limbs undulated with brown, transversal, interrupted bands. In
none of the Malayan wild cats is the length of the tail more
variable. In a male, measuring from the apex of the nose to the
root of the tail two feet one and a half inch, the tail, consisting of
twelve gradually diminishing caudal vertebrae, measured five and
a half inches ; in another, one foot ten and three-fourth inch in
length from the nose to the root of the tail, the latter organ
measured two inches, consisting of four slightly decreasing verte-
brae, the last one of which was broad, flattened, and rounded at
the posterior extremity. It is of most ferocious habits, and
VOL. n. D
34 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
untameable. In the smaller individual the intestinal canal was of
the following dimensions :
Small intestines ..... 3 feet 6J inches.
Large ..... o sf
Crecum ........ o o inch.
FEUS DOMESTICA, Auct.
" Kiiching " of the Malays.
The Malays, like most Muhamedans, are as partial to cats as
they are the reverse to dogs. As observed by Sir S. Raffles, some of
the Malayan, like the Madagascar domesticated cats, have a short
twisted or knobbed tail, others are tailless. Among those of an
uniform colour, a light ashy and a bluish (or slaty-grey) variety,
with single longer black hairs on the back and tail, are conspicuous.
They frequently relapse from a state of domestication, resort to the
jungle, and shun the presence of man.
RODENT I.
Gen. SCIURUS, Linn'e.
SCIURUS BICOLOR, Sparrmann.
SYN. Das javanische Eichhorn, Schreb.* apud Horsf.
Sciurus giganteus, McClelland MSS. ) apud Horsfield,
Sciurus bicolor, Sparrmann j " Proc. Zool. Soc."
Sciurus madagascariensis ) d G Ligt
Sciurus macruroides, Hodgson j
" Chingkrawah etem " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Siam, Tenasserim, Assam, Nipal.
The original diagnosis will prevent misunderstanding as to the
species under consideration. " Sciurus supra niger, infra fulvus
uuriculis acutis imberbibus, palmarum ungue pollicari magno
rotundato." (Sparrmann apud Horsfield.) The colour of the
head, back, tail, outside of the extremities, and the feet, is intense
shining black, the single hairs being blackish-grey at the root,
those of the tail blackish-brown at the root. In some individuals
the black hairs generally, in others those of the tail, or some part
of the back only, have a broad subterminal band of bright cinnamon,
or Indian red, which imparts a reddish tint to the general black
* Sciurus javensis, Schreber, and bicolor, Sparmann, apud Gray, List, is
Sciurus Lcschenauiiii Desmar. apud Horsfield. Syn. S. hypoleiicus, Horsfield.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 35
colour. The mustachios, whiskers, and the superciliary bristles
are black ; those of the throat and forearm are black in some,
ferruginous, or with the apex of that colour, in others. The under-
parts vary from a deep golden fulvous to Isabella colour. What-
ever be the prevailing shade, it is always most distinct on the
lateral line, which, commencing from the cheeks, passes along the
sides of the body. The fur of the lower parts of the body and of
the inside of the extremities is much shorter, softer, and less
dense than that of the back. The single hairs are greyish or
blackish at the root, with the apex of the shade of yellow prevail-
ing in the individual. Single low bristles, either uniformly or
partially black or fulvous, appear on the chest and abdomen. The
species, under the present garb, is very numerous in the Malayan
forests and hills.
Var. 0, Horsfield.
" Sciurus supra fuscus, varians a fusco-nigricante ad sordide
fulvum, pilis velleris fulvis et canescentibus intermixtis, subtus
fulvus vel pallide flavescens." (Horsfield.)
SYN. Sciurus auriventer, Is. Geoff, apud Schinz.
Sciurus aureiventer, Is. Geoff, apud List.
" Chingkrawah," or " Chingkrawah puteh," of the Malays
of the Peninsula.
Single individuals, resembling the Javanese one figured in
" Zoological Researches in Java," occur at Pinang, but there, as in
Java, tawny of different shades, with a greyish cast, is more frequent.
In some the head is of a darker colour, in others large spots of
dark appear on the back, or the tail is above barred with black.
The upper part of the nose, a ring encircling the eyes, and the
ears appear in all individuals to be of a darker brownish colour,
and all have a more or less distinct large white spot on the anterior
and upper part of the thigh. The back of the feet is either dark
brown or fulvous. The palms, soles, mammse, and genital organs
are black in all. The single hairs of the back are greyish-brown
at the root, darker than the apex, which imparts the general
colour to the back. With the hairs of the tail the reverse is the
case, the basal half being Isabella or white ; the apical darker.
On the lower surface of the distichous tail the roots of the hairs
form a white line on either side of the vertebrae, which are covered
with short dark brownish or fulvous hairs. The under-parts of
the body are of the same colours as those of the black-coated
animal, but their roots are yellowish- white. The mustachios,
whiskers, and other bristles, are in all of a blackish-brown ; but the
single bristles of the abdomen are sometimes fulvous.
The black-coated individuals stand in a similar relation to
the light-coloured varieties as that in which the black-coloured
D 2
36 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
Hylobates Lar stands to the light-coloured. Such differences of
colour, wide no doubt, are of no uncommon occurrence among
the Malayan Mammalia, and ought to be well considered by
zoologists who have not the opportunity of studying the living
animals.
This, as well as the rest of the Malayan squirrels, is capable of
being tamed to a certain extent, and evinces attachment to those
who feed them, but the appearance of a strange person, animal,
or even an unusual sound, startles them, and recalls their natural
shyness. The largest of a great number measured from the apex
of the nose to the root of the tail one foot six inches ; the tail one
foot nine and a half inches. The intestinal canal was of the
following dimensions :
Small intestines 9 feet 6 inches.
Large 4 9
Crecum i 2
SCIURUS RAFFLESII, Vigors and Horsfield.
SYN. Sciuras rufogularis, Gray.
Sciurus rufoniger, Gray.
Sciurus Prevostii, Desmar. apud Schinz.
" Tiipai balang " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Borneo, China* (Canton).
This species, numerous in the Malayan countries, occurs with
the following individual variations of colour :
Cheeks and throat iron-grey, shoulders uniformly or mixed
with red. (Sciurus rufogularis, Gray : " Mag. Nat. Hist." 1842,
p. 263.)
The cheeks are sometimes dark brown, or ferruginous.
* China is the habitat assigned to Set urns rnfogularis, Gray. Without
doubting the authenticity, it is perhaps as well to observe that skins of the
more showy animals and birds of India, Malacca, and the Indian Archipelago,
are offered for sale as indigenous productions in the shops of Canton and Macao.
Skins of Halcyon Sniyrncnsis, for instance, and other birds from different parts
of India, are bought up by the Chinese merchants of our colonies in the Si raits
of Malacca, who annually, on Chinese junks, ship quantities of considerable
value to China, where they are manufactured into fans and artificial flowers.
In a list of birds contained in a collection of Chinese productions exhibited in
London in 1842, Mr. H. E. Strickland observes, in his communication to the
Zoological Society, that some of them appear to have been imported from
Malacca. Skins and other parts of a host of animals, from the most distant
parts of Asia, form items in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. On my visits to
Chinese dispensaries in China and in our Malayan colonies I have been shown
horns of rhinoceroses and deer, tusks of the Dugong, heads of Buceri, tortoise-
shells, and well-preserved skins of TrigonOftpnalus Blomhojfii, from Japan ;
ammonites and other fossils, cum multis aliis, all supposed to possess specific
virtues, and accordingly prescribed by Chinese medical practitioners.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 37
In some the white lateral line commences from the side of the
nose, passing over the cheeks, the sides of the neck, and over the
shoulder. The lateral line is either pure white, more or less dis-
tinct, or mixed with single longer hairs with black apex.
Some have a short black line immediately below the white ; in
others there is above the latter a grizzled line, sometimes continued
over the outside of the thigh. The tail is seldom uniformly black,
frequently partially black, reddish, or grizzled, owing to the apex
of the hairs being white. The tuft is frequently reddish or rust-
coloured.
The feet are sometimes white or pale ferruginous.
The Museum of the Asiatic Society possesses a specimen from
Java, differing from Sciurus rufo?iiger, Gray, in having the tail
grizzled instead of black. Sciurus redimitus, Van de Boon, is
probably another variety of S. Rafflesii.
A young male, about a fortnight in confinement, after having
finished his usual meal of cocoanut, seized and devoured an lora
typhia, which had just been shot and happened to be placed within
reach. Sparrows and other smaller birds were subsequently eaten
and apparently relished.
The largest male measured from the apex of the nose to the
root of the tail eleven and a half inches ; the tail one foot two
inches.
SCIURUS HIPPURUS, Is. Geoffrey.
SYN. Sciurus erythrceus, Pallas ? \
Sciurus caudatus, McClelland ? > apud Gray, List.
Sciurus anomalus, Kuhl j
Sciurus rufogaster, Gray.
Sciurus castaneoventris, Gray.
" Tiipai Jinjang," " Ummu," or " Jau," of the Malays of the
Peninsula.
HAD. Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Assam, China (Canton).
The ground colour of the Malayan individuals differs but
slightly, according to the more red or yellow rust colour of the
bands of the hairs. The anterior part of the tail above is of the
same colour as the back, the rest is either uniformly black, reddish,
or with transverse bands, or has the tuft of that colour. The
colour of the ears is brownish in some, but generally of the
leaden grey, grizzled colour of the head, cheeks, chin, and outside
of the limbs. The feet are black or slightly grizzled.
The largest individual of this numerous species measured from
the apex of the nose to the root of the tail one foot ; the tail
one foot and half an inch.
38 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
SCIURUS VITTATUS, Raffles.
SYN. Tiipai, Raffles.
Sciurus bivittatus. Raffles, Desmar. ) , c , ,
Ecureuil Toupai, F. Cuvier ( a P ud Horsfield -
Macroxus Toupai, Lesson, apud Gray, List.
Sciurus flavimanus, Is. Geoffroy apud Schinz.
" Tupai " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Singapore, Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Sumatra, Borneo, Canton.
This is the most numerous species in the Straits of Malacca,
the largest individuals measuring from the apex of the nose to
the root of the tail eleven inches ; the tail eleven inches.
SCIURUS NIGROVITTATUS, Horsfield.
SYN. Sciurus griseiventer, Is. Geoffrey apud Schinz.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Canton.
Not numerous ; the largest individual observed, a female,
measured from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail nine
inches ; the tail eight and half inches.
SCIURUS TENUIS, Horsfield.
SYN. Sciurus modestus, S. Miiller?
HAB. Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Canton.
Of two individuals observed, the larger, a male, measured from
the apex of the nose to the root of the tail six inches ; the tail
seven inches.
SCIURUS LATICAUDATUS, Diard var.
SYN. Sciurus laticaudatus, Diard apud S. Miiller ? *
HAB. Malayan Pen insula.
The present squirrel differs from the diagnosis of Sciurus lati-
caudatus from the west coast of Borneo (communicated in " Natuur
en Geneeskundig Archief," &c. ii. Jaarg. i. Aflev. p. 87), in
having neither the first nor the fifth molar of the upper jaw
very large. Both are of nearly equal size, and much smaller than
the rest. The following is a description of the Malayan animal.
* In the " List of Mammalia in the British Museum " occurs a genus,
Rhinosciurus, Gray, and a species R. litfaioidcs, Gray, syn. Sciunts laticait-
datus, Miiller ? Generic or specific characters being neither given nor re fence!
to, it is impossible in India to decide uhether the specimen in the .British
Museum thus labelled is identical with the animal here characterized.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 39
The shape of the head is depressed, elongated, conical, gra-
dually attenuated towards the laterally compressed nose. The
whole outline, the slender form, and general colours, render the
animal strikingly similar to Tupaia ferritginea. The eyes are large,
brilliant, dark ; the ears large, oval, with smooth short hairs ; the
mouth is small, the upper incisors are very minute, the lower
slender, flattened, and almost straight ; the black mustachios,
whiskers, superciliary and gular bristles, and the few white ones
of the forearm, are all shorter than the head ; the muzzle hairy,
leaving the margins of the small, and at the apex laterally
pierced, nostrils naked. The limbs and feet slender; the nail-
less tubercle of the thumb rudimentary, barely perceptible in the
living animal. The claws are small, sharp, compressed, whitish.
The colour of the head, back, outside of the limbs and feet, is
a rich rusty red, mixed with shining black, particularly on the
occiput, the back and the feet, less on the sides, where the ferru-
ginous prevails ; the throat, chest, abdomen, and inner side of the
limbs, whitish ; in some individuals pale yellowish. The fur is
soft and delicate. The separate hairs are leaden-grey at the base,
shining black, or with a broad subterminal ferruginous band. The
tail is shorter than the body, distichous, broadest in the middle,
attenuated at the root, terminating in a thin tuft. It may be com-
pared to a feather, black on each side of the quill, successively
ferruginous, again black, margined with buff. Such is the succes-
sion of the bands on the separate hairs. This organ is less full
and ornamental than in the generality of squirrels. The species
is apparently not numerous ; the largest out of five examined,
a female, was of the following dimensions :
Length from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail lo-f inches.
of the tail 6|
of the head 2f
from the apex of the nose to the anterior angle
of the eye if inch.
from the posterior angle of the eye to the ear . of
Breadth above the apex of the nose oj
between the anterior angles of the eyes . . o|
'8
Diameter of the head at vertex , . i
Its habits in confinement presented nothing remarkable.
Gen. PTEROMYS, Cuvier*
PTEROMYS NITIDUS, Geoffroy.
SYN. : Sciurus petaurista, Lin. apud Cuvier ?
Sciurus petaurista, Chin Krawa, Raffles ?
40 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
Pteromys albiventer, Gray, Illustr.
" Tiipai Terbang," or " Kiibin," of the Malays of the Pen-
insula.
HAB. Singapore, Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Borneo.
The part of the head anterior to the ears, the cheeks, the
chest, and the abdomen, are white in some individuals of either
sex, one of which is figured in Hardvvick's " Illustrations of
Indian Zoology" under the denomination of Pteromys albi-
venter, Gray.
The black or dark-brown eyelids, nose, chin, feet, and tip of the
tail appear to be constant characters. The shade and intensity
of the red colour is liable to considerable variations.* In the very
young there is a short black stripe behind the ears ; and the
posterior part of the back and anterior half of the tail are shining
black, from each separate hair having the apex of that colour.
Traces of these characters occur in some adult individuals. This
species is very numerous in the Malayan countries. It is not
strictly nocturnal, for it is frequently seen abroad during the day.
It is particularly fond of the Durian, the fruit of Durio Zibethinus,
Linne. The flying squirrel has this partiality in common with
various other animals, as monkeys, Pteropi and Paradoxuri; nay,
the Malays assert that they have to watch this their favourite fruit
against tigers.
In a female, measuring from the extremity of the nose to the
root of the tail one foot six and a half inches, the tail one foot nine
inches, the intestinal canal was of the following dimensions :
Small intestines 7 feet 4^ inches.
Large 5 2"
Csecum 2 4
SCIUROPTERUS, Fred. Cuvier.
SCIUROPTERUS HORSFIELDII, Waterhouse.
SYN. Pteromys aurantiacus, Wagner apud Gray, List.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Java ? Sumatra ?
A single skin, brought from Keddah, measured from the apex
of the nose to the root of the tail eight and three-eighth inches ;
the tail eleven inches.
* In an individual from Malacca the back was very dark Indian red,
with a few dashes of pure white. The identity of the species is, however,
doubtful.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 41
SCIUROPTERUS GENIBARBIS.
SYN. Pteromys genibarbis, Horsfield.
" Kechubu," Horsfield.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Java.
Of two, the larger, a male, measured from the apex of the nose
to the root of the tail seven and half inches ; the tail seven inches.
MURID^E.
Gen. Mus, Linne.
Mus BANDICOTA, Bechstein.
SYN. Mus giganteus, Hardwicke
Mus malabaricus, Shaw
Mus perchal, Shaw
- apud Gray, List.
Mus icria, Buchan. Ham. MS.
Mus nemorivagus, Hodgson
" Tikus besdr " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Southern Mahratta Country, Bengal, Nipal.
Mus DECUMANUS, Pallas.
SYN. Mus javanus, Pallas apud Schinz.
Mus norvegicus, Brisson apud Gray, List.
" Tikus " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang.
Cosmopolita.
Mus SETIFER, Horsfield.
SYN." Tikus virok," Horsfield.
Mus giganteus, Temminck apud Gray.
HAB. Pinang.
Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Van Diemen's Land.
The larger of two individuals, captured in gardens, measured,
head and body, ten and one eighth inches ; the tail seven and four-
eighth inches.
Mus RUFESCENS, Gray.
SYN. Mus flavescens, Elliot ) , r T .
Mus rufus, Elliot } apud Gray, List.
HAB. Pinang.
Dharwar, Madras, Bengal, Arracan.
In the young the brown bristles are fewer, and leave the lead-
coloured under-fur more apparent. The colour of the abdomen
42 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
is paler yellowish-grey than in the adult. The species is numerous
at Pinang in outhouses. In the largest observed, the head and
body measured seven and six-eighth inches ; the tail (mutilated)
four and two-eighth inches.
Mus MUSCULSUS, Linnc?
SYN. " Tikus rum a " of the Malays.
HAB. Pinang.
In colours this slightly differs from the European mouse, the
upper parts being a mixture of shining grey and tawny. The
separate hairs are leaden-grey at the base, then tawny with black
apex ; some are longer and uniformly dark brown ; beneath, pale
ash. The ears are large, more than one-half of the length of the
head, with very short hairs, rounded, blackish ; toes, palms and
soles whitish ; tail slender, dark grey, with very short appressed
brown hairs. Length of the head and body two and five-eighth
inches ; tail two and four-eighth inches.
Gen. RHIZOMYS, Gray.
RHIZOMYS SUMATRENSIS, Gray.
SYN. Mus sumatrensis, Raffles.
" Dekan," Raffles.
Hypudeus de Sumatra, Temm. |
Nyctocleptes Dekan, Temm. > apud Gray, List.
Spalax javanus, Cuvier j
Rhizomys chinensis, Gray apud Schinz.
Rhizomys cinereus, McClelland.*
Rhizomys Decan, Schinz.
" Tikus bulow " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
China, Moulmein, Assam.
Although the animal was first described in Sir Stamford Raffles'
catalogue of collections made in Sumatra, the author distinctly
* The description of this supposed species, "Calcutta Journal of Nat. Hist.,"
vol. ii. p. 456, pi. xiv., states: " There are four toes to each fore-foot, and five
to each hind-foot." The draughtsman of pi. xiv., Rhizomys cinereus, has at
all events observed that all the feet are Jive-toed, however incorrectly he has
represented the animal. Another error occurs in the description vi/,., " Sir
Stamford Rallies describes :i species of bamboo rat found in Sumatra by Colonel
Farquhar," &c. Sir S. Rallies' words are these : " Mus SUMATKKN.SIS. A
drawing and specimen of an animal which appears related to the Mus Piloridcs
was forwarded from Malacca" not Sumatra, as erroneously asserted "by
Major Farquhar, to the Asiatic Society, at the same time with the Binturong.
I am informed by him that it is not uncommon at Malacca, and is perhaps to
be found in most pints of the Malay Peninsula," c. (" Transact. Linn. Society,"
vol. xiii. part ii.)
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 43
states that it was forwarded from Malacca by Major Farquhar ;
nor does it appear to inhabit Sumatra, although the specific name
would lead one to suppose that such is the case. The colour of
the adult is liable to individual variations, from grey of different
shades to isabella or silvery-buff. The separate hairs are mostly
of the colour prevailing in the individual, mixed with single dark-
brown hairs with whitish apex, particularly on the vertex, con-
tinuing along the centre part of the back. On the nose, anterior
part of the head, and on the cheeks, the hairs are of a pale rust
colour. On the vertex some white hairs from either a spot or a
short line of that colour. The scanty hairs of the abdomen are
all of a pale greyish or isabella colour. The mustachios, whiskers,
superciliar and gular bristles are either of a pale brown or buff
colour. The young are above of a dark grey, with a brown streak
on the vertex and back ; beneath, pale grey. The forehead, nose,
temples, and cheeks are ferruginous. The adult, like some squirrels
and rats, is subject to enlargement of the scrotum. In confine-
ment it is very savage, scarcely tameable. The length of the tail
varies from about one-third to little more than one-fourth of the
length of the body. It is blackish or brownish ; the apex whitish.
The largest male examined measured from the apex of the nose
to the root of the tail one foot seven and a half inches ; the
tail five and a half inches. The female, in size and colours
equalling the male, has ten mammae viz., two axillary and three
inguinal pairs.
Gen. HYSTRIX, Cuvier.
HYSTRIX LONGICAUDA, Marsden.
SYN. Acanthion javanicum, Fred. Cuvier ?
Hystrix brevispinosus, Schinz.*
" Babi Landak " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Borneo.
Sir Stamford Raffles has pointed out the inaccuracy of Marsden's
figure, representing the fore-feet with five toes, instead of with four,
and a rudimentary thumb with a flat nail. The figure also has a
few mane-like long bristles on the head, whereas the mustachios
are situated on the side of the nose, the whiskers below the ear,
and one or two bristles above the eye. In colours this species
resembles Hystrix leucurus, Sykes, from which it differs in the
absence of the long mane-like bristles of the head and neck.
Although single, scattered, thin, flexible spines, upwards of twelve
* In <; Nachtrage," zum 2ten Bande, this species is supposed to be identical
with and substituted for Athemra fasciculata, although a very correct descrip-
tion is given of both.
44 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
inches in length, occur on the posterior part of the back, the
majority of inflexible spines are much shorter than in Hystrix
leucurus or H. cristatus, and are either pure white or with a blackish
band in the medial portion. The short, blackish, slightly iridescent
spines of the neck, anterior part of the back, the limbs, and
abdomen, are generally grooved on the upper surface. The short
white pedimculated tubes of the posterior part of the tail are at
first closed, terminating in a short spine, which latter wears oft",
leaving the tubes open. The pubes are disposed in a wreath of
stiff bristles, frequently of a deep rust colour. The epidermis of
this species, as well as of Atherura, is remarkably thin and liable
to be torn. Beneath the skin appears a fatty tissue, upwards of
an inch in thickness. The anterior molars are slightly larger than
the rest. Viewed from above, in situ, the crown of the anterior
lower molar of either side presents the form of two letters S
facing each other (S8). In a foetus of which the head measures
two and one -eighth inches, the body four and three-eighth inches,
the tail one inch in length the whole of the body and the anterior
half of the tail have numerous short hairs, disposed on separate
transverse lines of six to eight distant black hairs, becoming longer
on the posterior part of the back and sides. The posterior part
of the tail has longer and closer hairs. In a female, measuring
from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail two feet five
inches, the tail four inches, the intestinal canal was of the follow-
ing dimensions :
Small intestines 21 feet 6 inches.
Lar S e 5 10
Caecum i foot 7 ,,
The stomach is of a heart-shaped outline, with thin membranes
externally smooth, internally with a few longitudinal rugae near the
narrow fundus.
The species is numerous, and as it is considered a delicacy by
the Chinese population, is frequently brought to market.
Gen. ATHERURA, Cuvier.
ATHERURA FASCICULATA, Cuvier.
SYN. Hystrix fasciculata, Lin. apud Cuvier.*
Hystrix orientalis, Brisson apud Gmelin.
Hystrix macroura, Linne".
Pore-epic de Malacca, Buffon.
Hystrix fasciculata, Shaw apud Raffles.
Mus fasciculatus, Desmarest.
* No species of that name occurs in " Systema Natune," ed. xiii., Gmelin,
1788; but Hystrix macroura is described " caiula longitudiiie corporis"(?) "apice
fascicule pilorum," &c.
THE MALA VAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 45
Hystrix fasciculata, Linne" apud Gray, Illust.*
Acanthion javanicum, F. Cuv.
Atherurus fasciculatus, Schinz.
Atherurus macrourus, Schinz.
" Landak " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Borneo.
The nose, lips, forehead, and back of the feet are covered with
greyish-brown hairs ; the body and limbs at the root of the spine
are covered with dense soft silky hairs, grey on the upper parts
and silvery on the abdomen. Single longer flexible spines, white
with a dark central band, are scattered over the back ; the
anterior part of the tail is, like the back, covered with flat-grooved
spines, white at the root, then slightly iridescent brown, and fre-
quently with white apex ; the centre part of the tail is scaly, with
very short spines between the scales ; the posterior part is white,
with white or silvery, flexible, and in length gradually increasing,
spines, which Buffon has aptly compared to narrow slips of irre-
gularly cut parchment ; the pubes are of a deep rust colour.
This species is very numerous in the Malayan valleys and hills.
In fretful habits and in its food it resembles the preceding
porcupine, like which it is carried to the market at Pinang and
Malacca, where as many as twenty to thirty may frequently be
seen. In a male, measuring from the apex of the nose to the root
of the tail one foot ten inches, the tail ten inches, the intestinal
canal was of the following dimension :
Small intestines 19 feet 4^ inches.
Large 5 3
Caecum i foot 3
The stomach is of a general outline, resembling that of H.
longicauda, but it differs in having an external deep vertical sulcus,
dividing the stomach into a pyloric and a cardiac portion, which
latter presents six to seven deep oblique sulci. The membranes
of the stomach are thick and muscular. Internally the cardiac
portion is transversally divided by six or seven ridges, correspond-
ing to the external sulci, intersected by numerous concentric rugae.
The pyloric portion, separated from the cardiac by the rugae pro-
duced by the external vertical sulcus, is much smoother and has
but few rugae.
* In the figure the anterior foot has one toe too many, the animal having
four toes and a rudimentary flat-nailed thumb. Nor is the back of the hind foot
naked, unless indeed become so by accident.
46 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
EDENTATA.
Gen. MANIS, Linne.
MANIS JAVANICA, Desmarest.
SYN. Manis pentadactyla, Lin. apud Raffles.
Manis aspera, Sundeval.
M. quinquedactyla, Raffles apud Gray, List.
" Pengoling" or " Tangling " of the Malays of the
Peninsula.
HAB. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Borneo.
The series of dorsal scales vary in individuals from sixteen to
nineteen. The number of central dorsal vary from twenty to
twenty-two ; the central and the marginal caudal from twenty-six
to twenty-nine : in the young all the scales are finely lineated and
the rounded apex only is smooth. With age the lines become
obliterated on the exposed surface of the scales, between which
appear a few long whitish bristles. The very young animal cor-
responds to the description of Manis aspera, Sundeval. The
eyelids, the margins of the ears, and the scaleless parts, except the
palms and soles, are scantily provided with short whitish hairs.
The two pectoral mammae are situated at a short distance from the
axilla. Its habits present nothing different from those of Manis
cassicaudata (M. pendactyla, Linne), of which an interesting account
is communicated by Lieut. R. S. Tickell in "Journal Asiatic
Society," vol. xi. 1842, p. 221.
The present species, although numerous in rocky situations, is
not often captured, as it is seldom abroad till after sunset. The
largest male measured from the apex of the nose to the root of
the tail one foot nine and a half inches, the tail one foot eight inches.
In a younger male, the entire length of which was one foot eleven
inches, the intestinal canal was of the following dimensions:
Small intestines 8 feet 4 inches.
Large o 6
Caecum is rudimentary, indicated by a slight yet distinct widening
of the intestines. The stomach is capacious, the pyloric region
thickened and gizzard-like. On the external surface, where the
greater curvature begins to ascend, is situated a small (one inch
in length, one and three-eighths in breadth), triangular, externally
gyrated, glandular body, firmly attached to the stomach, but not
communicating with the cavity. Its external appearance might
be compared to that of a crest of ostrich feathers. The narrowed
apex, towards the pylorus, is provided with a small, thick, rounded
and wrinkled opening, surrounded by concentric fibres, leading
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 47
by a common, short, cylindrical duct to the broader cavity, which
latter is divided by two longitudinal parietes into three separate
portions. If a tube is introduced into the common duct, the air
injected will simultaneously fill all three portions of the cavity,
but if the tube is inserted into any one of the three separate por-
tions, the air will fill that particular portion, leaving the two others
collapsed. The interior surface of this organ secretes a whitish
mucus. Adjoining the common opening, from ten to eleven small
rounded glands commence, arranged on a line towards the pylorus.
Each gland has in its centre a minute wrinkled opening, leading
into a small cavity secreting mucus.
The stomach was extended by the remains (heads and legs) of
a prodigious quantity of large black ants, inhabiting the hills.
The contents of the stomach were involved in mucus, deeply
tinctured with bile, and among them appeared five small rounded
fragments of granite. Another individual expired after ten days'
confinement, during which period it took no food, although it was
repeatedly placed among swarms of the black and red ants so
excessively numerous in the valley of Pinang. Water it always
took when offered, lapping it up with the tongue in the same
manner that serpents drink.
Costae veras, 8 pairs; spurise, 7 pairs = 15 pairs. The ensiform
process of the os sternum is greatly elongated, terminating in a
broad, rounded, thin cartilaginous plate.
PACHYDERMATA.
PROBOSCOIDEA.
Gen. ELEPHAS, LinnL
ELEPHAS INDICUS, Linne.
SYN. " Gajah " of the Malays.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
India, Burma, Siam, Ceylon, Sumatra, Borneo.
Elephants are very numerous on the Malayan Peninsula. They
may be procured at the following rates :
" For an elephant 4 feet 6 inches high . 120 dollars.
5 3 200 ,,
6 O . 220 .,
6 9 400 ,,
7 ,, 6 . 420
Those exceeding this height are paid for at an advance on the
last-mentioned rate of 20 dollars for one foot six inches. If above
eight feet and three inches, then an addition of 40 dollars for
each one foot six inches is charged. Elephants ten feet six inches
48 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
in height are taken by the Siamese to the capital, and it is not
permitted to sell them. The Keddah chiefs used formerly to
breed elephants, a speculation rarely if ever attempted elsewhere.
Coromandel native traders were until late years constantly in
the habit of loading vessels with elephants for that coast."
(Extract from Lieut.-Colonel James Law's " Dissertation," c.)
ORDINARIA.
Gen. Sus, Linne.
Sus INDICUS, Schinz.
N. Sus scrofa, Linne apud Elliot.
Suscha, Hodgson } apud Gray, List.
Sus vittatus, Schlegel.
Sus cristatus, Wagner apud Schinz.
" Babi titan " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang, Singapore, Lancavy Islands.
Bengal, Nipal, Southern Mahratta Country.
The differences between the Indian and the German wild hog
(Sus scrofa ferus, Lin.) have been pointed out by W. Elliot, Esq.
(" Madras Journal," vol. x. 1839, p. 219). The colour of the adult
is brownish-black, scantily covered with black hairs, of which
few retain the infantile yellowish sub-terminal band. Besides the
black recumbent mane of the occiput and back, the whiskers and
bristles above and below the eye, there is a bundle of long black
bristles on the throat. The hairs of the throat and chest are
reversed. The tail is scantily covered with short hairs, the apex
compressed, with long lateral bristles like those of the elephant,
arranged like the wings of an arrow. The young is more hairy,
with the plurality of hairs tawny or fulvous, some with black root
and apex, which, as they are more or less mixed with black hairs,
produce on the sides of the body saturated fulvous stripes. The
hairs of the throat, chest, abdomen, and elbows (in the two latter
places very long) are black at the basal and white at the apical
half. Wild hogs are exceedingly numerous on the peninsula and
most of the Malayan islands. The largest boar examined
measured from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail five
feet, the tail one foot. The stomach of a young boar, examined
shortly after it had been speared, was extended with food, princi-
pally consisting of the remains of a very large coleopterous larva,
some small seeds of different kinds, leaves, grass, and roots.
Sus SCROFA, var. SINENSIS, Linne.
SYN. " Babi "of the Malays.
Introduced by the Chinese settlers.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 49
GEN. RHINOCEROS, Linne.
RHINOCEROS UNICORNIS, Linne.
SVN. Rhinoceros indicus, Cuvier.
Rhinoceros asiaticus, Blumenbach.
Rhinoceros inermis, Lesson.
" Badak " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAD. Malayan Peninsula.
Bengal, Assam, Nipal.
RHINOCEROS SONDAICUS, Cuvier.
SYN. Rhinoceros sondaicus, Cuvier ) , c , ,
Warak," < Badak / a P ud Horsfield -
Rhinoceros javanensis, F. Cuvier apud Schinz.
HAD. Malayan Peninsula.
Java.
This, as well as the former species, appears to be numerous on
the Malayan Peninsula.
A two-horned Rhinoceros is stated by the Malays to inhabit,
but rarely to leave, the densest jungle. The Museum of the
Asiatic Society possesses a skull, and also a head with the skin
on, of Rhinoceros sumatranus, Raffles, from the Tenasserim
Provinces, in which locality the existence of the species has been
recorded by Dr. Heifer and Mr. Blyth. This fact would seem to
corroborate the statement of the Malays, and the habitat of
Rhinoceros sumatranus may reasonably be expected to be here-
after found to extend over the neighbouring Malayan Peninsula.
As such it has indeed been enumerated by Capt. Begbie, the
author of " Malayan Peninsula," &c., Madras, 1834. In Lieut.-
Colonel Low's " History of Tenasserim " (" Journal Royal Asiatic
Society," vol. iii. 1836) is figured the head of a young Rhinoceros,
which, from the considerable protuberance between the eyes,
appears to represent a two-horned (probably the present) species.
Gen. TAPIRUS, Linne.
TAPIRUS MALAYANUS, Raffles.
SYN. Tapirus malayanus, apud Horsfield.
Tapirus indicus, Fred. Cuvier.
Tapirus sumatranus, Gray.
Me des Chinois, Remusat (young?) apud Gray: List.
Tapirus bicolor, Wagner apud Schinz.
" Badak," " Kiida Ayer," "Tenmi" of the Malays of the
Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Sumatra, Borneo.
VOL. II. K
t;o CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
The body of a new-born male, found in Province Wellesley in
August 1844, was shortly after its death carried over to Pinang.
As described by Colonel Farquhar, it was of a beautiful black
velvet colour, with purple reflections, with numerous small and
other larger irregular spots on the body, arranged in longitudinal
stripes, above of a rich gamboge, beneath and on the inner side
of the extremities paler yellow. The under-lip was white. The
shrivelled remains of the black funiculus umbilicalis were upwards
of four inches in length. The fur very short, dense, and velvety ;
the separate hairs, of either of the two prevailing colours, slightly
curly. Dimensions :
Length from the apex of the nose to the root
of the tail i foot 10 inches.
,, of the head o , 7 ,,
of the tail o
of the ear o
Diameter of the head from vertex . . . . o
Height of the shoulder ....... o
haunch . . ... . o
5
s
9
The animal, from which a sketch was taken on its arrival at
Pinang, was the property of the Rev. R. Panting, A.M. The
skin, imperfectly preserved, has lately been deposited in the
Museum of the Asiatic Society.
On the 1 6th of May 1845 I obtained a living young female
Tapir, captured in Keddah a few days previously. Though still
;in its infantile garb, it was older than the preceding. The ground
colour was a brownish-black, like worn-out velvet; the spots,
: stripes, and the posterior part of the abdomen were of a dirty-
white. The separate hairs were longer and curly ; the hairy ears
.retained numerous white spots on the margins and external sur-
face. The lips were blackish, with numerous short distant bristles,
which also appeared round the nostrils, on the ridge of the nose,
above and below the eyes, on the cheeks, and on the throat. Two
black mammse were situated between the hind legs, three and a
half inches behind the large naked cicatrix of funiculus umbili-
calis. Dimensions :
Length from the apex of the nose to the root
of the tail 3 feet 4!] inches.
of the head i foot o
of the tail o ij
,, of the ear 5l
Diameter of the head from vertex . . . . o ,,
Height of the shoulder i 4
,, ,, haunch i 6
Greatest circumference round the body . . 2 feet 6
Circumference at the root of the ear . . . o ., 6
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 51
Dentition :
Incis. *; Canin.? ; Mol. 3>3
6 i i 3-3
From the first, although fresh from its native wilds, this young
Tapir showed a remarkably gentle disposition. The daytime it
spent in sleeping in a dark recess of the portico of my house,
though it would rouse itself if noticed. Towards sunset it became
lively, would bathe, feed, saunter abroad, and with its lengthened
nose examine objects in the way. .Within a few days after its
arrival it commenced to exhibit a marked partiality to the society
of man, not indeed to its keeper in particular, whom it scarcely
had discrimination enough to distinguish, but to anybody who
happened to notice or caress it. Towards sunset it would follow
.a servant on the green in front of the house, and punctually
imitate his movements, whether standing, walking, or running.
If the man suddenly hid himself, the Tapir would hasten to the
spot where it had lost sight of its leader, look about in all
directions, and, if unsuccessful in discovering him, express its
disappointment by a peculiar loud whistling. On the re-appear-
.ance of the man it expressed its pleasure by rubbing its side
against his legs, running between them, occasionally giving out a
short singular sound, resembling that produced when the larger
woodpeckers tap the trees, but more sonorous. When of an
evening it heard the voices of people in the verandah above the
portico, it exhibited strong marks of impatience till let loose,
when of its own accord it would, awkwardly enough, ascend a
flight of stairs leading to the verandah. It would then quietly
lie down at their feet, and by stretching its limbs and shaking its
head, express the satisfaction it derived from being caressed ; and
it was only by compulsion that it could be made to leave the
-company. Its food consisted of plantains, pine-apples, mangus-
tins, jambu, leaves of Fieus pipul, sugar-cane, and boiled rice, of
which latter it was particularly fond if mixed with a little salt.
Its drink was water, and also milk and cocoanut oil, which latter
taste the Tapir possesses in common with the Orang-utan. It
delighted in bathing, and was otherwise cleanly. When roaming
about the garden (its walk was like that of the elephant) it would
select a spot with soft earth, and like a cat form with its hind legs
a small excavation, and again cover it. The whole body has a
peculiar and by no means offensive exhalation, somewhat resem-
bling that noted of Arctictis Binturotig. Indeed, this is so tenacious
that although the skin of the individual above described has been
preserved more than a twelvemonth, and kept in a strongly cam-
phorated case, the odour is still perceptible.
On the 2yth of June 1845 the subject of the preceding notice
expired after two days' illness from inflammation of the lungs,
E 2
52 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
brought on by the strong southerly winds prevailing throughout
the Straits of Malacca during the season, which in man produce a
slight influenza, in animals frequently terminating fatally. The
few adult Tapirs which occasionally have been kept in confine-
ment by residents in Malacca have acquired the character of
being hardy animals. During the short period that the present
lived in my possession no perceptible change appeared in its
growth, but a striking alteration took place in its colours. Nearly
all the white spots on the head, nape of the neck, and back of the
ears gradually disappeared, and the upper part only of the margin
of the ears remained white, which colour it retains in the adult
animal. On the posterior part of the back and sides the black
and white stripes were in a state of progressing obliteration ; their
hairs had faded to a brownish colour, and were about being
replaced by a shorter and less dense fur of the fresh white hairs,
which were to form the characteristic permanent white mark,
already appearing in outline, when death terminated the unfinished
process of nature.
Vertebrae : cervical seven, of which the atlas and epistrophoeus-
the largest ; dorsal twenty, lumbar four, sacral seven, caudal three.
Sternum : the anterior extremity cartilaginous, sharply keeled,
arched, continued over manubrium, composed of two rounded
angularly joined pieces, as far as the second pair of ribs ; corpus-
composed of five pieces, of which the two posterior, in a pair, are
connected by cartilage.
Costae verse, eight pairs ; spurioe, twelve pairs = twenty pairs.
The last spurious rib is rudimentary, and absent on the left side.
Femur, five and two-eighth inches long ; the large bony sub-
trochanteric process, described by Sir Everard Home, is developed,
though partly cartilaginous, measuring one inch in length at the
base.
Liver of moderate size, each lobe divided into two portions of
nearly equal size.
Gall-bladder: none.
Spleen : tongue-shaped, flattened, with cutting margins, seven
and half inches in length, one and six-eighths in breadth.
Pancreas : in a state not to admit of accurate examination.
Kidneys : three and six-eighth inches in length, one and six-
eighths in breadth.
Renes succenturiati : none.
Urinary bladder : very large.
Stomach : capacious. Its dimensions in the state in which it
appeared, distended with food, were
Length along the smaller curvature . . o foot 5; inches.
greater^ . . i 9^
Circumference from cardia round fundus i ,, o ,,
,, round pylorus . . . . o ,, 3^ ,,
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 53
The internal surface smooth, villous.
Where the duodenum joins the pylorus it is considerably widened.
Length of the intestinal canal :
Small intestines 27 feet 7 inches. '
Large 6 4
Caecum o ,. 6
Average circumference of small . . . o 2^
large . . . o 3^
Caecum sacculated, with a longitudinal band on either side.
Distended with faeces as it appeared, the greatest circumference
lose to the fundus was one foot one and a half inch.
In the adult Tapir dissected by Sir E. Home, and which was,
.according to Mr. Yarrell, eight feet in length, the relative propor-
tion between the length of the intestinal canal and that of the
body was as eleven to one. In the present young female the
relative length of the intestinal canal is proportionally less than
in the adult, being less than as ten to one.
SOLIDUNGULA.
Gen. EQUUS, Li?mc.
EQUUS CABALLUS, Linne.
The horse ("Kuda," of the Malays) appears not to be indigenous
in the Peninsula. The few ponies, which the wealthier use for
ordinary purposes, are imported either from Siam, Burma, or
Sumatra. The Malays either travel by water, or prefer the
elephant as a locomotive more dignified than the horse.
RUMINANTIA.
Gen. MOSCHUS, Linnc ; TRAGULUS, Brisson.
TRAGULUS KANCHIL, Gray: List.
Cray.
Javan Musk, Shaw.
Moschus Palandok, Marsden.
Moschus Kanchil, Raffles.
Pelandok, Raffles.
Moschus fulviventer, Gray.
" Kanchil" or " Pelandok " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Singapore, Pmang, Lancavy Islands, Malayan Peninsula.
Sumatra, Java.
54 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
In some individuals the back is nearly black. The colour and
distribution of the marks of the chest and abdomen are also liable
to individual variations, one of which gave rise to the supposed
species, Moschm fulviventer. The animal is by the Malays
indiscriminately denominated " Kanchil" and " Pelandok;" the
latter denomination is sometimes par excellence applied to the
young, and this circumstance in all probability gave rise to the
supposed species Moschus Pelandok. The species is astonishingly
numerous. In Prince of Wales Island any number may be pro-
cured within a short notice, at the rate of one Spanish dollar per
dozen. Knowing the partiality of these deer to the leaves of the
sweet potato plant (Convolvolus batatas'], the Malays either use
traps baited with this vegetable, or lie in ambush on moonlight
nights in fields where it is cultivated, and disable the intruders by
throwing sticks at their legs. In confinement, in its native climate,
the animal becomes rather delicate, though it occasionally sur-
vives, and even breeds. The female has four mammae, and one
or two young at a time. The new-born measures eight and six-
eight inches in length, of which the head is three inches, the tail
one inch. The skin of the upper parts is of a pale blackish
colour, scantily covered with short, fine, brown hairs'. The abdo-
men and inner side of the limbs are pale yellow ; the throat and
chest have the dark marks of the adult, but paler. The largest
adults measure from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail
one foot six and a half inches ; the tail three inches in length.
TRAGULUS JAVANICUS, Pallas.
SYN. Moschus javanicus, Gmelin.
Moschus javanicus, Pallas apud Raffles.
Napu, Raffles.
Moschus indicus, Gmelin )
Cervus javanicus, Osbek } a P ud Gra - v '
Moschus Napu, Fred. Cuvier.
" Napu " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Sumatra, Java, Borneo.
On the Malayan Peninsula the species appears to be far less-
numerous than the preceding. The canines of the female are
very small. The four mammrc are situated at the posterior part
of the abdomen, a little in front of the hind legs. The anterior
pair are half an inch apart ; the posterior two-eighths of an inch
apart. The two pairs are half an inch distant from each other.
In an adult female, measuring from the apex of the nose to the
root of the tail two feet four and two-eighth inches, the tail fivff
inches, the intestinal canal was of the following dimensions :
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 55
Small intestines 13 feet 6 inches.
Large 7 10
Caecum o 6
The gall-bladder is very large ; immediately behind it is situated
the right kidney.
Gen. CERVUS, Linne ; STYLOCEROS, Hamilton Smith.
STYLOCEROS MUNTJAK, H. Smith.
Svx. Chevreuil des Indes, Allamand.
Cervus Muntjak, Zimmerman apud Horsfield, Sykes and
Elliot.
Cervus Muntjak, Boddaert
Cervus vaginalis, Boddaert
Cervus Muntjak, Schreber
Cervus Muntjak, Marsden
Cervus moschatus, Blainville
apud Horsfield.
Cervus subcornutus, Blainville
Cervus Muntjak ? Shreb apud Raffles
Cervus Muntjak, Desmarest
Cervus moschus, Desmarest
Cervus aureus, Ham. Smith \
Cervus Philippinus , Ham. Smith L dG List .
Cervus albipes, Fred. Cuvier j
Cervus Ratwa, Hodg-son )
Muntjacus vaginalis, Gray : List.
Cervus Muntiac, Linne apud Schinz.*
" Kidang " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Banka, Borneo, Tenasserim, Nipal, Assam,.
Bengal, South Mahratta Country, Dukhun.
In a young male, measuring from the apex of the nose to the
root of the tail three feet and one inch, the tail seven inches, the
intestinal canal was of the following dimensions :
Small intestines 13 feet 10 inches.
Large 22 ,, i inch.
Csecum o 9 inches.
* In Nachtrage zum 2ten Bande the author suggests that six distinct species-
are supposed to lie hid under the denomination of Cervus Muntiac, viz.:
1. Cervus styloceros, Schinz. Syn. C. Muntiac ; Lin. apud Ogilby. Hab.
Himalaya.
2. Cervus Ratwa, Hodgson. Hab. Himalaya.
3. Cervus albipes, F. Cuvier. Hab. India.
4. Cervus Mnntjak, Raffles and Horsfield. Hab. Java, Sumatra, Banka,,
Borneo.
5. Cervus Keevesii, Ogilby. Hab. China.
6. Cervus anttsiensis, Pucheran. Hab. Andes.
56 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
The right lobe of the liver lies in contact with the right kidney;
the spleen with the left.
Gall-bladder: none.
Axis, Hamilton Smith.
Axis MACULATUS, Hamilton Smith.
SYN. Axis, Plinius.
Cervus axis, Erxleben apud Gmelin.
Cervus nudipalpebra, Ogilby (black var.) \
Axis major, Hodgson .-apud Gray: List.
Axis minor, Hodgson j
" Riisa Biinga " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang.
Sumatra, Bengal, Assam, Nipal, Southern Mahratta
Country, Ceylon.
Sir Stamford Raffles thinks it probable that the Axis in Sumatra
has been introduced from Bengal. It is numerous in Keddah,
and at present in Pinang. But it did not inhabit Prince of
Wales Island till one of the last governors of the late presidency
took the trouble of importing from Bengal some pairs, which
were kept in the park adjoining Government House (Suffolk
House). When the Presidency of Prince of Wales Island was
abolished, and with it all its paraphernalia, except the titles of as
many of its officers as were necessary to the continuance of H.M.
Court of Judicature, the deer of the quondam Governor's park
found their way into the jungle, where they have multiplied to a
prodigious extent.
RUSA, Hamilton Smith.
RUSA EQUINA, Hamilton Smith.
SYN. Cervus equinus, Cuvier.
Cervus Rusa, Raffles.
Rusa etam or Kumbang, Raffles.
"Rusa" or " Riisa etam" of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang.
Sumatra, Borneo.
The Malayan individuals correspond with the description given
by Sir S. Raffles of Cei"ims Rusa. The lips are whitish; the pos-
terior part of the lower sometimes dark brown. Round the eyes
and the lachrymal sinus, on the side of the forehead, root of the
ears, and on the throat, the hairs are either uniformly pale ferru-
ginous, or have a sub terminal band of that colour, the effect of
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 57
which is to impart a pale rusty tint to these parts. Normally,
each horn has three antlers, of which the lower or anterior, com-
mencing from the burr, is directed outwards till towards the apex,
which turns slightly inward. The second and outward turned
antler commences at the root of the third, and is the shortest of
the three. The third is directed inwards, and is the longest of
the three. In the number, direction, and size of the antlers
numerous individual variations occur.
According to Mr. Blyth's observations, Cervus Hippelaphus has,
normally, the third antler much longer than the second ; Ccrcus
Aristotelis has much larger and more divergent horns, of which
the second and third antlers are about equal. Considering the
similarity of colours and size of Cervus equinus, Hippelaphus, and
Aristotelis, Mr. Elliot is probably right in considering all three as
varieties of the great Indian stag, described by Aristotle under the
designation of Hippelaphus (" Madras Journal," 1839, p. 220) ; and
Cervus Peronii, Cuvier (Cerf du Timor) may probably be added
as a fourth variety.
PANOLIA, Gray : List.
PANOLIA ACUTICORNIS, Gray : List.
SYN. Cervus frontalis, McClelland ?
Cervus lyratus, Schinz?
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
A single skull of a stag, killed in Keddah, has the horns so
like those of the Munneepore animal, that the species might
be taken to be identical, but the Malays assert theirs to be
maned, and of a dark colour, with white spots, like the Axis.
This stag is further described as being extremely wary, and
therefore seldom seen but on heights inaccessible to man. The
skull is of an old male, with the teeth (canines in particular)
much ground.
Gen. ANTILOPE, Linne ; N^EMORHEDUS, Hamilton Smith.
NJEMORHEDUS SUMATRENSIS, Hamilton Smith.
SYN. Kambing utan, Marsden.
Antilope sumatrensis, Pennant apud Raffles.
Cambtan, Fred. Cuvier.
Antilope interscapularis, Lichtenstein apud Schinz.
" Rambing utan " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Sumatra, Tenasserim.
58 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
It appears to be numerous on the Malayan Peninsula, but
exceedingly difficult to obtain, as it frequents the steepest hilly
localities, and is very shy and active.
Gen. Bos, Linnc,
Bos GOUR, Trail.
SVN. Bos Gaurus, Ham. Smith.
Bison Gaurus, Ham. Smith.
Bos aculeatus, Wagler.
The Bison : " Hist, of Tenasserim."
Bos (Bibos) cavifrons, Hodgson apud Elliot.
Bos frontalis, Lambert apud Gray : List (?)
"Sapi iitan" of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAD. Malayan Peninsula.
Tenasserim, Hindoostan, Assam, Nipal, Southern Mahratta
Country.
Numerous in the Malayan Peninsula.
Bos TAURUS, Var. INDICUS, Linne.
SVN. " Sapi " (S. jantan, bull ; S. betina, cow) of the Malays of
the Peninsula.
Although this kind of cattle is plentifully bred in some of the
Malayan countries, it is not in general use, and is less numerous
than the buffalo.
BUBALUS, Hamilton Smith.
BUBALUS ARNEE, Hamilton Smith.
SYX. Bos indicus, Plinius.
Bos bubalus, Brisson.
Bos arnee, Shaw.
Bubalus ferus Indicus, Hodgson apud Gray : List.
Bubalus Buffelus, Gray : List.
" Karbau " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Ptnang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
Tenasserim, Southern China.
The wild buffalo is reported, but apparently without proof, to
be indigenous in the Malayan Peninsula. Domesticated, it is
very plentiful, and is the principal draught cattle employed by the
Malays and the Chinese settlers. The black-coloured, apparently
the hardier, is preferred by the Malays ; the reddish-white freckled
with brown is the greater favourite of the Chinese. Both are
very slow, and, as observed by Lieut.-Colonel Low, delicate, and
liable to sudden attacks of disease if worked in the sun.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. $<j
CETACEA.
HERBIVORA.
Gen. HALICORE, Illiger.
HALICORE INDICUS, F. Cuvier.
SYN. Dugon, Buffon.
Trichechus Dugong, Erxleben.
Halicore cetacea, Illiger.
Halicore, Dugong, Cuvier apud Raffles.
Halicore Tabernacularum, Riippell.
Dugungus marinus, Tiedemann apud Schinz.
" Duyong " or " Parampiian Laut " of the Malays of the
Peninsula.
. Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
Sumatra, Philippine, Molucca and Sunda Islands, New
Holland, Red Sea.
The Duyong appears not to be numerous at Singapore, still less
so to the northward, and has but in few instances been observed
in Kwdla Muda, the mouth of the river, which forms the northern
boundary of Province Wellesley.
ORDINARIA.
Gen. DELPHINUS, Linne.
DELPHINUS PLUMBEUS, Dussumier.
SYN. Delphinus malayanns, Lesson apud Cuvier.
" Parampiian Laut " of the Peninsula.
HAB. Coasts of Pinang.
Malabar Coast.
The species, although very numerous, and rather heavy in its
movements, is rarely captured, except by chance in fishing stakes.
The stomach, of a single young individual observed, contained
remains of small fishes, apparently Clupece, and Glyphisodon cceles-
tinus, Cuvier.
60 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
NUMERICAL LIST OF MAMMALIA inhabiting the Malayan Peninsula
and Islands and other localities.
!
Hylobates lar, Ogilby
Malayan Peninsula
Siam, Burma, Tenas-
serim.
2
Hylobates agilis, F.
Malayan Peninsula
Sumatra.
CuVier
3
Seninopithecus obscu-
Malayan Peninsula,
rus, Reid
Pinang, Singapore.
4
Seninopithecus alboci-
Malayan Peninsula
Tenasserim.
nereus, Schinz
5
Semnopithccits cri sta-
Pinang, Malayan Pe-
Sumatra, Borneo,
tus, Horsfield
ninsula
Banka.
6
Seninopithecus fenio-
Malayan Peninsula
Borneo, Sumatra ?
ralis, Horsfield
Java ?
7
Cercopithecus cyno-
molgus, Ogilby
Pinang, Malayan Pe-
ninsula
Sumatra, Java, Banka,
Borneo, Celebes,
Timor, Tenasserim,
Nicobars.
8
Papio nenicstrinus,
Pinang, Malayan Pe-
Sumatra, Borneo.
Ogilby
ninsula
9
Nycticebus tardigra-
Pinang, Malayan Pe-
Java, Siam, Arracan,
dus, Waterhouse
ninsula
Tenasserim, Bengal,
Sillier, Assam.
IO
Galeopithecus Teni-
Malayan Peninsula
Pelew Islands, Borneo,
niinckii, Water-
and Islands
Java, Sumatra, Siam.
house
ii
Rhinopoma Hard-
Malayan Peninsula
Southern Mahrntta
line vC'zY, Gray
Country, Calcutta,
Allahabad, Agra,
Mirzapore.
12
JMegadenna spasina,
Pinang, Singapore,
Ternate, Java.
Geoffroy
Malayan Peninsula
13
Nyctinonnts tenuis,
Malayan Peninsula
Borneo, Java, Sumatra.
Horsfield
14
Taphozo'iis melanopo-
Pulo Tikus, Lancavy,
Java, Caves of Kannera.
gon, Temminck
Malayan Peninsula
15
Taphozoiis saccolai-
Pinang
Celebes, Borneo, Java,
nius, Temminck
Sumatra, Southern
India.
16
Rhinolophus affinis,
Pinang
Java.
Horsfield
17
Hipposideros dia-
Pinang, Malayan Pe-
Timor.
dt'ina, Gray ?
ninsula
18
Hipposideros nobilis,
Pinang, Malayan Pe-
Amboyna, Timor, Java,
Gray
ninsula
Sumatra.
19
Hipposideros vulgaris,
Gray
Pinang
Java.
20
Ilipposideros ninri-
Finang.
Southern Mahratta
11 its, Gray
Country, Nicobars.
21
Hipposideros gakri-
Pinang.
tus, Cantor
22
Vespertilio adversus y
Pinang
Java, Calcutta.
Horsfield?
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 6r
23
Kirii'onla picta,
Pinang
Bormeo, Java, Sumatra.
Gray
24
Kirivoula tennis,
Pinang
Borneo, Java, Sumatra.
Gray.
25
Trilatilns Horsjiehiii,
Pinang
Java, Sumatra.
Grav
26
Scotophilns Tern-
miiickii, Gray
Malayan Peninsula
and Islands
Timor, Borneo, Java,
Sumatra, Calcutta,
Pondicherry.
27
Pteropns edtilis,
Malayan Peninsula
Java, Sumatra, Banda,
Geoffrey
and Islands
Bengal, Assam.
28
Cynopterns margin-
atus, F. Cuvier
Malayan Peninsula
and Islands
Java, Sumatra, South-
ern Mahratta country,
Bengal, Nipal.
29
TupaiaferrugtneOi Pinang, Singapore,
Borneo, Java, Sumatra.
Raffles Malayan Peninsula
30
Gymnura Rafflesii, Malayan Peninsula,
Sumatra.
Vigors and Hors-
Singapore
field
3 1
Sorex itinrimis,
Pinang
Java, Sumatra.
Linne
3 2
Helarctos nialayamts, Malayan Peninsula
Sumatra, Tenasserim,
Horsfield
Assam, Nipal,
33
Arctictis Binturong,
Malayan Peninsula
Arracan, Tenasserim,
Fischer
Assam, Nipal, Bho-
tan.
34
Pi it onus mtdipes,
Malayan Peninsula
Borneo, Sumatra.
Fred. Cuvier
35
Mil stela flavig ztla,
Malayan Peninsula
Java, Sumatra, Nipal.
Boddaert
36
Lutra Nair,
Malayan Peninsula
China, Bombay, South-
F. Cuvier
ern Mahratta Country.
37
Lutra Barang, Raffles
Malayan Peninsula
Borneo, Sumatra.
38
A onyx leptonyx, Gray
Malayan Peninsula,
Java, Sumatra, Nipal.
Singapore
39
Cnon priiiKzviis,
Malayan Peninsula
Bengal, Nipal.
Hodgson
40
ViveiTa Zibetha,
Pinang, Singapore,
Southern China, Siam,
Linne
Malayan Peninsula
Bengal, Khasyah
Hills, Nipal.
4i
Viverra Tangaliinga,
Pinang, Singapore,
Amboina, Celebes,
Gray
Malayan Peninsula
Borneo, Philippine
Islands, Sumatra.
42
Viverricnla malac-
Malayan Peninsula,
China, Philippines,
ccnsis
Singapore
Java, Cochin China,
Tenasserim, Bengal,
Nipal, Hindoostan,
Dukhun, Bombay.
43
Prionodon gracilis,
Malayan Peninsula
Borneo, Java, Sumatra.
Horsf.
44
Paguf/ia lencoiiiystax,
Malayan Peninsula,
Sumatra.
Gray?
Singapore
45
Paguma trivirgata,
Malayan Peninsula,
Moluccas, Tenasserim.
Gray
Singapore
46
Paradoxnnts musanga
Pinang, Singapore,
Timor, Borneo, Java,
Gray
Malayan Peninsula
Sumatra.
-62 CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA INHABITING
47
Paradoxnriis Derby-
Malayan Peninsula
Borneo.
amis, Gray
48
Cynogale Bennettii,
Malayan Peninsula
Borneo, Sumatra.
Gray
49
Herpestes javanicns,
Penang, Malayan Pe-
Java.
Desmarest
ninsula
50
Herpestes anropnnc-
Malayan Peninsula
Bengal, Nipal, Scinde,
tatus, Hodgson
Afghanistan.
51
Herpestes griseus,
Malayan Peninsula
Bengal, Hindoostan,
Desmarest
Scinde, Nipal.
52
Herpestes brachyiiriis,
Malayan Peninsula
Gray
53
/'i'/zV tigris, Linne
Malayan Peninsula
Ceylon, India.
54
/r/zV leopardus,
Malayan Peninsula
India.
Schreber
55
/V//.T marmorata,)
Malayan Peninsula.
Martin
56
Felts javanensi 1 ;,
Pinang, Malayan Pe-
Java, Sumatra?
Desmarest
ninsula
57
Fclis planiceps, Vigors
Malayan Peninsula
Borneo, Sumatra.
and Horsfield
58
Fclis domestica.
59
Sciurns bicolor,
Pinang, Malayan Pe-
Borneo, Java, Sumatra,
Sparrm.
ninsula
Siam, Tenasserim,
Assam, Nipal.
60
Sciiirus Rafflcsii,
Malayan Peninsula
Borneo, Java, Canton
Vigors and Hors-
Province.
field
61
Sciiirus hippitrns,
Malayan Peninsula
Java, Sumatra, Assam,
I. Geoffroy
Canton Province.
62
Sciurns vittatits.
Pinang, Singapore,
Borneo, Java, Sumatra,
Raffles
Malayan Peninsula
Canton Province.
63
Scinrns ni^roviltatus,
Malayan Peninsula
Borneo, Java, Sumatra,
Horsfield
Canton Province.
64
Sciurns tennis,
Malayan Peninsula,
Borneo, Java, Sumatra,
Horsfield
Singapore
Canton Province.
65
Sciurns laticandatits,
Malayan Peninsula
Diard. var.
66
Pteromys nit id us,
Pinang, Singapore,
Borneo, Java, Sumatra,
Geoffroy
Malayan Peninsula
67
Sciuropterus Hors-
Malayan Peninsula
Java ? Sumatra ?
fieldii, Waterhouse
68
Scinropterus genibarbis
Malayan Peninsula
Java.
69
Mns bandicota,
1 'inang, Malayan Pe-
Southern Mahratta
Uechst
ninsula
Country, Bengal,
Nipal.
70
Mns decumantiS)
Cosmopolita.
Pallas
7i
Mus setiftr, Horsfield
Pinang
Borneo, Tava, Sumatra,
Van Diem en's Land.
72
Mns ruft'scens, Gray
Pinang
Dharwar, M adras, Ben-
gal, Arracan.
73
J//AV i/niscitlitx, T Jniic
Pinang
74
Rhizomys snmatrensis,
Malayan Peninsula
China, Moulmein, As-
Gray
sam.
75
Hystrix longicauda t
Malayan Peninsula
Borneo, Java, Sumatra,
Marsdeu
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 63
76
/J therura fasdculata,
Pinanj:, Malayan 1'e-
Borneo, Java, Sumatra.
Cuv. "
ninsula
77
Manis javanica.
Pinang, Malayan Pe-
Borneo, Java, Sumatra.
Desmarest
ninsula
78
Elephas indicns,
Malayan Peninsula
Borneo, Burma, Siam,
Linne
India, Ceylon.
79
S.r indicus, Schinz
Pinang, Singapore,
Bengal, Nipal, South-
Lancavy, Malayan
ern Mahratta Country.
Peninsula
So
6w.y scrofa, var.
Malayan Peninsula
China.
Linne
and Islands
81
A'// inoceros unicomis,
Malayan Peninsula
Bengal, Assam, Xipal.
Linne
82
ft 7i if wceros sondaicns,
Malayan Peninsula
Java.
Cuv.
83
Rhinoceros siiDiatra-
Malayan Peninsula
Sumatra, Tenasserim.
mts, Raffles
84
Tapirus malayanus^
Malayan Peninsula
Borneo, Sumatra.
Raffles
85
Eqmis cabalZits,
Introduced in the
Linne
Malayan Peninsula
and Islands.
86
Trnulus Kanchil,
Pinang, Singapore,
Java, Sumatra.
Gray
Lancavy, Malayan
Peninsula
87
Tragulu y javanicus,
Malayan Peninsula
Borneo, Sumatra, Java.
Pallas
88
Styloccros Munfjak,
Malayan Peninsula
Borneo, Banka, Java,
Ham. Smith
Sumatra, Tenasse-
rim, Nipal, Assam,
Bengal, Southern
Mahratta, Dukhun.
89
Axis niacnlalns,
Malayan Peninsula,
Sumatra, Bengal, As-
H. Smith
Pinang
sam, Nipal, Southern
Mahratta Country,
Ceylon.
90
Rusa equina,
Pinang, Malayan Pe-
Borneo, Sumatra.
H. Smith
ninsula
91
Panolia acuticjrnis,
Malayan Peninsula
Gray ?
92
Nczmorhediis suina-
Malayan Peninsula
Sumatra, Tenasserim.
trensis, Ham. Smith
93
Bos gour, Trail
Malayan Peninsula
Tenasserim, Hindoo-
Stan, Assam, Nipal,
Southern Mahratta
Country.
94
Bos taunts, var. in-
Introduced in the
dicus, Lin.
Malayan countries.
95
Bubalus arnee,
Ditto.
H. Smith
96
Halicore indicus,
Singapore, Malayan
Philippines, Moluccas,
F. Cuv.
Peninsula
Sunda Islands, Su-
matra, New Holland,
Red Sea.
97 Delphinus plniubcu^
Malayan seas
Bay of Bengal.
Dussumier
64 ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
Note to Gen. NYCTINOMUS (p. 9). A male Nyctonomus bengal-
ensis, Geoffrey (syn. Vespertilio plicatus, Buchan ; N. be?igalensis,
Geoffrey apud Horsfield ; Dysopes plicatus, Temminck apud
Schinz), examined after the catalogue had passed through the
press, exhibited a true caecum. The entire length of the animal
was 4 inches, of which the tail measured if inch. Extent of the
flying membrane, i foot of inch.
Length of the small intestine ... 9! inches.
large ditto 4 J
csecum Oy\ inch.
The ccecum is crescent-shaped, with the concave curvature
firmly adhering to the external surface of the small intestine.
The convex curvature presents near the apex a sacculated appear-
ance ; the membranes are thickened. Where the ceecum joins r
the small intestine and the rectum are narrowed.
FORT WILLIAM, Dec. u, 1846.
XXXVI.
ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE GEOLOGY
OF SINGAPORE;
INCLUDING NOTICES OF SUMATRA, THE MALAY PENINSULA, ETC,
By J. R. LOGAN, Esq.
["Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal," vol. xvi. pp. 519-57, 667-84.]
THE following paper was sent to the Asiatic Society of Bengal in
January 1846. The delay which has taken place in its publica-
tion in their Journal enables the writer to append an extract from
a letter to Professor Ansted, in which he has given a summary of
the result of his subsequent observations made in localities more
favourable for geological inquiries than those to which his attention
had been confined when the paper was written. It may save the
reader some trouble if he be furnished at once with the key to the
theoretical discrepancies which may be noticed between the paper
and the letter. He thinks it better to do this, and to leave the
former as it stands, with all its faults, rather than to alter it in con-
formity with his more matured but still imperfect views. The
geology of every fresh region has to be worked out amidst doubts
and errors, and a record of the stages through which its theory, if
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 65
at all new, passes in its progress towards complete truth, may often
serve ultimately as its best demonstration, because it will show
that it was not hastily adopted, but gradually grew out of a long-
continued and defeated effort to assign to every new phenomenon
a place in familiar systems.
The principal result at which the writer had arrived when the
paper was written was the opinion advanced hypothetically in it,
that the southern extremity of the peninsula, c., had been rup-
tured and upraised by subterraneous forces, and that through the
rocks so affected ferruginous gases, c., had been emitted. The
action of these gases on the rocks had, amongst other transfor-
mations, produced laterite. The paper was written under the
impression that the formation of plutonic rocks and plutonic
action in sedimentary rocks were confined to deep subterranean
levels (see the writings of Mr. Lyell and other English geologists).
Hence it seemed necessary to believe that the superficial igneous
action with which the paper was mainly concerned was wholly
unconnected with the granitic and other plutonic rocks of the
district ; subsequent investigation of some of the best develop-
ments of these led to the conviction that the Tartarean theory
was inapplicable to them at least. The disturbed sedimentary
rocks were re-examined free from the bias of that theory, and it
then appeared that, while the evidence in favour of the meta-
morphic origin of the laterites, c., was so strong and varied that
it might be now recorded as a demonstrated fact, there were no
apparent obstacles to the reception of the simple hypothesis that
they were caused by plutonic agency, and that the plutonic rocks
of the districts were themselves the agents of the alteration or the
effects of one and the same hypogene agency. This hypothesis
embraces at once the whole region of elevation in which Singapore
is situated, with all the plutonic, volcanic, and metamorphic phe-
nomena which it exhibits. It refers the whole to one cause
operating throughout a long period of time, and which has not
yet entirely ceased to operate, as the volcanic emission of Sumatra
and the vibrations of the whole region, from time to time, and the
thermal springs of Sumatra and the peninsula, constantly testify
to us. This cause is the existence of an internal plutonic intu-
mescence or nucleus, which has slowly swollen up, fracturing the
sedimentary strata, saturating and seaming them with its exha-
lations, and as it forced itself up beneath them and through the
gorges and fissures, at once upheaving them and feeding on their
substance, till in many places it pressed and eat through them to
the refrigerating surface, and rose, congealing, into the air or sea.
It is this latter circumstance that distinguishes the region from all
those which have been observed by European geologists, and it is
this singularly high level which the plutonic reduction has reached
that explains the extraordinary appearances which the unreduced
VOL. II. F
66 ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
superficial recks have so often assumed. The metamorphosed
rocks of Europe evinced a deep subterranean saturation with plu-
tonic exhalations, and European geologists concluded that plu-
tonic action was necessarily deeply subterraneous. But here, I
think, we find a subaerial or subaqueous plutonic activity; and
where the plutonic level has not reached that of the pre-existing
rocks, a new kind of metamorphism appropriate to the new con-
ditions under which the plutonic exhalations have operated.
The interest which the discussions respecting laterite have given
to that rock tends to invest it with undue importance geologically.
The ferruginous emissions have affected all rocks indiscriminately,
and their action on sandstones, grits, and conglomerates is as well
marked as that on clays, marls, and shales, although the latter only
produces proper laterite. Even in the clays, laterite denotes one
only of many degrees and forms of alteration. To expose the
origin of these rocks and its unity, to record the cause of the
difficulties which have been presented, and to distinguish them
from true metamorphic rocks, I would propose, avoiding any new
technical names, to term them simply the iron-masked rocks of the
Indo-Australian regions. This term will include the principal or
plutonically ferruginated rocks, which, without being either com-
pletely reduced or metamorphosed, have been either wholly dis-
guised or partially altered by ferruginous emissions, which have
saturated them in the mass, or only affected them in fissures and
seams, or been interfused between portions of the rocks not
actually separated by fissures, but intersected by planes of mere
discontinuity, the sides of which have an imperfect cohesion, or
having a common border of inferior density and increased porosity
caused either by interruptions in the original deposition of the
matter of the rock or by unequal stretching or incipient cleavage.
The term may be also extended perhaps to those sedimentary
beds in which the iron saturation, although coeval with the deposit
of the other constituents of the rock, has served to obscure or
conceal their true nature as well as the derivation of the beds
themselves. These beds appear to have been sometimes formed
by superficial layers of gravel, &c., being permeated by iron solu
tions. With these must not be confounded the broad bands
lying over and beside the heads of iron-masked dykes, and which,
having been in a loose, gravelly, or fragmentary state at the time
when the plutonic emissions passed through them, became
cemented into hard, and occasionally scorious, ferruginated con-
glomerates, &c., and are therefore proper plutonically iron-masked
rocks.
Before entering on a detailed account of the mineralogical fea-
tures of Singapore, it will be convenient to bring into a preliminary
paper some discussions of a theoretical nature, which, if not thus
separated from the former, might in the sequel occasion frequent
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 67
interruptions and some confusion. A brief sketch of the topo-
graphy of the island will suffice as a basis for the remarks which
follow it.
The island is of an irregular figure, when correctly laid down
(for the published maps, with the exception of Mr. Thomson's,
are very incorrect), resembling a bat, the head being at Tanjong
Sinoko, in the old strait, the tail at Tullah Blanga, or rather
Blakan Mati ; the western wing being fully expanded, and the
eastern a little retracted. Its greatest length from Pulo Campong
or Point Macalister on the west to Tanjong Changai on the east
i.e., between the tips of the wings is twenty-one miles. I Is
greatest breadth from T. Sinoko to T. Blanga coast i.e., from the
head to the tail is twelve miles. Its superficial extent is roughly
calculated at 200 square miles.
The town of Singapore, to start from the best known point, is
situated at the south-western extremity of a flat alluvial tract, of
which the greatest length in a straight line near the sea-beach is
about six miles, and the greatest breadth inland about two and a
half miles. Three well-marked deposits occur in this flat. A stiff
clay of a greyish hue, becoming in some places darker and even
blackish ; a whitish, greyish, or yellowish sand ; and a vegetable
deposit, consisting, where most recent, of fragments of wood or
masses of aquatic plants more or less decomposed, and, where
older, of a soft peaty matter passing into a black mud. The
mode in which these beds have been deposited will be described
hereafter. The west side of this plain is marked by low rounded
hillocks, separated by openings on the same level as the plain.
On following these in a north-westerly direction, the former are
found to be the extremities of distinct ranges of hills, and the
latter the mouths of valleys between them, the principal extending
about six miles inland. The largest valley, along which there is
a public road, terminates a little to the south of a group of hills
called Bukit Temah, the summit of which is 530 feet above the
level of the sea, and the highest point in the island. From this
group the valley and the stream which drains it borrow their
name. The coast of Singapore to the S.W. of this valley also
follows a N.W. direction. The intervening space is occupied
towards the sea by a prominent range of hills rising abruptly to
a height of 300 feet at Tullah Blanga, which has lately been made
the signal station. Towards the Bukit Temah valley a broad
irregular range of hills is united apparently with the Tullah Blanga
range on the N.W., and as it proceeds the S.E. separates from it
and gives room for a broad swampy flat, from which the Singapore
River flows. Nearer town the range bifurcates, one of the forks
terminating in Government Hill and the other in Mount Sophia.
These hills approach close to each other, but proceeding inland,
the two divisions of the range draw further back, and a secondary
F 2
68 ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
valley of considerable breadth and about two miles in length is
formed. The range on the N.E. of Bukit Temah valley springs
from Bukit Temah, and terminates in a low broad sandy elevation
which slopes almost insensibly till it emerges in the plain. It is
in some places about one and a half miles broad. The configura-
tion of the range and most of the others have many features in
common with it may be partially observed in proceeding up the
Bukit Temah valley. A succession of low hills present their
rounded ends stretching into the valley, which expands into the
concave or sinuous hollows between them. The lateral valleys
thus formed are of various figures and extent. Many resemble a
horse-shoe or amphitheatre. The upper extremities of most are
of this shape, and similar indentations occur in the course of the
more protracted, at the necks connecting the different hillocks
which form their sides. When we strike across the range we are
at first confused by the number of hillocks or hollows only par-
tially cleared of jungle ; but under patient observation they gradu-
ally assume a certain order ; about the centre of the range the
ground is a comparatively elevated and broad tract, but very
irregular in its configuration. All these irregularities, however, it
is probable, have relation to the lateral ranges. These are seen
to branch off to the north and south in a series of hillocks joined
to each other by their sides and sometimes by an elongated neck.
Towards the valley they often bifurcate, one limb sometimes taking
a direction parallel to the rarige and then sweeping round and ex-
panding into one of the broad hillocks whose ends approach the
public road. The peculiar character of the topography of the
country arises from the multitude and individual smallness of the
hills, and the circumstance of the valleys which penetrate between
the principal ranges and their branches, being, except towards the
centres of the ranges, perfectly flat, and very little above the level
of the sea, so that the winding outlines of the bases of the hills are
nearly as distinctly marked as if they sunk into the level sheet of a
lake. We have, in fact, regular mountain ranges in miniature, and
so symmetrical, with all the apparent irregularity, that if the highest
or summit lines of the ranges and their lateral members were cor-
rectly laid down on a map, they would present no remote resem-
blance to the section of a tree. Beyond the last-mentioned range
another long valley occurs.* The stream Balastier, which flows
through it, has its rise in Bukit Temah. The further or N.E. side
of this valley is formed by the Kallang range of hills, the upper
extremity of which is also connected with Bukit Temah : its lower
division is penetrated by a long secondary valley. One of its
summits rises considerably above the general level of the hills.
* For much information respecting these difficultly accessible valleys I am
indebted to Mr. Thomson, the able and indefatigable surveyor to Govern-
ment for the Straits.
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 69
Beyond it the valley of the Kallang River stretches inland. This
valley has not been examined up to the top, but it is believed the
river rises to the north of Bukit Temah in a continuation of that
range. All the preceding ranges terminate in the plain or to the
west of it, and the Kallang, Balastier, Bukit Temah, and Singa-
pore rivers all cross the plain, converge towards the town the
three former uniting their waters and flow through it. The next
range beyond the Kallang valley is the central range or backbone
of the eastern part of the island. It does not terminate at the
line where those already described sink into the plain, but con-
tinues its course to the eastward, sending out lateral ranges, the
southern and western extremities of which form the boundaries of
the plain. This range terminates at the Red Cliffs. All the hills
on the east and N.E. sides of the island appear to be expan-
sions of it. The valleys between the lateral ranges are bolder and
deeper than those in the ranges first described, owing to the hills
being generally higher and steeper. This range is connected with
the Bukit Temah range. In its central parts it displays broad
undulating tracts on a larger scale than the other ranges. Amongst
the multitude of valleys which its branches include there is one
on the northern side of some size, in which the Serangoon stream
rises. This valley seems to be a peaty swamp. It passes into a
broad tract of mangrove jungle, where the stream is lost in a creek
which opens into the old straits of Singapore. Other streams fall
into the straits from this range. This principal is the Soongie
Saletar, which appears to flow through a long valley between
a branch of this range and another range proceeding from the
Bukit Temah group in a northerly direction. The western side of
the island consists of several ranges radiating apparently from the
Bukit Temah group, and penetrated by valleys, some of them,
such as that of the Kranjee, which flows northward to the old
strait, and the Joorong which flows southward to the Salat Sam-
boolan, being of considerable length and terminating in broad
creeks intersecting mangrove swamps. Between some of the
ranges, the only wide flattish tracts in the island which are not
alluvial are found. The lower parts of the valleys are mostly
swampy, consisting of sand, clay, and black peaty mud ; of the
latter there are considerable tracts constantly moist and exhibit-
ing an extraordinary rankness of vegetation. Looking on one of
these swamps, covered with tall but slender trees, and dense
underwood growing up rapidly, and from the looseness of the
deep bed of black vegetable matter the accumulated remains of
their short-lived predecessors destined soon to fall in their turn,
and considering the deposits of clay and sand which accompany
and give rise to it, it is impossible to doubt that we see nature
repeating the precise process by which the materials of most of the
ancient carboniferous strata were brought together. Towards the
yo ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
sea these forest marshes give place to mangrove swamps. An in-
telligent Chinese Gambier planter compares Singapore, not inaptly,
if the eastern part of the island be excluded, to an open umbrella,
of which Bukit Temah is the top and the various rivers the ribs.
If we suppose the island to have been formed of a somewhat
brittle material, and a strong blow from beneath to have struck it
at Bukit Temah, from which cracks radiated in different directions,
dividing or bifurcating in their progress, a rude idea of the lines of
hills may be formed ; or if we view the island from west to east,
our old comparison to the section of a tree would serve us best.
Bukit Temah and the adjoining hills form the stole from which
one main trunk, about twelve miles in length, extends to the Red
Cliffs with numerous branches. Several smaller trunks rise on the
south side of the main trunk, and extend for about six miles in a
S.E. direction, also sending out a multitude of small branches.
To the west the roots radiate to different parts of the coast, the
tap-root being about seven miles long.
The hills of the first and second ranges in the order in which they
are above noticed consist chiefly of sandstone (fine-grained, gritty,
and conglomeritic) and shale strata. Towards the eastern extre-
mities of the two next ranges similar rocks are observed. Further
on, soft clays of various hues, but mostly mottled white and red or
purplish, passing into a soil of different shades of red, yellowish-
red, and brownish-red, are observed near the surface, and occa-
sionally protruding blocks of sienite and greenstone occur. The
hills of the eastern side of the island seem to be principally sand-
stone with slight traces of shale. The western side is also for the
most part sandstone and shale. At the N.E. extremity granite or
sienite appears, and it is also seen at several places along the N.
and N.W. coast.
The superficial deposits which occur at various places are very
remarkable. On some hills a red stiff clay resembling laterite is
found. On many, imbedded in clay of different red and brownish
hues, in irregular sheets or in thin scams, occur blocks of a ferru-
ginous clay, rock, or smaller stones and pebbles of various kinds
and sizes. These will best be described hereafter by selecting
particular localities where they abound.
I now proceed to notice the different hypotheses that have been
or may be suggested to account for these appearances. Of the
alluvial plains and valleys which :amify through the island in all
directions I need say nothing here, as they, in exposed beds at
least, have all, or nearly all, been formed subsequent to the hills
and their superjacent deposits, and are separated from the latest
accessions of matter which these received at a period when they
formed a multitude of little bays and long narrow inlets of the
sea.
The first class of the hypotheses that may be offered in expla-
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 7 1
nation of the superficial formations of Singapore embraces those
that contemplate merely the position, external appearance, and
size of the detached rock fragments.
1. ALLUVIAL HYPOTHESIS.
Of these, the first supposes the blocks, gravel, c., to be the
debris of older rocks deposited in the sea before the extrusion of
the hills. If it be conceived that the elevation of the hills above
the level of the sea was the same act with the protrusion of the
strata of which they are composed from their previous horizontal
bed to their present inclined position, we are met by the fact that
the superficial deposits are not in layers conformable to these
strata, but are spread over their uplifted edges. If, again, it be
supposed that the hills were formed under water, and that after
the accumulation of the gravel, &c., upon them, the platform from
which they rise was elevated so as to cause them to emerge from
the sea, we are met by other insuperable objections. Of these it
is only here necessary to specify one, although looking to single
limited localities the gravel deposits appear to be regularly disposed
like beds derived from currents ; when we compare one hill with
another, we observe far too much irregularity to allow this idea to
be tenable.
2. DILUVIAL HYPOTHESIS.
As we extend our observations this irregularity is seen to be so
great that we are irresistibly led to conjecture that its causes were
diluvial instead of alluvial. In many places rock fragments of all
sizes are confusedly intermixed with loose clay or sand, so that if
due to aqueous action it must have been of an extraordinary and
violent nature thus to have borne along rapidly masses of matter
containing large blocks, and deposited them in such confusion, and
that often on the summits of hills. A continued diluvial action
of variable force might also account for the large quantities of
rounded pebbly-looking stones, and the broad thin beds of smaller
gravel-like stones that occur. Closer investigation, however,
seems to discover an unanswerable argument against a diluvial
theory, in the fact that the larger rock fragments, and even the
gravel, differ in different localities, often even when these adjoin
each other, and that it has always been found that they have a
certain correspondence with or relation to the subjacent rocks
where these have been exposed. No decided boulder or drift has
yet been noticed.
Colonel Low appears to have considered the scoriaceous ferru-
ginous rock as boulders, but he gives no reason for this opinion.
The gravel he refers to the concretionary tendency of soils im-
72 ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
pregnattd with iron. I need not stop here to remark upon these
evidently hastily formed views.*
3. DECOMPOSITION OF ROCKS IN SITU.
This, which is the hypothesis that next most naturally arises,
would embrace many of the facts that are inconsistent with the
sedimentary and diluvial suppositions, such as the local character
of the rock fragments. The outcrops of the strata, which are
generally highly inclined, would under meteoric influence, down
to a certain line of depth which would descend with the denuda-
tion of the surface, suffer different changes according to the nature
of the rock. The harder sandstones and shales would split and
break down into irregular fragments. The softer sandstones, clays,
and shales and of the latter especially the finely laminated beds
would, under the combined chemical and mechanical influences
of the air, rain, rapid transitions of temperature, &c., lose their
distinctive original characters, and gradually become uniform
masses of sandy or clayey soils. Every heavy fall of rain would
wash away the more superficial particles. According to the decli-
nation of the sides of the hills, fragments of rock of different
sizes would be carried down by the pressure of water-moved soil
and gravelly fragments. Where the hills were steep, larger blocks,
from the gradual loosening of their beds, would descend to lower
levels by their own gravity, assisted by similar pressure from above.
The summits and ridges of the hills would be most exposed to the
action of sun and rain, but generally least so to the denuding
power of gravity. Where the soil was loose sand, or where there
were narrow summits, the process of denudation would be more
active than elsewhere. The soil as it was formed would disappear,
and only fragments of rock be left where the latter was of a nature
to yield with difficulty, slowly and superficially, to decomposition.
Where the fragments pulverized more quickly, some soil would
generally be found, always drawing additions from the rocks, but
always a prey to the rains.
These considerations certainly explain the present appearance
of many of the hills, and in every locality phenomena occur evi-
dently due to the forces of which I have been writing. Ridges
and summits are often found consisting almost entirely of rock
fragments, and it might seem that these forces alone would be
adequate causes for their occurrence. But on hills with extensive
flattish summits, beds of fragments, sometimes large, sometimes
of all sizes mixed, sometimes uniformly small and gravel-like,
* I cannot mention Colonel Low, during so many years of official toil
almost the solitary votary of science and oriental literature in the Straits
Settlements, without expressing the hope that he will not long withhold from
this Journal the fruits of his present "learned leisure."
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 73
lying under or in the soil at various depths, from an inch to many
feet below the surface, are frequently discovered by sections for
roads and pits for planting spice trees, &c. It is obvious that the
hypothesis which I am now considering will not explain such
cases.
There is another phenomenon of frequent occurrence connected
with the position of fragmentary rocks which this hypothesis ought
to include if it be made the foundation of any general theory. In
sections across strata they are almost invariably seen to be more
or less curved as they approach the surface. Before reaching it,
however, they sometimes gradually, but often abruptly, lose their
compact form, and become masses of fragments. In some cases
these are almost insensibly mingled with the superincumbent soil
till all trace of the stratum disappears. But it is not uncommon
to see the curve pass into a line more or less horizontal, and even
bent downwards, and the fragments streaming away as it were in
a layer of which the direction seems to have no relation to the
parent stratum, but which generally possesses or approaches to
parallelism with the plane of the surface. It is true that of some
of these cases the hypothesis which we are at present pursuing
might seem to afford a solution. Thus, suppose a thin layer of
hard sandstone to rest on a bed of soft sandy clay or unlaminated
shale, both inclined and having their outcrop on the slope of a
hill, a certain depth from the surface of the slope, would be sub-
ject to the action of meteoric forces which would cause the sand-
stone to break up into fragments, and the sandy clay to become
loose and open. The sandstone rubble, if heavy, might possibly
tend to descend or settle in a perpendicular line through the upper
pulverulent to the lower and more compact soil, and at all events,
as the soil below it was carried away, the rubble would descend
along the line of the slope, the heavier fragments remaining at and
near the point of outcrop, those of medium size streaming further
down the slope, and the smallest borne away with the fine sand
and clay to lower levels ; the possibility of the existence of such
lines of rubble, their breadth down the slope from the line of out-
crop, and the quantity and size of the fragments being always
determined by the texture of the recipient bed of clay or sand,
and the declivity of the hill. Where the slope of the hill con-
sisted of a succession of similar layers and beds, the lower layers
of rubble would, in course of time and in favourable positions,
become covered with soil brought down from above. There are
undoubtedly cases which, if taken by themselves, this explanation
will satisfy. But when we seek to convert this hypothesis into a
general rule we are at once met by numerous discordant appear-
ances. Thus, of the extensive layers of rubble or gravel-like
fragments beneath a thick bed of clay which, as before mentioned,
are found on broad even summits of hills and ridges, there are
74 ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
many where the clay is too compact and aluminous, or the rubble
too fine for the latter to have descended from the surface of the
former, and where there are no adjacent higher levels from which
the former could have been degraded and superimposed upon the
latter. There are other allied cases too which simple atmospherical
causes will not account for, and which bring us to the next hypo-
thesis that of
4. EARTHQUAKES.
The instances alluded to are where the heads of the strata are
not merely converted into rubble and bent in the line of slope,
but where they are in zigzag, crooked, or sinuous lines ; where
adjacent layers are differently and irregularly deflected out of their
planes ; where the rubble is here in large pieces lying in the direc-
tion of the proper plane or of a regular curve from it, and there
shattered into a confused mass of small fragments, sometimes
much thicker and sometimes much thinner than the unaltered
layer itself; or where fragments of one layer are intermixed with
those of an adjacent one, detached pieces of a sandstone layer,
for instance, imbedded in a layer of clay above it, or portions of
both layers confusedly mingled till all trace of their lines of
demarcation is lost.
It is clear that no ordinary mechanical operations caused by
atmospherical forces could have produced such results, and that
violent convulsive movements of the earth have left these records.
In the slight earthquakes felt at Penang in 1843 ^ was remarked
that the residents on the hills described their effects differently
from the residents on the plain, or in language more exaggerated.
In Belmont House, which is situated on the summit of a peaked
hill rising freely out of the Pentland chain, the tremor was par-
ticularly strong. Upon general mechanical principles it is evident
that the shocks will be most severely felt wherever the rocks acted
on are freest. Through a dense homogeneous mass extending
uniformly in all directions, equable undulations and vibrations
may pass without disturbing the internal arrangement, because the
motive force will meet with an equal resistance throughout. But
where the mass acted on suddenly changes from a dense to a
lighter rock, fractures and other internal disturbances will follow
according to the intensity of the force, and where the mass of
rocks is met externally by the rare elastic mass of the atmosphere,
the resistance in that direction being removed per salt-inn, the
general centrifugal tendency which will be impressed by the nether
forces, even when their proper direction is more horizontal than
vertical, will cause the upper rock to a certain depth to be frac-
tured, loosened, and expanded, the external fragments and par-
ticles being perhaps quite free, and even projected. In this con-
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 75
dition the whole superficial mass will readily yield to continuing
vibratory action, and any or all of the phenomena above de-
scribed may be the result. It is a further argument in favour of
mechanical convulsions of considerable violence and irregularity,
that although the general dip of the strata of Singapore be
from westerly to easterly, cases are found on a hill resting on
the same apparent base, with an adjoining one where the general
rule operates, having its strata inclined from east to west, and even
in the same hill particular sides or outlying ridges or spurs present
deviations both in the direction and in the angle of the dip.
5. VOLCANIC ACTION.
Hitherto we have remarked no phenomena that may not be
referred to the ordinary mechanical or chemical forces acting at
the surface of the earth, or to critical mechanical disturbances.
But I have now to notice a large and varied class of facts which
require different forces to be introduced. These facts are so
numerous, so constant in their occurrence over every part of the
island which is open to examination, and not less than elsewhere
in those parts from which the observations of writers on the geology
or mineralogy of Singapore have been drawn, that it is difficult to
conceive through what fatality they have hitherto for the most
part escaped notice or been passed over as unimportant. The
most obvious of these facts are dykes and veins of igneous rocks,
masses /;/ situ and scattered fragments of rocks, such as sandstone,
clays, shales, granite, c., altered by the action of fire ; rocks in
veins and joints often highly indurated, whereby sandstone has
acquired sometimes a cellular structure, and at other times exter-
nally a honeycombed appearance ; congeries of curved, zigzag, and
radiating veins in sandstone, clays and shales, filled with crystal-
lizations, and both from their own appearance and the alteration
in the rock in which they are found showing chemical or electrical
action of a volcanic nature ; the presence of sulphur accompanying
anthracite in shales denigrated and rendered fuliginous by fire ; the
slaggy appearance of many rocks and fragments which are often
covered externally by a shining black, bluish-black, or dull
iridescent varnish or glaze; the scorious appearance of others,
many being mere cinders; the abundant presence of oxides of
iron, and particularly their intensity in those places where the
other evidences of igneous action are most marked, and their
absence where these are entirely wanting. It is impossible to
refer these facts, and others of an analogous character which will
be mentioned in a future paper in the description of particular
localities, to any but volcanic causes. The reddish, reddish-brown,
and reddish-black rocks which are found so abundantly have been
noticed by Lieutenant Newbold, Colonel Low, and others. The
76 ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
general name of laterite has been sometimes applied to them.
Colonel Low uses the terms " iron-clay," " iron-stone," and " iron-
ore.'"' The red soils have been in like manner called laterite or
iron-soils. Both terms appear to be objectionable. Laterite is a
particular species of ferruginous clay which indurates on exposure
to the atmosphere, like many other rocks ; it ought to be restricted
to the clay to which it was assigned by Dr. Hamilton, and not
indiscriminately applied to every new rock strongly marked by
oxides of iron. With respect to the term iron-clay or clay-iron-
stone, it has not yet been shown that any of the proper argillaceous
iron-ores, into the composition of which carbonic acid enters so
largely, are found in Singapore. If there are any, they have been
disguised and changed by heat, decomposing into peroxides.
The fact, however, is, that these so-called laterites and iron-ores,
externally as to colour and form differing little if at all, prove often
on examination to be only fragments of the common stratified
rocks, sometimes calcined, sometimes indurated, and sometimes
partially fused by heat. We cannot, therefore, resort to a pre-
valence either of laterite or iron-ores to explain the geology of the
island, and are by the rocks, which have been so designated, led
back to volcanic causes.*
Such a comparatively small portion of Singapore has yet in any
way been laid bare, and of the accessible parts, with certain
* Laterite. Many of the clayey hills here appear to me to be decomposed
sienite, sometimes unaltered by supervening volcanic action, but generally par-
taking in the metamorphism which the matter of most of the elevated land has
suffered from that cause. May I venture to suggest that the hypothesis which
is developed in this paper for Singapore might, if applied to the laterite of
India, perhaps explain its origin, and in doing so to a certain extent also
reconcile the conflicting opinions that have been maintained regarding it? All
that I have read of the great laterite formations of the south of India, and
which extend to the heart of Bengal, where they are described by Dr. JUichanan,
leads to the conclusion that they do not consist of purely volcanic, sedimentary,
or decomposed matter, but what I have termed semi-volcanic. The same for-
mation is found at Malacca and analogous deposits at Singapore, and both
inseparably associated and evidently contemporaneous with altered rocks of
the kind previously noticed. If we conceive an area with trap, granite, sand-
stone, shale, &c., exposed at the surface (in the atmosphere or in the sea), and
partly decomposed or disintegrated, to be subjected to a peculiar species of
minor volcanic action like that which is described in this paper (the distinctive
phenomenon probably of one and tJic same geological epoch), the result would be
that, with the occasional exception of matter ejected from no great depth, and
some dykes and veins, the previous soft surface rocks would be merely altered
or metamorphosed by heat and impregnated with iron, derived perhaps from
the basaltic and other ferriferous rocks through which the discharged steam,
gases, and water had passed in their ascent. Whether the action took place
under or above the sea would be determined by the presence or absence of the
ordinary marks of oceanic denudation.
"When clays strongly ferruginous, and soft from saturation with water, are
dried, the iron previously held in solution by ihe water is deposited between
the particles, and cements them into a hard compact rock. Hence the indura-
tion of laterite clays on exposure to the atmosphere.
GEOLOG Y OF SINGAPORE. 7 7
exceptions, so little is open to inspection save the mere surface,
that had my examination of the most favourable localities of the
latter been much more minute and careful than it has been, I
should still have hesitated to combine the results into any general
hypothesis. But as such an hypothesis has been forced upon me
while following up my inquiries, and no facts have hitherto been
noticed to which it is irreconcilable, I shall endeavour to explain
it, -leaving to future observations to build it into a theory or
reject it as a fancy. And as I shall proceed in subsequent papers
t:o furnish detailed accounts of different localities, the reader will
be enabled to draw his own conclusions.
The general direction of the elevatory force to which the hills
of Singapore and the neighbouring islands owe their origin, was
from W. by S. to E. by N., since their dip is generally in or near
that direction. Although the undulations or upheavings had this
general tendency, the causes to which they were due must have
been of a somewhat irregular nature, at one time producing a
superficial effect, either uniform in its character or small in degree,
and at a another time increasing in violence, and at particular
points causing convulsive elevations of the rocks in the form of
hills, frequently in undulating ridges and chains, the linear direc-
tions of which were, it may be, determined by a pre-imposed
tendency to fracture, as will be noticed in the sequel. This force
was apparently of a volcanic, or what, to distinguish it from con-
centrated well-developed volcanic action, may be called a semi-
volcanic nature, producing great heat at particular places, which
sometimes merely indurated or calcined the softer strata and
reddened the superjacent soil, but often in steam or gases, and
occasionally in mud or semi-fused rock burst through them, or
found a vent in fissures caused by ruptures during the process of
elevation. When the heat was most intense, fused rocks or semi-
fused fragments were cast up through these vents. As its intensity
decreased fragments less altered and masses of clay and sand were
ejected. The volcanic steam, gases, or fluids were charged with
iron, which left strong marks of its presence wherever these were
most active, rendering most of the fused and semi-fused rocks, in
dykes or ejected above the surface, highly ferruginous and impreg-
nating all the softer adjacent rocks.
In some places the force, although of unusual violence, was at the
surface chiefly mechanical, rending solid sandstones and tossing
up and mingling the fragments with masses of soft clays and shales.
Thus in some parts of Government Hill and the adjoining hill (Mt.
Sophia) large angular blocks of solid sandstone, some from 600 to
800 cubit feet in bulk, are found at the surface, and at various
depths beneath it, in a confused mass of clays and shales. In
the same hills, however, there were also subsequently formed
volcanic fissures, through which torrified rocks were ejected into
7 8 ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
the air, and strewed over the surface, so as in some places to form
a thick bed over the disrupted sandstone, c.
This extreme degree of local mechanical violence, unaccom-
panied by simultaneous igneous action reaching the surface, is,
however, rare, and may have been in some measure caused by a
greater thickness and compactness in the resisting rock. But in
general the unheaving of the hills has been attended with a violent
agitation or tremor, producing the phenomena alluded to in a
former page as due to concussion.
From what has been said it will be seen that the volcanic forces
were not concentrated at one or two points, and of comparatively
great power, so as to form regular craters of eruption or to elevate
rocks to a great height, but that they extended over a considerable
area, and that their intensity and mode of action varied greatly at
different places.
Amongst the most common volcanic products is one, small in
size, and varying in its character from common indurated argilla-
ceous and lithomargic to porcellanous and jaspidious, which
occurs in very singular forms vermicular, pseudo-coralloidal,
columnar,* and frequently resembling pieces of ginger- root,
externally smooth, granulated, corrugated, reticularly fibrous, &c.
These are the compact forms, but there often occur vesicular, or
rather rudely ramose cavities descending between the short thick
irregular branches towards the centre, the branches being them-
selves also sometimes perforated.
Another product is a small smooth faintly shining black stone
like a fine gravel.
At other places a gravel similar in shape, but with a brownish or
chestnut- coloured coat or enamel, occurs. These latter products
may readily be mistaken for water-worn gravel, especially as they
often occur in broad thin beds, but on closer examination it is
clear they are of volcanic origin.
All the various forms of ejected substances met with are due, I
conceive, in some degree to differences in the original mineral
ingredients of the rocks, but chiefly to the inequality of torrefac-
tion, and the circumstance of the heated, fused, or semi-fused
substances cooling in the air or in mud or loose sand or clay.
At an early stage in my inquiries I was led to think that the
causes of the eruptions were in part what have been called pseudo-
volcanic, and if coal shall be discovered it will then become a
question whether many of the geological phenomena of Singapore
are not due to volcanic action giving rise to and accompanying
* Amongst the common large slags, which are generally of irregular rounded
shapes, I have occasionally seen one agreeing in form with those small columnar
stones and externally rugose and roughly fibrous. In fact, one may say it is the
same as one magnified in bulk from a few cubic inches to IO or 15 cubic feel,
and with all its characters rendered coarse in proportion.
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 79
the conflagration of coal-beds. This would account for the
paucity of proper volcanic products at the surface, and the
abundance of merely altered fragments agreeing in character with
the existing superficial strata, and of slaggy and scorious rocks, of
which the materials, with the exception of the oxides of iron,
might have been derived from similar strata at no great depth.
The iron might, on this supposition, have been supplied by beds
of .ore occurring amongst the carboniferous rocks.
At present this view is inadmissible ; and it would still remain
so even if no other hypothesis derived from analogy were probable.
But there have been many volcanoes without streams of lava, from
which earth and altered rocks, gases, steam, water, or mud have
been ejected, and there are abundant marks of igneous action
throughout the series of stratified rocks, proving how frequently
volcanic forces have operated from beneath, often without reaching
the surface at all, and at other times producing mechanical, igneous,
or electrical changes in the superficial rocks, unaccompanied by
the more marked phenomena of proper volcanoes.
But the absence of such products in Singapore is not universal,
nor are there wanting proofs of the direct connection of the
superficial igneous action with a great nether fountain of volcanic
power. It is clear that the action reached below the stratified
rocks, for in some of the hills near town I have discovered frag-
ments of unaltered sienite, and on one, a large block of sienite
passing into basalt, which may either be an ejected fragment, or
the protruded summit of a continuous mass, is now being quarried
by Chinese. In the Bukit Temah group solid masses of sienite
are exposed, and appear to compose a large part of one of the
hills. At some places I found it passing into basalt. That the
elevation of the sienite and basalt was contemporaneous with the
production of the ordinary volcanic or igneous phenomena of
Singapore (if the basalt itself was not also then formed) is, to say
the least, highly probable. Not only the sides in general, but the
summits of the hill, consist of a thick mass of soft ferruginous
clay or mould, holding large quantities of the common igneous
rocks found elsewhere, but often bearing marks of a more intense
igneous action. Thus on the same side of the hill where the
sienite and basalt are laid bare, I found, in contact with soft sand-
stone, a piece of compact, dull, igneous rock of a light yellowish-
brown colour, with veins of a violet colour and vesicles whose
sides were similar. At the plane of contact the rock changed into
a dark green translucent glass, which included some small opaque
white specks. Within the glass the igneous rock for a narrow
space was finely vesicular, and violet-coloured like veins and some
grains of the sandstone were scattered through this band. The
opaque spots in the glass were evidently included grains of sand
semi-fused at their edges. This specimen is identical in character
So ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
with some products of proper volcanoes. In the slopes to the
west of Bukit Temah, which are covered with thick beds of clays
and sands, included layers, composed of fragments of terrified
granite, occur.
Many of the islands and rocks near Singapore exhibit most
decisive proofs of volcanic convulsions. Thus in a reef of sand-
stone rocks lying between the island of Blakan Mati and Pulo
Sikijang, a black ferruginous rock has been obtruded as a lava
through seams and fissures in the sandstone, and at some places
has spread over that rock and boiled up above it, assuming
fantastic shapes ; the sandstone is altered by heat in the same
manner as the rock is often seen to be in Singapore.* Basalt and
greenstone are found on Pulo Ooban, which lies close to the
north-east coast of Singapore. Similar rocks of various structure
and character, compact, vesicular, &c., with claystone, porphyries,
and other volcanic minerals, are brought from islands in the
neighbourhood to Singapore to be used for the foundations of
houses. The original production of the latter rocks must of
course be referred to an epoch long anterior to that of the former,
which undoubtedly corresponds with that of the Singapore semi-
volcanic rocks.
We are therefore, I think, justified in considering Singapore and
the neighbouring islands to have been the seat of volcanic con-
vulsions spread over a considerable area, if nowhere of great
intensity. There are many reasons, but not strictly local, to
believe that their date was in a late era of geological time. The
subject, however, is a difficult one, and there is not room for its
full discussion in this paper. I may here only mention, amongst
the local facts tending to the above conclusion, the softness of
some of the rocks which have not been altered by volcanic action,
but have been elevated and greatly stretched or drawn out, con-
torted or compressed, in the process ; the absence of any superficial
changes not due to atmospherical causes since the time of their
elevation, and the very moderate effects of these causes; the
apparent continuity of some of the hill beds of sand and clay in
adjacent hollows, having a ferruginous and terrified appearance in
the former, while in the latter they are not distinguishable from
soft modern alluvium ; and lastly, some remarkable cases of the
elevation of soft alluvial and vegetable deposits agreeing in their
character with beds now forming in the island or along its shores.t
* Mr. Thomson describes to me an analogous injection of a reddish-black
substance, lateritic in its appearance, into the fissures of a block Q{ granite on
the north coast of Buitang. This I shall describe on procuring a specimen, if
I do not visit the locality.
t It is to be remarked, however, that in a climate like that of Singapore,
clay rocks and aluminous sandstones at or near the surface, unless highly indu-
rated, are liable to become soft. The age of the elevation of the island will be
more fully considered in the paper on the Straits, in connection with several
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 81
Unfortunately the non-observation hitherto of any organic remains,
while it is perhaps a reason for assigning a higher antiquity to the
soft rocks above mentioned than their general appearance seems
to claim, renders it very difficult to compare them with the
observations of European geologists, or to ascertain whether they
can be made to occupy any determinate place in their systems.
This last inquiry is, however, of the least importance for the
present, and if entered upon before the phenomena of this locality
(so- far removed from any of which the geology is in any con-
siderable measure understood), have been minutely and faithfully
studied by themselves, is more likely to mislead than to aid
research. I may state, however, that in the present state of our
knowledge the only European system with which the rocks of
Singapore, notwithstanding the apparently recent origin of some
of them, can be mineralogically compared, is the new red sand-
stone. The sandstones, clays, marls (non-calcareous), and shales,
in many respects resemble the same rocks of that system. The
rareness, if not the absence, of fossils, is a striking circumstance,
and even if the two formations be remote in time from each other
(for no chronological conclusion can be drawn from merely
lithological characters), points to the existence of analogous con-
ditions during the periods of their respective accumulation.
If we now recur to the present superficial igneous and ferrugi-
nous deposits of Singapore, the only remaining question under
our hypothesis would be, whether their superposition on the hills
(to which they are confined) took place before or after the
emergence of the latter from the sea. In other words, was the
present configuration of the island assumed under the level of the
sea, and then the whole tract of land from which the hills spring
elevated by one movement, or is it more probable that before the
hills were upraised the general level of the land was the same or
nearly the same as it now is, and the hills consequently obtruded
from that level in whole or in part in the air ? The action of the
waters of the sea in spreading out the materials brought to the
surface by volcanic forces might seem an obvious explanation of
some of the facts formerly noticed. But if this cause be admitted
at all, its operation must have been transient and limited, other-
wise the surface accumulations on the different hills and parts of
the same hill would not have retained their striking local cha-
racters.* If the agency of the sea is to be admitted, the most
probable hypothesis, with our present information, would be, that
when the process which dislocated and pushed up the strata in
different places into hills began to operate, the general level of
the sea-bed was much lower than it now is, and that the same
instances of recent elevation occurring along its borders, where the evidence is
of a more satisfactory nature, being derived from organic remains.
* See ante, page 71, Diluvial Hypothesis.
VOL. II. G
82 av THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
action caused its general elevation. In this way the surfaces of
the hills may have emerged so gradually from beneath the sea as
to admit of a partial action of its waters on their summits and
sides during and subsequent to the eruptions of matter, and yet
not so slowly as to give time for such extensive denudation as to
obliterate the local peculiarities of the ejected substances. My
own opinion at present is, that all the phenomena may be
accounted for by purely volcanic succeeded by ordinary meteoric
causes. At one time rock fragments and semi-fused matter would
be voided, heaped up at particular places, or ejected into the air
and showered over the surface. At another time, when the heat
was less intense or when steam or gases, not ignifluous or melted
matter, burst out, masses of soft clays and sandstone might be
disembowelled and spread over the bed of fragments. At other
places the rocks might be broken and pulverized in situ, and
receive a considerable vertical pulsion so as transiently to form
an incoherent and agitated mass, especially towards the surface,
but without the fragments or sand being freely projected into
the air.*
One of the most common features of the hills is the occurrence
of a bed of igneous stones at one place large (30 to 60 cubic
feet) slaggy and often scorious or amygdaloidal, and gradually but
irregularly diminishing in size until they become a coarse and then
a fine gravel, in some places dwindling into a seam of minute
grains. The beds are of various thickness from three or more
feet to a few lines and so, often, is the same bed at different
places. They may consist of a uniform aggregate of stones, or
of stones mingled with loose clay, sand, &c. Over this deposit
there is generally a bed of soft clay or sandy clay. Sometimes
more than one bed of gravel occurs. Layers of unaltered angular
fragments are occasionally, but rarely, found beneath these beds.
Layers of the small porcellanous, jaspideous, and varnished stones
before noticed, and of large grains of quartz, are more common.
All these layers sometimes appear in the same section, but this
seldom happens. The localities where the large scoriform rocks
abound are often at or near the summits of hills, or where thick
dykes of igneous rock come to the surface, and probably in every
case they mark the places where the largest fissures or vents were
opened. Where they are most abundant they appear at the
surface, and that not only in spots exposed to denuding influ-
ences, but in flattish and gently sloping tracts. There appears in
* Whether the mechanical action by which the hills were upraised long
preceded, or was accompanied or soon followed by, semi-volcanic action in the
most intense degree which it here attained, or rather whether the semi-volcanic
emissions and eruptions continued during a long period to find vent through
the fissures formed when the hills were elevated, is a question that must lie
over for the present. It is probable that they originated on, but lasted, or were
from time to time repeated, for some time alter the elevation of the hills.
GEOLOG Y OF SINGAPORE. 83
many cases to be a connection between the direction of the dykes
and fissures, and that of the hills or their spurs. Where good
sections of the summits of dykes have been obtained fragments
of the rock of which they are composed, not angular but scoriform,
can generally be traced as a horizontal layer on the surface, or
disposed beneath a bed of clay, c., to a considerable distance
from the head of the dyke. When the dyke is vertical these
stones are accumulated over and strewed on both sides of it.
. When it is inclined they are spread out in the direction towards
which the inclination is. Two dykes adjoining each other at the
surface have sometimes beds of scoriae diverging from them in
opposite directions, owing to their dips being opposed. The
above and other observable facts are all, I think, explicable by
the species of volcanic action which I have suggested, susceptible
as it is of various modifications, without resorting to oceanic
agency. At all events, no fact has yet come under my notice
unequivocally attesting the abrading, sorting, or transporting
operation of a large body of water, or which could not be
referred to some known form of volcanic agency. It must also
be borne in mind that the convulsive mechanical action which
enters so largely into the general hypothesis, would be most
powerful in shattering compact and loosening soft rocks, when the
stratified masses were ruptured and raised into highly inclined,
vertical, or reversed positions. In such cases the exposed basset
edges, in their fragmentary or pulverized state, and before they
were protected by any vegetation, would be more acted on by
meteoric causes than at present.
The system of hills, with their dykes and veins, affords an
interesting field for the application of the principles of mechanical
science \ but it would be premature to enter on this subject
before the country is better opened up, as it will soon be by the
lines of road now in progress. There can be little doubt, how-
ever, that the directions of the hills agree with the ramifications
of fissures which in those places where the intensity of the
elevatory force caused their extension to the surface have formed
vents through which the superficial volcanic deposits were
expelled. The principal ranges, we have seen, are nearly parallel,
and have directions approximating to N.W. and S.E. The lateral
hills are placed on lines at right angles to these, and the secondary
lateral hills again on lines parallel to the principal ranges.
My remarks have been hitherto confined to facts entirely local,
and inferences or hypotheses strictly deduced from or applicable
to them. Before concluding this paper, however, let us extend
the limits of our observations, and see whether a wider geological
area presents phenomena repugnant to the large influence which
has been assigned to volcanic causes.
That the movements which elevated the central mountains of
G 2
84 ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
the Malayan Peninsula had an intimate relation with those that
elevated the mountains of Sumatra, seems evident, whether we
regard the hypothesis of De Beaumont, the more recent observa-
tions and theories of Mr. Darwin, or the mechanical researches of
Mr. Hopkins. Both form long chains which pursue parallel lines
not more than three or four degrees distant. But we must
probably take in a much wider geographical range if we would
seek a general geological theory for the region which they traverse.
The mountain chains of the peninsula of India are parallel, or
approximately so, to the Malayan, and, like them, spring from the
great central system of Asia. The chain of the peninsula of
Malaya is directly continued to this region, and from it descend
nearly parallel chains through Burmah, Siam and Cochin China.
These ranges determine the general direction of the sea-coasts
wherever these are exposed to waves sufficiently strong to prevent
the formation and extension of alluvial plains. The western
coasts of India and of the Tenasserim Provinces, Siam, the Gulf
of Siam, and the eastern coast of Cochin China, are thus fixed. A
wide and interesting field of inquiry is opened up 'by the probable
geological connection between the regions of these ranges and
those of the Indian Archipelago generally, Australia and the
archipelagos of the Pacific, evidenced by the prevalence of
parallel lines of elevation, and perhaps also by organic remains,
such as the fossil elephant and some of the carboniferous plants
of New South Wales. The former existence of a great Austral-
asian continent, an extension probably of the present continent of
Asia, which seems to result from Mr. Darwin's theory of atolls,
would be an inference in accordance with these facts. Viewing
the whole region, interspersed with peninsulas and islands, from
the Indian Ocean to the heart of the Pacific, as one, it appears
that De Beaumont's theory of parallel rectilinear or oblong areas
of elevation and subsidence, which Mr. Darwin has applied to
the eastern tracts, requires modification, and that if we conceive
curvilinear lines, or systems of parallel curvilinear lines, proceeding
from centres and often meeting similar lines or systems from other
centres, and again lateral and secondary lines diverging from the
principal, the arrangement of the observed ranges will assume
greater symmetry, and be found perhaps to accord with the
hypothesis that one widely extended mechanical pulsion, accom-
panied by local foci of intense development from weakness in the
rocks or increased plutonic or volcanic action, gave the first
direction to all the main lines of elevation. Thus let us conceive
such a centre to be situated in the western half of New Guinea
and we have some independent warrant for doing so in the
circumstance that the mountains of its unexplored interior appear
to attain a magnitude unusual in the achipelago from this focus
we may trace one great curvilinear fracture or band of rupture of
GEOLOG Y OF SINGAPORE. 85
the earth's crust through the Sunda Islands to Chittagong; a
second through the mountainous volcanic islands of Ceram and
Bouro, and along the southern coasts of Celebes and Borneo
{Gunong Ratos), Billiton, Banda, the Malay Peninsula, &c. ; a
third through the Philippines, Formosa, Japan, &c. ; a fourth along
the southern coast of New Guinea, and through the Solomon
Islands, New Hebrides, New Zealand, &c. ; a fifth along the
southern coast of New Guinea, across Torres Straits, and along
the eastern coast of Australia ; and a sixth perhaps through the
north-western division of Australia. Other principal lines
probably proceed across the Moluccas and Celebes, through
Borneo and the islands of the China Sea (now a subsiding tract),
and join the mountain chains of Cochin China and Siam ; but the
geography of Borneo is not sufficiently known to allow of our
positively ranking these as seventh and eighth lines. The inter-
mediate areas may be occupied by numerous other lines, but the
subsidence of various tracts renders it difficult or impossible,
particularly to the eastward, to trace the original courses of
vertical movement until the soundings of the Polynesian seas are
ascertained. Subsequent shifting subterranean action would
cause many other fractures in various directions ; but it would not,
at least until the lapse of a long geological epoch, obliterate the
primary lines. It would often cause cross fractures, of which many
instances might be pointed out. It is no objection to this hypo-
thesis that many of the lines seem to proceed from the central
table-land of Asia. Because if at the time these fissures were
being extended southward, a great local action took place at or
near New Guinea, they would, according to the mechanical laws
examined by Mr. Hopkins, diverge from their original direction
towards that point, or to meet the lines radiating from it. Thus
\ve observe the two least broken lines to pursue a southerly
direction till they reach the parallel of 8 N.L., when, at the
Nicobars in the one and at Junk-Ceylon in the other, they are
deflected to the S.E. When they cross the meridian of 106 E,
they make a more decided bend to the eastward. If we follow
these lines and the chains of Siam and Cochin China northward
\ve may trace them upwards to the Bayan Khara mountains, and
thence to the vast central mass of Kulkun, from whence great
ranges are said to proceed towards all the points of the compass.
But in the north-western part of the province of Yunnan and
north-east of Burmah and Assam their continuity is interrupted,
and we seem to have ascertained another central region whence
radiate not only the lines which afterwards converge to New
Guinea, but various other curvilinear ranges proceeding S.E., E.,
N.E., and N. through China, and N. and N.W. through Thibet ;
and lastly, the Himalayas and a minor range proceeding south-east-
ward on the south of the valley of Assam, and continued perhaps
86 ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
in the Vindyas for a subsequent line of subsidence passing down
the plain of the Ganges and through the Bay of Bengal, of which
there is some evidence, may have destroyed the pre-existing con-
tinuity. Many of these ranges proceeded primarily from the Kul-
kun, but it is remarkable that they converge towards the region
indicated. The region where the Himalayas attain their sublimest
proportions and give birth to rivers that embrace them and all
India in their courses, is another grand focus. From this centre
the range proceeds on the one side to the eastward, and on the
other to the N.W. To the north of the former a secondary and
approximately parallel range also proceeds eastward, and includes
with it the valley of the Sampao, and to the south another and
smaller secondary parallel range traverses upper India. Ta
determine the original centres of maximum intensity and directions
of the forces that elevated the great connected mountain system
that forms the skeleton of the Asiatic continent, is a problem
beyond the present reach of geology.*
The Malayan chain I have mentioned as a series of groups,
and from the breadth of country which their members occupy
compared with their height and apparent bulk, and their general
appearance as viewed from the Straits, I am led to believe that
they consist of connected systems, each analogous to that of the
Singapore hills, or of principal undulating masses from which
parallel ranges proceed in a N.W. and S.E. direction. The rivers
probably have their sources at the heads of the valleys included
between these ranges, and turn seaward at the extremities of the
ranges. The most southern rivers, such as the Johore, Sakadai,
&c., which flow southward, would also bend to the east and west,
where the last system of the continent terminates and that of
Singapore begins, did they not meet with a depression so low as
to be accessible by the sea.
Singapore is merely separated from the mainland by this
depression, which forms a narrow tortuous river-like arm of the
sea, and is in fact sunk into the continent and embraced by it
on three sides, so that its southern shore seems to be the proper
continuation of the southern coast of the peninsula. Its geogra-
* There can be little doubt that an extensive knowledge of the physical
and mineralogical constitution of mountain ranges will form the true ba^is of
the highest department of the science, now only dawning the Mechanism of
the Earth. IJut the clay is probably not far distant when the geologist, like
the astronomer, will need to be thoroughly indoctrinated with the principles
of mechanical science in its widest sense. .Fortunately for the worshippers of
Nature of humbler acquirements, geology is so inimcr.-ed in matter, so wrought
into every inch of the earth, that its priests have need of a whole tribe of
Levites. \Yherever a man finds himself placed he has but to employ his eyes
lo become a useful labourer, and so far will a little knowledge be from proving
dangerous to him that it may be safely said, that while even entire ignorance
is not a bar to the collection of facts, every little accession of knowledge from
any of the sciences becomes an instrument of observation.
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 87
phical connection with it is therefore complete. When we cross
the strait, no difference in the topography is observable. And
the low hills, which give the surface an undulating appearance like
that of Singapore, probably resemble those of the latter in their
internal structure as much as they do in the superjacent soils and
in the stunted jungle. The interior of the peninsula is almost
wholly unexplored. In coasting along its western shore from
Pinang to Cape Rachado, a high chain or rather series of ranges
of mountains is observed inland nearly the whole way, which
from their generally sharp-peaked summits, the nature of the
detritus brought down from them by the rivers, and the evidence
afforded by the few points where they have been reached, we are
justified in believing to consist in great measure of plutonic rocks.
In front of this range we observe a broad tract of country, often
appearing to be perfectly flat and very little above the sea-level
for miles together, but from which sometimes low hills rise like
islands out of the sea. These hills are frequently quite solitary,
and at a great distance from the central mountains, or near the
coast. Further inland they seem to be generally in groups, and
towards the mountains the country at some places appears hilly
and undulating. At Malacca these low hills are so much grouped
as to resemble some parts of Singapore, and they are covered by
gravel and fragments precisely similar to those found on some of
the Singapore hills. In some of the hills opposite Pinang I ob-
served similar fragments. In both cases, the soil had a deep red
ferruginous aspect* That most of the hills scattered along the
western plains of the peninsula were islands in the sea at no
remote date, there can be no doubt. The plains from which
they spring are flat, generally only a few feet above the sea-level,
alluvial, and at some places abounding in marine shells of the
same species that at present inhabit the Straits, The rivers of
the peninsula, although generally small, are exceedingly numerous,
and bring down large quantities of sediment. In March last,
off the mouth of the Salangore River, the steamer in which I was
passed through a bread tract discoloured by the sediment. Extensive
mud-banks have been formed in the straits and are constantly in-
creasing. For evidence on this subject, I must refer to a separate
paper, containing some remarks on the Straits of Malacca and
the alluvial tracts along its sides. It is not therefore unreason-
able to conclude that the whole chain of these hills, from Pinang
to Singapore, has a strict geological connection. At Malacca
hot springs exist, and the hills nearest to them are of the nature
before mentioned. We naturally resort to the mountain chain of
the interior for the seat of that central volcanic force of which the
manifestations on these outskirts are of so peculiar a character, so
* Cape Rachado is described by Crawfurd to consist of quartz rocks inter-
spersed with frequent veins of clay iron-ore.
83 ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
wide in their extent, yet so devoid of intensity. But we find that
there is no evidence whatever of any volcanoes ever having
existed in this chain. If there ever were any, their fires have
long been quenched.
If we now direct our attention to the southward of Singapore,
we find that it is but one of an extensive archipelago of islands,
stretching to the south-east, and which, after a slight interruption,
is continued in Banca. That the geological chain continues to
the latter island, is clear from the account which Dr. Horsfield
gives of it. According to him, the elevated parts of Banca consist
principally of granite, but in the secondary elevations " red iron-
stone " is extensively distributed in single rocks, or in veins of
many united together, covering large tracts of country.* This
circumstance and the general topography of the island, as de-
scribed by Dr. Horsfield, assimilate to Singapore. The paucity
of tin-ore in the latter arises from the want of granitic hills.
Bukit Temah, the only hill yet explored in which sienite abounds,
contains tin, and in fact derives its name from the circumstance,
as it literally signifies " Tin Hill." We thus find that what we
may call the semi- volcanic band of the Straits .of Malacca may,
to a certain extent, be disconnected from the peninsula, and
viewed as a chain of islands extending probably from Junk-Ceylon
to Banca, and including the existing islands and numerous rocks
and reefs in the Straits of Malacca. It appears, therefore, that its
southern extremity is almost in contact with Sumatra, t and the
question arises whether its volcanic connection be not with this
great island rather than the peninsula. May it not be reason-
ably presumed that, if the origin and partial elevation of the
Sumatra chain was contemporaneous with that of the penin-
sula, the line of greatest intensity of the subterranean forces,
in whichever it was originally, was ultimately determined to the
latter chain, and that at some now ancient era the former
was left to comparative repose ? The height of the plutonic
mountains of the peninsula is greatly inferior to that of the moun-
tains of Sumatra. But all the elevated peaks of the latter appear
to be volcanic, and perhaps the purely granitic ranges are not
more elevated than those of the peninsula. The elevation of the
two plutonic ranges, and the shallow bed of the strait between
* See "Memoirs of Sir S. Raffles," p. 150. Major Court, in his account of
Banca, notices the gravelly nature of the soil (Gourt's Palembang). Professor
Jameson, in Murray's " Encyclopedia of Geography, " mentions the circum-
stance of the primitive mountains being immediately rounded by a formation of
'iistone doubtingly, and adds, " Crawford, who makes this statement,
gives no description of the formation." From Crawford's meagre notice of
J-5anca, I presume he does not write from personal observation, and, like Sir
S. Raffles, lie probably derived his information from Dr. Ilorsficld's manuscript.
t It will appear, however, in the paper formerly referred to, that this ap-
proximation is due to modern external, not to ancient internal forces.
GEOLOG Y OF SINGAPORE. 89
them, may have been contemporaneous and antecedent to the
period when volcanoes burst out along the Sumatra chain. These
volcanoes, from their number and power, would arrest the rise of
the region, or cause any subsequent elevatory movement to be
rare and of small amount. Until the interior of the peninsula is
explored, these inquiries to a large extent must be merely specu-
lative ; but it is certain that the Sumatra chain has in recent eras
been the seat of great volcanic energy, and that it is still subject
to convulsive movements, the tremors or undulations of which are
transmitted as far as what I have termed the semi-volcanic band
of the Straits on the one side, and which are felt much more
severely in the less distant chain of islands on the west coast of
Sumatra.
Marscien states that a number of volcanoes exist,* and describes
one which opened in the side of a mountain about twenty miles
inland of Bencoolen, and which, during his residence at that fac-
tory, scarcely ever failed to emit smoke. To the S.E. the three
volcanic peaks of Gunong Dempo, Lumut, and Berapi, rise to the
height of 12,000 feet. Gunong Dempo was ascended by Mr.
Church, the present resident councillor at Singapore, with the late
Mr. Presgrave, in 1818. An interesting account of the ascent is
inserted in Raffles' Memoirs (p. 323). Mr. Presgrave states that
he had frequently seen smoke issuing from the mountain, and the
natives informed him that, within their memory, it had emitted
flames attended with a loud noise. In the upper region of the
mountain the party found the trees dead, and externally burned quite
black. Further north is the great central volcanic region, partially
at least included in the ancient kingdom of Menang Kabu. This
is described by Raffles (Memoirs, p. 347) as being exclusively
volcanic. The rocks are mostly basaltic. Two lofty volcanic
mountains rise near the large lake of Sincara. From one of these,
Gunong Berapi (Fiery Mountain), which is above 13,000 feet high,
smoke issued. Hot springs also exist here. To the east of the
lake the rocks consisted of felspar, granite, quartz, &c., mixed
with a great variety of volcanic productions in the greatest con-
fusion. Iron-ore of various kinds lay in the path of the travellers.
To the west of the lake were found granite, marble, great varieties
of limestones, masses of calcareous spar, and many other sub-
stances. On the N.E. of the lake, near Pageruyang, numerous
stumps and trunks of trees in a state of petrifaction protruded
from the ground. The limits of the region on the north and south
are not ascertained. About sixty miles south of Mount Talong,
another Gunong Berapi occurs. Near Mount Ophir, a volcanic
mountain is marked in Marsden's map, and Mount Ophir itself is
probably an extinct volcano. Further north still lies another of the
* " History of Sumatra," p. 24.
90 ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
ascertained volcanoes, Mount Batagapit. Mr. J. Anderson, who
visited the east coast in 1823, mentions* a native tradition of an
engagement having taken place between two of the mountains in
the interior of Belli (Sebaya and Senaban), when part of them fell
into the valley. From these mountains, sulphur is procured, which
if it does not prove that they are formed of volcanic materials, as
Mr. Anderson conceives, at least leads to the inference that they
have been the seat of volcanic action. At Acheen, abundant
supplies of sulphur for internal consumption and exportation
are obtained from a volcanic mountain in the neighbourhood.!
Lastly, one of the western chain of islands, Si Beero, according to
Marsden, possesses a volcano. Earthquakes are of frequent oc-
currence. Marsden notices one of unusual severity, which occurred
in 1770.;
Sir T. S. Raffles mentions that on the east coast they are said
to happen every five or six years. The Malays on the east coast
represented to Mr. Anderson that slight shocks were occasionally
felt. j | and the same information was received by Lieut. Crook e at
Jambi.*[ In the interesting memoir on this state by that officer
appended to Mr. Anderson's work it is likewise mentioned that a
violent earthquake was stated to have been experienced about
twenty years or more previous to his visit in 1820, and to have
been preceded by a period of great heat and drought, which
ruined the crops and occasioned a distressing scarcity of food. It
is not improbable that this earthquake was simultaneous with one
which happened in 1797, of which the effect on the opposite
coast is mentioned by Raffles. "It is stated that the vibratory
shocks continued for three minutes, and recurred at intervals
during the space of three hours, till the shock completely ceased.
At Padang, the houses of the inhabitants were almost entirely
destroyed and the public works much damaged. A vessel lying
* "Mission to the E. Coast of Sumatra," p. 199. *h Marsden, p. 313.
% "The most severe that I have known \vas chiefly experienced in the dis-
trict of Manna, in the year 1770. A village \vas destroyed by the houses fall-
ing down and taking fire, and several lives were lost. The ground was in one
place rent a quarter of a mile, the width of two fathoms and depth of four or
five. A bituminous matter is described to have swelled over the sides of the
cavity, and the earth, for a long time after the shocks, was observed to contract
and dilate alternately. Many parts of the hills far inland could be distin-
guished to have given way, and a consequence of this was, that during three
weeks, Manna River was so much impregnated with particles of clay, that the
natives could not bathe in it. At this time was formed, near to the mouth of
Padang Goochie, a neighbouring river, south of the former, a large plain, seven
miles long raid half a mile broad, where there had been before only a narrow
beach. The quantity of earth brought down on this occasion was so consider-
able that the hill upon which the English Resident's house stands, appears,
from indubitable marks, less elevated by fifteen feet than it was before the
event." (/</. p. 25.)
Ji " Memoirs," p. 295.
|| Anderson, nt supra, p. 199. U Id. p. 402.
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 91
at anchor was thrown by the sudden rise of the tide upwards of
three miles on shore. The number of lives lost there amounted
to above 300 ; of these, some were crushed under the ruins of
falling houses, some were literally entombed by the earth opening
on them, and others were drowned by the sudden irruption of the
waters of the ocean."
On April 18, 1818, another violent earthquake was experienced
on the west coast. Sir T. S. Raffles, who arrived at Bencoolen
the day after, found that every house was more or less shattered,
and many in ruins. In the island of Pulo Nias, on the west
coast, earthquakes appear to be felt very severely. The same
remark may possibly apply to the other islands in the same chain,
for our knowledge of these phenomena in the native countries has
been hitherto almost entirely accidental, and our information
regarding Pulo Nias arises from the connection of Europeans with
it. Marsdea mentions that in 1763 a village in that island was
swallowed up by an earthquake, and a recent shock, which will
be immediately noticed more at large, was still more disastrous in
its effects. That the undulations in most cases extend across the
straits to the semi- volcanic line is highly probable. Although our
connection with the Straits now extends over a period of sixty
years, unfortunately no connected records have been preserved of
the critical geological and meteorological phenomena that have
been experienced during that time. In Pinang during the last
twelve years several shocks have been felt. These occurred in
November 1833, August 1835, September 1837, and January
1843.*
Those of 1837 were the most violent, and the undulations
appear to have been from south to north, and to have lasted a
minute and a half.f The shocks in 1843 happened about half
an hour after midnight on the morning of January 6, and at half-
past two P.M. on the 8th. The first shock was more severe than
the second, but both were slight, producing no other mechanical
effects than a tremor of the ground, which caused articles sus-
* Pinang Gazette of January 7, 14, and 28, 1843.
t " It is said that on that occasion several herus of cattle in the neighbour-
hood were observed running in the utmost confusion in all directions, that
lamps and picture frames oscillated, that the Roman Catholic church bell rang
of its own accord, that quantities of large shot piled up in the fort were thrown
down and scattered about, that a stone wall of a substantial building in town
was rent, and that the whole inhabitants were thrown into a state of consterna-
tion. The shipping in the harbour did not experience this shock, nor did the
sea appear agitated. Five days subsequently, however, another smart shock
was felt, and was followed by a very heavy squall from the N.W., and great
agitation and rise of the sea in the harbour. The tides overflowed the northern
beach, and flooded the compounds and lower rooms of the houses in the neigh-
bourhood. This convulsion was experienced about the same time at Acheen,
and along the Pedier coast, and it is said that these places sustained consider-
able damage." Pinang Gazette of January 28, 1843.
92 ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
pended to oscillate, stopped a clock, and occasioned in some
persons a giddiness in the head. The first shock, although only
felt by a few persons in the plain who happened to be awake,
caused the residents on one of the hills to spring from their beds,
under the apprehension that robbers had attacked their houses, so
-violent was the noise of rattling Venetians, bolts, &c. The undula-
tions on this occasion, as in 1837, appeared to be from south to
north. The shock on the morning of the 6th was experienced
precisely at the same instant at Singapore* and at Malacca.t The
undulations at Singapore are said to have been from east to west,
very slight, and to have lasted eight or ten seconds. About half
a year afterwards it was first learned in the Straits that a most
violent earthquake had devastated Pulo Nias, commencing about
midnight between January 5 and 6, or nearly the same time when
the undulations were felt along the western coast of the peninsula.
The shocks were at first from the west, shifting to the north ; bat
as they increased in violence they appeared to lose any fixed
direction and became a complete trembling of the earth, which
lasted nine minutes; houses were destroyed, trees uprooted, a
portion of a mountain fell, and the ground opened in wide fissures,
from which a " black frothy liquid trickled." After a brief interval
of inaction, the undulations recommenced, and the sea suddenly
rose in a vast wave, which rolled in from the south-east, over-
whelming a considerable tract of country and sweeping away
whole villages and their inhabitants. The shocks were felt at
intervals of two minutes until half-past four in the morning, when
another paroxysm even more violent than the first took place,
lasting about six minutes. The shocks were from the west, veer-
ing to the north, but changing directly to the south. Tremors of
the ground were experienced for several subsequent days. Thus
the latest earthquake that has occurred in this region was experi-
enced in its greatest violence a little to the west of the volcanic
chain of Sumatra, and the undulations were transmitted or induced
so widely and so rapidly as to reach Penang, Malacca and Singa-
pore simultaneously and at or about the same time when the first
shock was felt at Pulo Nias.
It appears, therefore, that the volcanoes of Sumatra still com-
municate with an internal igneous sea, and from time to time
emit smoke and gases ; that to this day the island is subject to
frequent earthquakes ; that several of those that have occurred
within the last hundred years have been of great force, rending
the ground, and at least on two occasions giving vent to liquid
volcanic matter ; and that their operation extends, though with
diminished violence, to the western coast of the peninsula. When
we consider the height and bulk of the crateriform volcanic
* Singapore Free Press of January 12, 1843. t ^- February 2, 1843.
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 93
mountains, even viewed only relatively to the level of the hilly
country above which they rise, and the large belts of volcanic
rocks which exist in the neighbourhood of some of those that have
been explored, if they do not connect the whole chain, we are
carried back to a period in the history of Sumatra during which
its volcanic phenomena were on the grandest scale. If at this
day, when the fires of her mountains have ceased or are dormant,
the coast of the peninsula is agitated by the comparatively feeble
shocks which disturb the repose of the island, it is reasonable to
believe that when her volcanoes, whether simultaneously, succes-
sively, or alternately, were in full activity along a line of nearly a
thousand miles, the neighbouring regions to the distance of 100 to
200 miles must have been subject to earthquakes of great violence,
and accompanied, according to the degree of their intensity, by
volcanic emissions and eruptions in greater or less abundance.
That portion of the volcanic belt where the evidences of violent
igneous action are most striking appears to be Singapore and the
neighbourhood, although it is not improbable that the whole tract,
from Cape Rachado to Banca, exhibits more extensive and con-
tinuous disturbance than the northern part of the belt. That
region of Sumatra which, so far as observation has extended, may
be termed the principal volcanic tract, is about three degrees dis-
tant from Singapore, and lies in a parallel about a degree and a
quarter to the south of this island. The direction of the Singa-
pore strata is across or approximately at right angles to parallel
lines forming the sides of a plane connecting the island with this
part of Menangkabu, and the dip of the strata, although, as for-
merly observed, exhibiting much irregularity, is generally from the
point of the compass where Menangkabu lies.
There seems, upon the whole, to be strong grounds for the
opinion that the hill system of Singapore has its volcanic* con-
nection with Sumatra, and not with the mountain chain of the
peninsula. If this view shall be found to be borne out by further
* Our meagre information regarding the formations of Sumatra does not
admit of our instituting a comparison between them and the rocks of the oppo-
site coast of the Peninsula. The central mountains are chiefly plutonic and
volcanic. The granite or sienite of the southern regions would appear from
Marsden's slight notice to resemble that of Singapore. The lower tracts of the
west coast, as described by him, possess a remarkable resemblance in their
configuration to the surface of Singapore. Like the latter, they consist of
rounded elevations of no great height, separated by winding flat swamps pene-
trating for miles between them. The hills "not unfrequently exhibit the
appearance of an amphitheatre." A coincidence in a configuration so uncom-
mon when other analogies are also considered, can hardly be viewed as acci-
dental. The soil he describes as a stiff reddish clay. The rock exposed in sea
cliffs and in some places at the bottoms of rivers is a species of clay called by the
natives "nappal," which is common in Singapore. The country between the
mountains and the eastern coast of Sumatra is little known, but what information
has been obtained respecting its geological features I have collected in the paper
before alluded to.
94 ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
observations, we must conceive that the old granite mountain
chain of the peninsula (which, as is shown in the paper before
mentioned, terminates apparently between Parcelar Point and
Pulo Varela, although a few minor groups exist in the interior to
the southward) had its extremity in this direction washed by t;ie
sea. The region below, which operated the expansive volcanic
fluids or gases whose effects we are considering, extended from
Sumatra to the peninsula, and probably a little to the westward of
the one and considerably to the eastward of the other, for the
whole vast platform or partially emerging and partially subsiding
.continent that rises out of the depths of the Indian Ocean and
stretches eastward far into the Pacific, rests on one region of
connected though shifting subterranean excitement. The line of
most intense force would be the ordinary one, the volcanic chain
of Sumatra. Thence the waves of the volcanic sea would travel
in parallel lines to the north-eastward, causing a tension of the
region and a tendency to split in the direction of those lines.
That portion of the region intermediate between the western
and eastern mountain chains which had not been disturbed
and fractured during the process of elevation like that from
which the chains were obtruded, or of which the fractures had
not reached the surface, would offer most resistance. But on
arriving at the western limit of the old fractures caused during the
elevation of the Malayan chain, the space so fractured would yield
in various points of weakness. The old fractures at the southern
extremity of the chain would by the tension be prolonged in the
same direction, that is to the S.E., and cross fractures being esta-
blished and the volcanic forces sufficing to elevate the rocks and
produce eruptions at different places along the line of fissure, the
system of semi-volcanic hills extending from the termination of
the Malayan plutonic chain to Banca would be produced. Whether
we admit the notion of a translation of waves, or suppose that
under the region a general volcanic pressure was in operation,
producing an expansive tendency whose superficial manifestations
varied according to the mineral structure and composition of the
rocky crust and particular local intensity of force, the same results
would follow under the assigned conditions.
Having in the above paper had occasion to bring together
several scattered notices of recent volcanic action in Sumatra and
the west coast of the peninsula, it may be remarked that some
general facts appear which it may be useful to separate from the
local matters with which they are mixed up.
i. The advance of a great wave upon the land is a circumstance
common to most earthquakes on sea-coasts. Mr. Darwin con-
siders it to be caused by a line of fracture beneath the sea. If
there is a consequent sinking of the sea-bed along the line, the
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 95
rush of waters on both sides to restore the level would occasion
first the retirement of the sea from the shore, and then the pro-
duction of a wave rolling in upon the shore. But might it not
also be caused without any sinking or even rending of the sea-bed ?
A strong blow beneath the earth's crust, imparting a momentary
centrifugal tendency, would cause the sea above the point or line
of impact to rise violently to a height proportioned to the force of
the concussion. But this wave would necessarily be partly above
and partly below the general level, or have a hollow on each side
towards which the neighbouring waters would rush, and thus the
same effect be produced along the adjacent coast as in the former
case. Mr. Darwin also mentions that places situated on shallow
bays suffer great damage from these waves, while those seated
close to the edge of profoundly deep water escape. In the same
manner the waves of the Indian Ocean, on reaching the shallow
coast of Sumatra, rise as they advance until they acquire a great
height. This is probably attributable to the friction of the bottom
retarding the waves, while a constant succession press on from the
sea behind. When bays are narrow, the wave will have a greater
tendency to rise owing to its progressive lateral contraction, as is
seen more markedly in bores.
2. The opening of fissures and evacuation through them of black
fluid matter. The spasmodic expansion and contraction of fissures
continued after the shock.
3. The disruption of portions of mountains or landslips.
4. The elevation of tracts of land.
5. The greater violence of earthquakes on hills. This was ob-
served at Pinang in 1843. Marsden remarks that houses situated
on a low sandy soil are least affected, and those which stand on
distinct hills suffer most from the shocks.
6. The connection between earthquakes and the condition of
the atmosphere. To what is stated by Lieut. Crooke respecting
the great drought which preceded the earthquake at Jambi, the
following extract from Marsden relative to Sumatran earthquakes
in general may be added : " Earthquakes have been remarked
by some to happen usually on sudden changes oi weather, and
particularly after violent heats ; but I do not vouch this upon my
own experience, which has been pretty ample." The earthquake
of 1843 occurred during one of the longest and severest droughts
that had ever happened in Pinang. This drought, which was
attended with oppressive heat and occasional hot winds, never
before experienced within the memory of the residents, appears
to have extended over the northern part of Sumatra.
96 ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
NOTE.
When the foregoing paper was written I had not seen the
talented and elaborate memoir on Indian earthquakes by Lieu-
tenant R. B. Smith, which I received by the Hooghly. The
portions at which I have had time to glance suffice to show that
it contains a mine of wealth. The above notices of Malayan
earthquakes, however meagre, may serve to connect his researches
with the Indian Archipelago respecting the general geology and
recent volcanic disturbances of which I am collecting information.
Meantime the subjoined account which has been furnished me by
ray brother, abridged from the official report of the Alcalde Mayor
of the province of Cagayan in the island of Luzon, of an earth-
quake attended by the subsidence of two hills and by a violent
hurricane which occurred there on the night between October
7 and 8 last, may prove interesting. It will appear in the Singa-
pore Free Press, but I presume that will form no objection to its
being put on record in the more permanent pages of the Journal.
il The Casa Real of Lallo, a brick building, and one of the most
solid edifices in the province, was destroyed. The rector's house
was destroyed, and the roof of the church suffered much damage,
and many other of the public edifices were more or less injured.
The Tribunal stood it out well, and will only require a new roof.
All the wooden houses were levelled with the ground. None of
the attap houses escaped, and the greater part were blown over
with many of their unhappy owners in them, and their little stores
of paddy. The people, notwithstanding, had been since occupied
in repairing the serious injuries which the Renta de Tabacos had
suffered, and the wages, which were paid daily, served as some
consolation to them in the midst of so much misfortune. Five
persons are reckoned to have been killed and eleven wounded.
In Calamaningan, the church and rector's house were entirely
destroyed, and the priest was living in the Royal Tribunal, which
had escaped injury, and in which he had erected an altar. The
wooden houses suffered more than those of Lallo. The attap
houses were all destroyed. The people experienced the misfor-
tune of being caught by the hurricane with the greater part of their
grain still on the ground, the whole of which was destroyed.
Eleven persons were killed, and twenty seriously injured. At
Aparri, the majority of the houses in the district are of wood,
which were mostly all destroyed. The Royal Tribunal, a new and
solid building, was overthrown ; the rector's house destroyed, and
the church much injured. Nearly all the wooden houses were
destroyed, and none of the attap ones escaped, the greater part
going to block up the river or into the sea, which rose into the
village and contributed to make the night more frightful, and to
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 97
augment the number of victims, who amounted to twenty-seven
killed and fifty-three wounded. All the harvest that had been
gathered in perished, being carried into the sea with the houses.
The destruction of buffaloes, horses, cows, and other property was
excessive. In Buguey nearly all houses and buildings were
destroyed ; one man killed. The convent of Abulog was entirely
demolished, the church lost its roof and belfry, and nearly all the
houses were levelled with the ground : eight persons were killed.
To the north of this village, at the distance of six miles, there is a
high hill on the top of which dwelt a number of natives who pay
allegiance to Her Majesty. These people relate that on the evening
preceding the hurricane they felt great and frequent tremblings of
the earth ; that at nightfall they began to hear in the midst of it a
frightful noise, which impelled them to abandon their abode, and
fly, full of fear, to a creek for shelter from the fury of the tempest,
which was increasing. On the ceasing of the storm, on the morn-
ing of the 8th, they returned to their dwelling, when they found
that it, and the hill on which it stood, had sunk ; there appeared
in its place a large lake of black water, of a foetid odour, and
smoking. In Pamplona, the churches and Tribunal were destroyed,
as well as the rest of the houses, with the exception of the church
of the division of Masi, which being of very solid construction,
escaped with trifling injury : five persons were killed. At the
entrance of the river of this village there was a hill sixty feet high
separating the sea from the river, which, having disappeared, the
two waters are now joined, and a wide and practicable passage
opened : five victims are reported. Within the boundaries of
all these districts Nature presents a most sombre picture ; not a
single green tree is to be seen, the thickest trunks alone remaining,
and these as if only left at last to show that vegetation had ceased;
which is no doubt owing to the great quantity of electricity with
which the atmosphere was charged during the hurricane."
Extract from a letter to Professor Ansted, Vice-Secretary of the
Geological Society of London, dated Malacca, February 4, 1847.
Subsequently to the date of the above paper, finding that
but a slow and unsatisfactory progress could be made by land,
I availed myself of the natural vertical sections afforded by the
shores of Singapore, and the smaller islands into which the southern
extremity of the peninsula range is broken, and was thus soon in
possession of a body of facts which gave a certainty and consis-
tency to the above views. I minutely examined the islands of
Piilo Brani, Blakan Mali, Sikiikur, and Sikijang on the one side ;
and Piilo 'Ubin, Piilo Tikong Besar, Piilo Tikong Kechil, Sejahat
Besar and Kechil, &c., on the other side. I also explored the
VOL. II. H
98 ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
neighbouring coasts of the peninsula and the banks of the Johore
River. The result was, that I found the foregoing hypothesis, so
far as it had been developed, to be substantially an expression of
the facts. It had, however, given too much prominence to some
modes of the volcanic or semi-volcanic action, and too little to
others. Thus, although there has been a certain degree of erup-
tion in some cases where the gases in forcing their way to the
surface have excited an unusual mechanical force, their action has,
in general, been limited to a partial reduction and metamorphosis
of the rock in the zones or dykes through which they have passed
up [or in those larger tracts beneath which the surface of the
plutonic sea has risen to such high subterraneous levels that the
whole superincumbent matter has been saturated by its exhala-
tions. I have also noticed several facts which appear to require
us to believe that some portions at least of Singapore were under
water at the time when the gaseous action first reached the surface.
The vast abundance of hydrated peroxide of iron, and the mode
in which ancient ferruginated breccias and conglomerates some-
times occur, would be most simply explained by this hypothesis.
The circumstances adverted to in the paper on this subject must
be borne in mind. In some places a considerable quantity of
matter derived from the hills has been deposited in the intervening
valleys, probably at or soon after the time of elevation, and been
subsequently covered up by modem sea mud, on which mangroves
have rooted and spread].
The most difficult branch of the inquiry has been the relation
between the volcanic action to which the sedimentary rocks have
been subjected, and the crystalline rocks which are associated
with them. But, disregarding this for the present, and considering
the volcanic action apart from any hypothesis of its origin or its rela-
tions, and reasoning from its visible effects, we may lay down this
position absolutely, that the whole region in question (and a much
wider one, as it will be found, extending to the lower ranges of
the Himalayas, a large part of Australia, a part of Africa, &c.) has
been exposed to a well-marked and peculiar, perhaps a unique,*
* This I had been very slow to believe, because although there may be
places where a fossil fauna or flora altogether peculiar is found, it is scarcely
conceivable that any plutonic action should have an entirely local character, or
that one repeated over so many parts of an extensive region in Asia, should not
hitherto have been observed by geologists in Europe or America. I have,
however, read nearly every English work on geology without meeting a de-
scription of any considerable development of rocks in those quarters of the
globe resembling our Interites, and have consequently been obliged to work out
their true theory with little help from books, and by dint of patient and minute
lion. A few months ago I was led to think that English writers were
too much occupied in establishing their own opinions to present a full view of
those of continental geologists, and that the latter were leaving them behind in
the science of rocks of injection, reduction, and eruption. It appeared neces-
sary, therefore, to gather their views from their own explanations of them. In
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 99
igneous action. It has varied in its intensity and mode of opera-
tion, but everywhere certain prevailing characters demonstrate its
unity. These are both chemical and mechanical, the first depend-
ing principally on the never-failing presence of iron, and the latter
evinced by the extraordinary uniformity in the shapes, ramifica-
tions, and even sizes of the ranges in which the rocks affected
have been raised. Whatever be the nature of the original sedimen-
tary strata, this mighty agent has impressed them with the same
marks, and the more powerful its grasp has been the more have
their native peculiarities been confounded. But between the
effects of this intensest force, and that so weak that we barely
detect its touch, the degrees are almost infinite. Still, the only
way in which I can render this slight immethodical sketch at all
intelligible will be to note a few of the better marked disguises
which the rocks assume under this potent influence. I say dis-
guises, because the geology of the Malay Peninsula almost wholly
resolves itself into the identification of the original rock under
its multiplex transformations. Without a key to this, derived from
a minute examination and comparison of the modes of alteration,
the whole is a dark riddle, or our geology becomes a congeries of
bewildered gropings and sheer mistakes.
The first or lowest degree of alteration, let us say in a clay, is
the formation of isolated blotches of a reddish colour in the rock,
but unaccompanied by any other apparent change.
Second, a slight comparative hardness in the blotches.
Third, in addition a grittiness they may now be termed nodules
or concretions, and we may include in this catalogue all degrees
from an incipient grittiness to a hard compact character, which
gives the nodule the appearance of an imbedded pebble. [The
nodules are sometimes hard and compact without being gritty or
quartzose, and they are gritty in their nascent state where the rock
is originally arenaceous in any degree.]
the first work which I ordered, and which I received two days ago by the over-
land mail, I found an allusion to a district in Europe which has been described
by an eminent French geologist, and which, if I may judge from the few lines
in which it is referred to, must be in many respects analogous to the lateritic
tracts of the Malay Peninsula, and consequently of India, &c., also. In a few
months I hope to have the means of ascertaining whether this is the fact, and
also whether in the writings of other continental geologists any similar tracts
are noticed. A few days ago Mr. Balestier put into my hands a letter which
he had received from one of the gentlemen attached to the recent French
embassy to China, a pupil of the celebrated chemist Dumas, in which he ex-
plains the views of himself and another member of the embassy on the geology
of Singapore. His theory of the origin of the laterite had occurred to me when
I first began to suspect its real nature. As my observations extended and
became more minute, I found that such a theory only explained a small part of
the phenomena, and that which I have now held for about two years gradually
developed itself, growing clearer and simpler in proportion as it embraced
wider ranges of facts. J. R. L., March 16, 1847.
H 2
ioo ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
Fourth, the nodules bulge out at different points, and the pre-
ceding three degrees may be repeated in nodules of this shape.
Fifth, the arms or branches unite so that the rock is pervaded
by a complete congeries or ramification of red, rounded, but
irregularly shaped branches. The form of these branches varies
very much, but is generally uniform for a considerable space.
Very frequently it is as if ginger roots were continued in all direc-
tions. At other times the spaces between the ramifications
are narrow sinuous perforations or isolated vesicles or deep
straight tubes, or chambers in tubes. This structure is sometimes
the result of an allied or predisposing structure in the rock
affected, and at other times it appears to be wholly superinduced
by the altering agency. In this last form the red portion is found
of various degrees of hardness, but not so soft as the first degree.
In general it possesses a medium degree of hardness, so as to be
cut with an axe.*
Sixth. In this class we may include the products of all degrees
of heat that has been suddenly applied in sufficient force to pro-
duce calcination, and this distinguishes it from all the preceding,
in which the rock has been merely impregnated with hot ferrugi-
nous gases or vapours where the calcination has not been great
the original structure of the rock is better preserved than in the
merely impregnated rock, because in the latter the indurating
action of the iron, the different degrees of its oxidation when it
comes within the influence of water and air, and the washing out
of the softer portions in the hollows, often give it an amygdaloidal
or vesicular structure totally different from that of the original
rock ; a slight roasting on the other hand preserves the latter, and
saves it from meteoric destruction. The limit of this preserving
power is soon reached, and every higher degree of heat and larger
infusion of iron exerts in each rock a corresponding destructive
or altering power, and approaches nearer that point where the
original differences in the rocks cease to be distinguishable. The
extreme limits of this class appear to be where the rock is merely
scorched on the surface, preserving its original character beneatft,
and where it is thoroughly reduced to a cinder. This class of
rocks very frequently present mamillated and botryoidal surfaces.
It occurs in dykes and on the sides of fissures through which hot
blasts appear to have rushed. It also occurs in an outer layer or
thick crust over rocks of the fifth class, in which case it would
appear that the different effects produced by the same gas arose
from the upper crust being exposed to the air and consequently
burnt. In the same way the calcination to some depth on the
sides of fissures may have arisen in certain cases, not from the gas
that rushed through them being hotter than that in the body of
* It hardens on free exposure to the atmosphere and is used in building.
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 101
the rock (though this was most likely the fact in general), but
from the presence of air producing combustion. Between dykes
of this last class, rocks altered in the above fifth degree are com-
mon ; but dykes of the fifth degree also occur. The difference
in every case will depend on the relative intensity of the heat and
degree of ferrugi nation of the gas, and the fact whether there was
air to support combustion or not.
The preceding remarks are applicable chiefly to rocks either
composed of clay or in which there is a basis of clay. But a
very small proportion of clay suffices for the exhibition of the
above modes of action. When the rock is wholly arenaceous,
nodules are not formed. The rock is reduced to a dry incoherent
or friable mass where the action has been slight. Where it has
been greater, a network of cracks pervades the rocks, and the
seams have either a thin plate of blackish ferruginous crust included
between them, or their sides have a similar thin coating which is
often covered with an exceedingly minute mamillation. In some
cases the matter between the seams or ferruginous walls has been
dissipated, and the rock appears as a black honeycomb. In all
instances of high calcination the sandstone is greatly indurated.
It is sometimes converted into a crystalline rock.
Friable shales, again, are sometimes changed into a dry powdery
matter resembling volcanic ash.
Where the bodies of the strata are not altered, their planes of
junction are sometimes slightly indurated and mamillated. The
gas in every case has taken the readiest channels to the surface,
and where fissures have not assisted its emission, it has forced
itself through the planes of least cohesion, such as the junction
planes of different beds, cleavage planes, &c. It thus often ex-
poses the internal structure of the rock where it would otherwise
appear compact. The composition of the rock has often had a
great influence in determining the channel of emission, so that
its action sometimes is chiefly confined to one or more strata, the
adjoining beds appearing to be little if at all affected.
Quartz frequently accompanies the ferruginous change, but
rarely to a considerable extent.
The above are the most common modes of alteration, but there
are others approaching nearer to true metamorphism. Clay is
converted into a porcellanous or jaspidious. substance sandstone
into a hard siliceous flinty substance. Conglomerates and breccias
have frequently a base of this nature.*
The mechanical force accompanying the evolution of the hot
ferruginous gases or vapours has been great, but it has been
exerted within narrow limits. Thus the strata are often vertical,
* I have since found on the eastern coast of Pulo Krimin Kichil (the little
Carimon) great masses of clays and conglomerates transformed into a perfect
crystalline chert as hard as flint. J. R. L.
102 ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
and generally rise at high angles, but the dip varies much, and
even in adjacent hills of the same connected range is sometimes
reversed. Yet they are never raised more than a few hundred
feet above the common basal level, and the majority of the almost
innumerable hillocks which compose the ranges of Singapore are
probably rather under than above 100 feet. At the southern ex-
tremity of the western St. John's (Piilo Sikijang) two adjoining
hills have been formed by strata being bent into a convex shape,
rising only a few feet above the level of the beach. There is a
remarkable approach to uniformity in the strike of all the strata
and in the direction of the hill ranges. Speaking generally, it may
be said to approximate to N.W. S.E. The hills have commonly
mamillary surfaces. The ranges may be said to consist of distinct
hills bulging out and united at their sides. The central hills are
generally the more bulky. Lateral hills ramify on each side to a
short distance. The whole connected system is disposed in a
symmetrical ramose manner, indicating a wonderful uniformity in
the mode of operation of the dynamical forces which produced
them. The investigation of the forms of these hills, and of the
laws of the mechanical forces of which they are the result, as-
sumes a high interest and importance when we find that these
forms are not confined to Singapore, but are repeated in low hill
ranges over large portions of the peninsula, Sumatra, Southern
India, Northern India, Northern Australia, &c., and accompanied,
as I believe, by volcanic phenomena of exactly the same nature
as those which I have described. I do not say that the phe-
nomena are identical at all points. In Singapore itself they vary
almost infinitely. But they are always analogous, frequently the
same, and to my mind are undoubtedly the product of one well-
marked species of volcanic* action.
I should not omit to notice the frequent occurrence, in those
ranges which have been most burnt, of mounds or monticules of
scorious blocks, sometimes on the summits, and sometimes
bulging out from the sides of hills. The ridges and angles of
hills appear frequently to present scorious blocks.
The valleys between the long hill ranges are in Singapore per-
fectly flat, so that they display the outlines of the bases of the
ranges almost as well as if they still remained what they were at
no very remote period, long narrow inlets of the sea. This cir-
cumstance also is not confined to Singapore.
I will now briefly notice the nature of the sedimentary rocks
* In reference to the igneous changes which the rocks have undergone, I
use the words volcanic and plutonic indiscriminately, because a minute exami-
nation of some of the best marked developments of crystalline rocks (graduating
from basaltic to granitic types) at the extremity of the peninsula, has led me to
think that though the distinction is useful and appropriate in some regions, the
theory which it expresses is not sound as a general one at least as expounded
by many geologists.
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 103
which have been more or less altered and elevated in the modes
I have mentioned. If you think it worth while, you can, I dare
say, procure a copy of Mr. Thomson's chart of Singapore Straits
from the Admiralty for reference. It would scarcely be advisable
at present to attempt to make a geological map. The southern
portion of the island (including the town, the adjacent district to
the N.W. ; the ranges between the road from the town to Biikit
Timah, the central and highest hill, and the sea to the S.W.), and
the islands of Blakan Mali, Piilo Brdni, St. John's, &c., are com-
posed of shales, clays, sandstones and conglomerates, the shales
predominating. It is impossible to refer these rocks to any place
in your European systems, as no organic remains have yet been
discovered, and the only rocks with which they are associated are
hypogene. In their general appearance and mineralogical charac-
ters they agree with the aluminous and arenaceous beds of the
new red sandstone. Between the parallel of strike passing
through the town and the steep Tulloh Blangan range there is an
area about a mile in breadth, stretching from the sea inland over
the Tanjong Pagar and Tanghir districts, and of course in a
direction approaching to N.W., and in the opposite direction,
including Piilo Brdni and the eastern portion of Blakan Ma"tf,
composed in great measure of shale strata, although a few of
sandstone also occur. The prevailing colours of the shale beds
are dull violet, liver brown, and chocolate. Beds of the most
lively variegated colours sometimes occur molted, striped,
damasked, &c. ; the colours are white, yellow, orange, red, violet,
purple, green, bluish, and blackish, in addition to the dull violet
and chocolate. To the N.E. of this tract sandstone is more
frequently interstratified. To the S.VV. sandstones, grits, and
coarse conglomerates prevail ; and these are continued, interstra-
tified, however, with some shales, from the range along the coast of
Tulloh Blangan through the western portion of Blakan Mati, and
through Sikiikiir and Sikijang (St. John's), in a south-westerly
zone. I have not yet pursued this zone farther across the strait,
but the island of Sambo, on the other side, is a continuation of
the same parallel of elevation, and may consist of the same rocks.
To the N.E. of the town a large alluvial plain sweeps into the
country. The hills around it are principally arenaceous. The
arenaceous band, however, on the N.W. of the plain merely
skirts it. Beyond this band (and succeeding the sandstone
ranges to the N.E. of the shale tract first noticed) a broad zone
of clayey hills, of which the boundaries are irregular, but which
may be from three to four miles in breadth, stretches through the
heart of the island of Biikit Timah, and thence across to the Sa"ldt
Tambroh, or old Strait of Singapore, behind the island. The tract
to the S.W. of this, stretching from the parallel of the S.W.
boundary of the shale band to the S.W. point of the island
104 ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
(Tanjong Giil), is composed principally of sandstone and shale,
but granitic bases and ranges also occur. The great clay tract I
believe to consist in large measure of decomposed hypogene
rocks sienitic and granitic chiefly (it has only, however, been
partially examined or laid open). Blocks of these rocks are seen
at the surface in some of the hills, and the sections made by
roads so exactly resemble decomposed crystalline rocks, that I
have no doubt the whole of the clay hills are at bottom
hypogene rocks. Their structure and composition I believe to
be very variable. This tract is continued over a considerable
part of the rest of the island to the N.E., but a large tract of
sandstone (accompanied by a very little shale) stretches into it.
The coast boundary of this tract is a line of about four miles,
extending along the south-eastern shore of the island from Siglap
to beyond Tanah Mera Besar (the Red Cliffs). It insulates the
granitic N.E. projecting portion of the island at Changy, embraces
the northern coast from the inner extremity of this promontory to
the inner extremity of that of Piingal, and then proceeds inland.
The line of its junction on the N.W. with the granitic tract that
surrounds it I have not yet ascertained, but it is probably irregular.
On the S.W. it connects itself with the arenaceous band surrounding
the plain previously mentioned, and indeed forms the larger
portion of the boundary of the plain. It then stretches inland
for some distance, having the S.E. projection of the great granite
tract interposed between it and the arenaceous and shaley bands,
first above noticed. P. 'Ubin is entirely hypogene, varying from
granitic to compact types. Hornblende is largely developed.
The structure of the rocks is highly curious and interesting. I
have given much attention to this island, and in the beginning of
September last sent a full account of it, and of the geological
views to which it seemed to lead, to the Bataviaasch Genootschap
van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, in whose Transactions, the
president writes me, it will appear. In this paper I had been
led to some views with which I find Mr. Darwin had been occu-
pied, and which are developed in the chapter on plutonic and
metamorphic rocks in his geological observations on South
America, of which, though bearing the same date as my paper, I
did not receive a copy till about a fortnight ago. The germ of
his ideas is, however, contained in his " Volcanic Islands," which
I have referred to in my paper. As I have also considered the
subject from some other, and, as I believe, new points of view, I
shall send you a copy of the paper in English, the " Batavian
Transactions" being in Dutch.* The coast of the mainland
* In a general descriptive sketch of some portion of the Straits of Malacca
which I sent to the Geographical Society some time ago, I mentioned the sin-
gular grooved rocks at the Chinese Quarries on 1*. 'Ubin, and hazarded some
conjectures respecting their origin ; when I wrote that paper I had made only
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 105
behind P. 'Ubin consists of rocks some of which would be called
plutonic and others volcanic, like those of Piilo 'Ubin, but the
whole are undoubtedly of the same contemporaneous origin. At
Runto, in the estuary of the Johore River, sandstone similar to
that of the Singapore Red cliffs, and, like it, remarkable for being
nearly horizontal, is exposed. Farther up the river the rocks
exposed are of a decomposed felspathic character, and exactly
resemble some of those of the hypogene tract of Singapore. At
one place a hard ferruginous crust about nine inches thick over-
laid a decomposed felspathic rock. Piilo Tikong Besar and
Kechil consist chiefly of sandstones and in part of shales, often
greatly altered by volcanic action. On the coast to the S.E. near
Johore Hill, or at Tanjong Pingrang, are found within a small
compass soft shale or clay clay indurated so as to resemble
chert conglomerate highly indurated and partially transformed
quartz rock, and traces of blackish brown skgs, indicating
various degrees and even some difference in the mode of the
volcanic action.
The connection between the crystalline and sedimentary rocks
of the district is susceptible of two explanations. We may either
consider the former in their fluid or viscous state as having been
the immediate agents of the volcanic and mechanical forces to
which the latter have been subjected, or we may consider the
former as the product of the first plutonic action beneath this
region ; the latter as sedimentary rocks subsequently accumulated
[over them] during a period of quiescence, and their fracture,
upheaval, and alteration as the effects of a new excitement to
activity in the plutonic sea below, in which the old plutonic crust,
with its sedimentary covering was broken and upheaved, and
ferruginous or ferro-siliceous gases copiously emitted through the
lines of fracture. On either supposition the ferruginous character
of the emissions would be accounted for, because the upper
granites, &c., contain much iron in their hornblende, and whether
the mass below the granite crust had remained in its fluid state
during the deposit of the sedimentary rocks, or had been wholly
solidified and subsequently melted down anew, the gases given
off from it, when vents were formed, would probably preserve the
same character as those given off from its original surface before
any granitic crust had been formed. I cannot stop now to ex-
plain how the prevailing plutonic theories, as applied to the
phenomena of the district, seemed, at the time when the paper
first mentioned was written, to require the adoption of the
one flying visit to the quarries and was under the impression that the deep
channels were confined to this locality. My first geological visit subsequently
at once undeceived me. In the paper forwarded to the Batavian Society I
have shown how these channels have resulted from the original structure of the
rock under ordinary decomposing and eroding influences.
io6 ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
opinion that the granites, &c., were in existence when the volcanic
action took place. Even under the influence of these theories I
considered the point as very doubtful, and although it involved
consequences irreconcilable with these theories, I ventured to
hazard the conjecture that the upper hypogene rocks had been
the immediate agents of the changes. The examination of Pulo
'Ubin shook my faith in these theories as expounded by some of
their principal advocates, and the conjecture assumed a high de-
gree of probability. Latterly I had all but embraced it, but still
supended its complete adoption in the hope that I would discover
some phenomenon amounting to ocular proof of its truth.
I have only another point to advert to before I come to Malacca.
If you have taken any interest in Indian geology, you are doubt-
less acquainted with the rock called laterite which prevails so
largely in Southern India, and is also found in Bengal, &c., and
which to this day remains the most fertile subject of discord
amongst Indian geologists, although the general opinion appears
of late to have settled down in favour of its being a sedimentary
deposit. In the paper first alluded to in this letter I made the
following remarks with reference to laterite : " Many of the
clayey hills here [in Singapore] appear to me to be decomposed
sienite, sometimes unaltered by supervening volcanic action, but
generally partaking in the metamorphism which the matter of most
of the elevated land has suffered from that cause."
May I venture to suggest that the hypothesis which is developed
in this paper for Singapore, might, if applied to the laterite of
India, perhaps explain its origin, and in doing so to a certain
extent also reconcile the conflicting opinions that have been main-
tained regarding it ? All that I have read of the great laterite
formations of the south of India, and which extend to the heart of
Bengal, where they are described by Dr. Buchanan Hamilton,
leads to the conclusion that they are not purely volcanic, sedi-
mentary, or decomposed matter, but what I have termed semi-
volcanic. The same formation is found at Malacca, and analogous
deposits occur at Singapore, and both are inseparably associated
and evidently contemporaneous with altered rocks of the kind
previously noticed. If we conceive an area with trap, granite,
sandstone, shale, &c., exposed at the surface (in the atmosphere
or in the sea), and partly decomposed or disintegrated, to be sub-
jected to a peculiar species of minor volcanic action like that
which is described in this paper* (the distinctive phenomenon, pro-
* Whether the upper plutonic rocks were the direct sources of the igneous
action, or were themselves, together with the sedimentary rocks acted on by a
lower plutonic sea, does not affect my explanation of the formation of laterites ;
for whether I adopt the one or the other view of the source Q{ the injections and
impregnations which produced the laterites, or remain in doubt on the subject,
the fact, deduced from the actual examination of these rocks, that they have
been so produced, is not at all rendered doubtful.
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 107
bably, of one and the same geological epoch}, the results would be,
that with the occasional exception of matter ejected from no great
depth, and some dykes and veins, the previous soft surface rocks
would be merely altered and metamorphosed by heat and impreg-
nated with iron, derived perhaps from the basaltic and other
ferriferous rocks through which the discharged steam, gases, and
water had passed in their ascent. Whether the action took place
under or above the sea would be determined by the presence or
absence of the ordinary marks of oceanic denudation. When
clays strongly ferruginous and soft from saturation with water, are
dried, the iron previously held in solution by the water is deposited
between the particles, and cements them into a hard compact
rock. Hence the induration of laterite clays on exposure to the
atmosphere." My opinion therefore was that, though proper
laterite was nothing more than one of the forms of alteration pro-
duced by plutonic ferruginous gases that which, in the arbitrary
scale formerly given, I have called the fifth degree and that any
rock in which a sufficient quantity of clay was present, whether it
were purely sedimentary or a decomposed crystalline or compact
rock, or whatever its origin or character in other respects was
would, on being exposed to certain degrees of impregnation by
such gases, and under the conditions before adverted to, become
later ized. This opinion was abundantly confirmed by later obser-
vations, but these also proved that iron alone was capable of
producing rocks of a lateritic form. The result therefore was
that, although proper laterite is produced in the mode which I
have mentioned, yet that mode is not essential to the formation
of a lateritic structure. The only essential thing is the diffusion of
iron in ramifications throughout a clayey rock. Get the iron so
diffused, and it is of little consequence by what door it was intro-
duced. The only distinctive quality of proper laterite is that it
has not merely got the iron, but has been in various degrees
baked in the process of impregnation, and close examination can
always discover traces of this. On the other hand, iron may be
introduced by aqueous saturation, and if the soft rocks so saturated
have planes of inferior cohesion, as many rocks have, the iron will
there accumulate. If the iron solution pervade a homogeneous
clayey rock as water does a sponge, the segregating or concre-
tionary quality of iron so diffused may gradually draw it into
connected nodules or ramifications ; and indeed it is probable
that in all cases of volcanic gaseous impregnation of the compact
parts of rocks the ferruginous matter remained for a time diffused
throughout the rock, and that this segregating tendency subse-
quently superinduced its contraction into ramifications and
blotches. Where the gaseous impregnation was weak, it would
speedily draw into isolated blotches ; where stronger, into isolated
concretions ; where strongest, and the heat not too great, into
loS ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
ramifications. Again, the iron may be laid up in the heart of a
crystalline rock solidified from a plutonic fluid holding iron, and
the essential condition for the production of the laterite structure
may be found in decomposed hornblendic or even black mica-
ceous granites that have not been subjected to any supervening
volcanic action. The oxidation of iron solutions in clays on
exposure to the air, and the combustion of rocks by heated
ferruginous gas, are chemically related, and the product of these
two processes, geologically so widely sundered, is sometimes
difficultly distinguishable by the eye. Ancient conglomeritic and
brecciated laterites and ferruginous rocks appear to have been
formed in many localities at or soon after the period of the
ferruginous emissions by fragments or pebbles settling down in a
sandy or clayey base saturated with ferruginous water. Similar
conglomerates, breccias, and sandstones are at present forming
along the coasts where the hills or banks above contain much
iron ; but all these are very obviously distinguishable from .the
original plutonically laterized sedimentary rocks.
When I visited Malacca about two years ago I had paid very
little attention to these subjects, and had not formed the preceding
views. When an opportunity occurred at the beginning of last
month of revisiting the place, I eagerly seized the occasion of
testing these views in a new locality, and one which had been
decribed by geologists, such as Captain Newbold and Dr. Ward,
familiar with the much-vexed laterites of Southern India. Captain
Newbold, in his work on the Straits, describes the Malacca hills
" as being generally of granite, with the exception of a few near
the sea-coast, which are of laterite overlying the granite. Speci-
mens of hornblende rock have been brought to me, he continues,
from a hill a little south of Malacca ; the islets on the coasts are
of granite of various kinds, with white, red, and green felspar. In
all, the felspar appears to be predominant, and mica deficient."
Dr. Ward says of the Malacca laterite : "In all its properties it
agrees exactly with the rock common on the Malabar coast, and
described by Dr. Buchanan under the name of laterite." I was
now therefore, for the first time, in a position to bring my theory
to the strongest test, for I had not seen any specimen of Indian
laterite, and could only compare some of the apparently analogous
Singapore rocks with it from descriptions. Captain Newbold, in
one of the latest of his numerous papers on the geology of
Southern India, describes very minutely the often-mentioned
laterite of Beder, and makes some remarks on the long-debated
question of origin. He combats the idea that it is a contem-
poraneous rock associating with trap, or a product, like trap, of
igneous fusion. He also casts doubt on the theory advocated by
several geologists, of the laterite being " nothing more than the
result of the recent disintegration of the granitic and trappean rocks
GEOLOGY OF SINGAPORE. 109
in situ" and, without giving a decided opinion, says : " The beds
of lignite discovered by General Cullan and myself in the laterite
of Malabar and Travancore, and the deposits of petrified wood in
the Red Hills of Pondichery, in a rock which, though differing in
structure, I consider as identical in age with the laterite, and other
facts too long for enumeration here, points rather to its detrital
origin like sandstone" * (" Journal of the Asiatic Society of
Bengal," vol. xiii. p. 995, 1844.) Mr. Darwin, I may mention in
passing, seems to lean to a similar opinion with respect to
analogous rocks noticed by him. " The origin of these superficial
beds," he says, " though sufficiently obscure, seems to be du'e to
alluvial action on detritus abounding with iron." (" Volcanic
Islands," p. 143.)
The first lateritic locality which I visited on my arrival here
was the island of Pulo Upa, from which much laterite has been
removed for building purposes, and where it continues to be cut.
The first fragment which I knocked off the rock at once satisfied
me that my theory was correct. It was a rock totally different in
its original character from any which I have found at the southern
extremity of the peninsula, but which, by the same agency that
altered the ordinary sedimentary rocks there, had been trans-
formed from a common argillo-micaceous schist into a rock
undistinguishable, save on minute inspection, and, where the
alteration has been great, absolutely undistinguishable from some
of the altered sedimentary shales and clays of Singapore. Upon
careful examination I found, as I expected, in the sections afforded
by the coast of this little islet, the original unaltered micaceous
rock with great bands or dykes, and overlying masses, exhibiting
abundant varieties of transformation from a rock slightly dis-
coloured by the ferruginous action through several lateritic types,
to the calcined slaggy form in which the original composition and
structure are wholly obliterated. I cannot enter into further
particulars. My subsequent examination of about fifty miles of
the coast from Pulo Arang Arang (P. Arram), southward, and of
a portion of the interior of Malacca, has proved that the whole of
this region has been originally composed in a great measure of
the same argillo-micaceous schist. I shall hereafter give its
mineralogical characters, for I have not time nor means at present
to ascertain them carefully. It is soft and glistering like silk, and
leaves a powder on the fingers which exactly resembles in appear-
ance the fine glistering powdery down from a butterfly's wing. In
some cases it is less dry and more argillaceous. With the
exception of Cape Rachadof it has almost everywhere been more
* I have read all Captain Newbold's papers with the attention which they
deserve, and I think every fact which he notices in his notes on laterite tracts
is reconcilable with the theory which I maintain.
t Where the plutonic action has been of a silicifying more than a ferruginat-
ing nature.
no ON THE LOCAL AND RELATIVE
or less penetrated in bands (and broad spaces occasionally) by
ferruginous gas, which has transformed it into one or other of the
forms before described, or some intermediate forms. Dykes and
veins of pure quartz and of quartz with numerous fissures filled
with an iron crust are frequent in some localities, while in others
they are wanting. Wherever these dykes and veins occur the
foliation of the schist is much contorted. In some localities the
surface is covered with black shining mamillated scorious blocks
passing down into a lateritic mass, in which the schist is often
not greatly altered, but is penetrated by ramifying dykes and veins
of a ferruginous, quartzose, or quartzo-ferruginous character.
Isolated pseudo-crystals and isolated plates of quartz occur in the
schist in some places, and, on the other hand, patches of the
schist are found in the hearts of large pieces of quartz. But it
would require other twenty pages to give even an outline of the
varied and irregular manner in which the rock has been altered.
If we did not everywhere come upon poitions of the original rock
unaltered, or find traces of it in the altered tracts, it would be
almost impossible to believe that all the varieties of the latter have
had a common origin. I must briefly allude to Cape Rachado.
This is a bolder and higher range than any found elsewhere along
the coast, and projects far into the Straits. It is the only locality
which I have yet seen where the quartzose has predominated over
the ferruginous action of the plutonic gases. The rock every-
where exhibits unequivocal evidence of its having been originally
the same argillo-micaceous schist which prevails over the rest of
the region. In some places the cliffs are almost wholly quartzose ;
in others the rock is a congeries of quartz veins and folia? ; in
others the seams between the quartz foliae have a coating of the
original mica ; in others the original mica predominates, and the
quartz is more sparingly scattered through it. Broad dykes of
compact quartz, of quartz mixed with a ferruginous crust, of
numerous parallel veins with quartz crystals springing from their
sides, and the interstices filled with a black ferruginous substance,
sometimes dull and sometimes shining (apparently hydrated oxide
of iron), and of quartz holding a similar substance in seams also
occur. One of the largest and boldest cliffs has been converted
into a compact siliceous rock pervaded by numerous quartzose
and ferruginous dykes and veins. In some places a complete
network of fissures ramifies through the rock, and it is evident
that quartzo-ferruginous gas or vapour has been injected through
these fissures and the large veins and dykes, and metamorphosed
the rock.
At the Water Islands south of Malacca, and at Tanjong
Panchur and Budewa to the north, I carefully examined some
large developments of granitic rocks. In the former I found
some dykes composed of quartz felspar and a ferruginous sub-
GEOL OG Y OF SINGAPORE. 1 1 1
stance similar to that already noticed. In decomposed felspar,
and also in solid quartz in those dykes I found much both of
decomposed and of undecomposed iron pyrites. Although these
dykes seem to countenance the idea that the plutonic agency
which has so greatly affected the superior rocks was exerted after
the formation of the upper granite, I have from all my observations
come to a different conclusion. I cannot now state its grounds,
and I do not positively bind myself to an opinion which
perhaps I cannot demonstrate beyond doubt to be correct ; but
the result of my constant consideration of the subject in all its
relations, and with reference to every new locality that I have
explored, is as follows : The whole region has been subjected to
plutonic reduction. The plutonic fluid by its pressure has caused
fractures in N.W.-S.E. lines, and it has swollen up in ramifying
bands having that general direction. Its pressure and heat have
varied at different portions of its surface. In some places the
heat has been so intense as to reduce all the superincumbent rock
up to the very surface into its own substance, and it has swollen
up into mountains in the interior and hills in the exterior lateritic
tracts of the peninsula.*
The transformed and partially transformed sedimentary hill
ranges rest, I conceive, upon granite bubbles! where the plutonic
action has been less intense. The fissures and cracks formed by
the pressure of these bubbles have been the channels, the gases
given off from their surface the immediate agents, of all the altera-
tions. The tracts where only granite now appears swelling above
the surface had previously passed through the same stages. In
other words, laterite is one of the earliest stages in the reduction
* This is opposed to prevalent theory, and it may be asked whether in that
case it would not have flowed over? But I have found it impossible to apply
the prevalent plutonic theory I mean that of a necessarily Tartarean origin
of granite, &c. to the granites of the south of the peninsula, considered even
per se, and I would ask in return whether there is any proof or probability that
granite prior to solidification ever exists in the upper crust of the globe in any
other form than as a viscid cohesive mass. I believe that granitic bubbles
always swell up with exceeding slowness, and that the centre of the bubble (if
its base be of great size) may remain for centuries, or even longer, in a viscid
state, while a thick solid crust of granite has formed on the sides and summit,
and that the central part will still exert a slow upward and outward pressure
as it solidifies, and may itself be subject to a long-continued elevatory pressure
from the sea below. In other words, the summits of granitic mountains and
minor masses may go on rising above the base, after the latter with the whole
surface has solidified, and when the base has no further upraised movement,
save what it may possess in common with the plutonic sea below. Great dis-
locations in the upper crust must necessarily result, but does not every plutonic
mountain range bear witness to such dislocations ? I must refer to my paper
on Pulo 'Ubin for the facts on which these views are based.
t I do not mean that each base or hill range has a corresponding protuberance
on the surface of the plutonic base, but that the whole system of hills and
hillocks has been produced by inequalities in that surface, and by the direc-
tions which the principal and divergent lines of fracture have taken.
ii2 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
of the upper rocks superincumbent on a plutonic sea into the
substance of which that sea is composed. Where the heat has
been least intense the upper rocks have merely been raised ;
where greater, lateritic, scorious, and other partially altered hill
ranges have been produced. A higher degree of plutonic action
has produced quartzo- ferruginous ranges like that of Cape
Rachado. The highest degree has transformed or reduced the
whole into granite and allied crystalline rocks ; from the mode in
which the granites, &c., come to the surface at Singapore, we see
that the whole region there has been broken up by the plutonic
sea below. I can proceed no further, however, at present, and
must close this rough draught of my ideas. 1
XXXVII.
CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING THE
MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS.
Collected or observed by THEODORE CANTOR, M.D., Bengal
Medical Service.
["Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal," vol. xvi. pp. 607-656, 897-952,
1026-1078.]
CHELONIA.
FAM. ELODID/E, or MARSH TORTOISES, Dum. and Bibr.
SUB-FAM. CRYPTODERIN.E, Dum. and Bibr.
Gen. GEOEMYDA, Gray.
HEAD covered with thin continued skin ; chin not bearded. Legs
strong, not fringed behind. Toes 5-4, strong, short, free, covered
above by a series of shields ; claws short. Tail tapering ; shell
depressed, three-keeled; hinder edge strongly toothed. Sternum
solid, broad truncated before, notched behind; gular plate linear,
band-like, small ; axillary and inguinal plates small.
1 [See also the following papers by the same author: "The Rocks of Pulo
Ubin," in vol. xxii. (1846) of the " Verhandelingen van het 15ataviaasch
Genootschap ; " " Notices of the Geology of the Straits of Singapore," in the
" Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society," vol. vii. (1851), pp. 310-344,
and reprinted in the "Journal of the Indian Archipelago," vol. vi. (1852),
pp. 179-217; and "Journal of an Excursion from Singapur to Malacca and
1'inang," in vol. xvi. of the " Journal of the R. Geogr. Soc." pp. 304-331.]
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 113
GEOEMYDA SPINOSA, Bell.
SYN. Emys spinosa, Bell apud Dum. and Bibr.
Emys bispinoso, Schlegel.
Testudo emys, M tiller?
Geoemyda spinosa, Gray.
Shell oblong, subquadrate, keeled, flattened above, chestnut
coloured, front and hinder edge strongly serrated ; vertebral plates
broad, first suburceolate ; costal plates with a posterior subsuperior
areola, with a slight subconic tubercle ; beneath yellow, brown-
rayed ; young depressed, pale brown, bluntly keeled, with a distinct
spine in the areola of each discal plate.
Hills*
Sumatra.
Two individuals were observed by the Hon. Sir William Norris,
late Recorder of H.M. Court of Judicature in the Straits of
Malacca, on the Great Hill at Pinang, at a distance from water.
The colour of the shell is a dirty brownish ochre, here and there
with sooty rays, which numerously intersect the concave sternum.
The keel, the marginal spines, and the costal tubercles are nearly
obliterated, and the shell presents frequent marks of corrosion.
The larger individual is of the following dimensions :
Length of the head . ...... i f inches.
>i n eck ....... if
shell ....... 8
ii ii tail ....... if
A large tick was firmly adhering to the throat of one of these
tortoises, the presence of which, however, does not indicate an
exclusively terrestiial life, as one species at least of the Ricinia
(Ixodes ophiophilus, M tiller?) occurs on aquatic as well as terres-
trial serpents. The following are the characters of Ixodes geoemydtz.
The short sucker is depressed, slightly widening towards the bifid
apex, and encased by the palpi. Above and at a short distance
from the latter are two minute rounded fossae. The cephalic,
tetragonal plate is of a reddish-brown colour, with a yellow spot
at the posterior angle. The oval body is dark pearl-coloured.
On each side, close to the articulation of the posterior leg, appears
a small rounded horny plate. The legs are reddish-brown, with a
yellow spot at each of the joints, except the last. Swollen as the
* Localities printed in italics signify those from whence the animals of the
catalogue were obtained ; in ordinary type those previously given by authors.
The descriptions are in most cases taken from life ; in the few in which it is
expressly noted, shortly after death ; in none from specimens preserved in
spirits of wine.
VOL. II. I
ii4 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
tick appeared, it measured six-eighths of an inch in length, half an
inch in breadth.
Gen. EMYS, Brogniart.
Head moderate, covered with a thin hard skin ; chin not
bearded. Feet short, covered with scales; toes 5-4, strong,
shielded above, webbed to the claws. Tail moderate. Shell,
depressed. Sternum solid, broad, truncated before, notched
behind, affixed to the thorax by a bony symphysis, covered by the
ends of the pectoral and abdominal plates ; axillary and inguinal
plates moderate, distinct.
A. Vertebral plates lozenge-shaped. Gray.
EMYS CRASSICOLLIS, Bell, MSS. apud Gray, apud Horsfield :
" Life of Raffles."
SYN. Emys crassicollis, Bell apud Dum. and Bibr.
Emys Spengleri, var. Schlegel.
Shell ovate, oblong, rather convex, revolute on the sides and
deeply toothed behind, black, slightly three-keeled ; keels close ;
first vertebral plate elongate, six-sided; sternum flat, pale, and
keeled on the sides ; head and neck thick, black.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang.
Sumatra, Java.
In Malayan individuals, numerously inhabiting rivulets and
ponds in the valleys, the throat is whitish, and a small white spot
appears on each side of the occiput. The vertebral keels and the
lateral spines become obliterated with age. The largest individual
observed was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head if inches.
neck if
shell 9
i> tail ij
It feeds upon frogs, and also upon shell-fish and animal offal.
Old Malay women, who may be seen after every heavy fall of rain,
spending hours, rod in hand, over the overflowing ditches, out of
which their huts rise, are often ludicrously disappointed on per-
ceiving this tortoise on the hook.
B. Vertebral plates broad, six-sided. Gray.
EMYS PLATYNOTA, Gray.
SYN. " Katong" of the Malays of the Peninsula.
B Shell ovate, convex, yellow dotted, with the centre of the back
quite flat, as if truncated ; shields striated, nucleus central ; verte-
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 115
bral shields broader than long, six-sided, fifth keeled ; the front and
hinder margin strongly toothed ; sternum flat, truncated before
and slightly notched behind ; tail moderate, tapering.
HAD. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang.
Sumatra.
Mr. Gray's description refers to the young animal, of which the
length of the shell is given in u Proceed. Zoolog. Soc." 1834, p. 54,
as 9 inches. The representation of Emys platynota in " Illust.
Ind. Zool.," from its size and the strongly toothed flat front and
hind margins of the shell, also appears to be a young animal. The
penultimate (the fourth) vertebral shield is represented as divided
in two pieces, which if so in the original, must be accidental, as
normally the fourth vertebral shield is six-sided, and in size nearly
equalling the preceding. The nuclei of the costal shields are
more central than represented in the plate.
In the living adult animal the head, neck, shell, tail, and feet
are of a dirty yellowish or greenish brown, which becomes paler
on the sternum. The nuclei of the vertebral shields are slightly
raised. The costal shields are depressed, their sides sloping
towards the nuclei, thus forming as it were very shallow hexagonal
basins. The front and hind margins are broadly revolute, their
toothed appearance worn off. The sternum is slightly concave
in the centre. The largest individual was of the following
dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o foot 3 inches.
neck . . . . o 3
shell . . . . i 7 1-
tail . . . . o 2 |
It lived in my garden at Pinang upwards of a twelvemonth,
apparently without food, and it was never observed to enter a tank.
The shell bears deep white marks of corrosion, in appearance like
that observed in Testacea inhabiting stagnant water. The animal
suffered itself to be touched with impunity, never offering to
scratch or bite. This tortoise inhabits the valleys, but is apparently
not numerous.
EMYS TRIVITTATA, Dum. and Bibr.
Shell smooth, entire, subcordiform, arched, yellowish-green, and
with three broad longitudinal black bands ; jaws toothed.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang.
Bengal.
It inhabits rivers and ponds on the Malayan Peninsula, but
appears not to be numerous. In the Malayan adult animal there
I 2
n6 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
is a large black spot situated at the anterior lower angle of the
marginal shields ; there is no trace of a keel in the centre of the
vertebral shields, and the very minute nuchal shield is triangular,-
with the apex towards the vertebral shields. The shield is rather
oval than subcordiform. The sternum is slightly arched, of a
pale whitish yellow. The largest individual was of the following,
dimensions :
Length of the head . . .
neck . . .
shell . . .
tail . . .
. o foot 3 inches.
. i 6
. 2 ,,
Gen. CISTUDO, Fleming.
Head moderate, covered with a thin hard continued skin ; toes-
5-4, webbed to the claws ; web thick, with a small intermediate
lobe between the claws ; tail short ; shell convex, ovate, or
hemispherical ; sternum broad, rounded before and behind, com-
pletely closing the cavity of the thorax, affixed to it by a ligamen-
tous symphysis, and divided by a cross suture between the pectoral
and abdominal plates ; sternal shields twelve ; inguinal and
axillary plates very small, but distinct; marginal plates 23-27;.
nuchal plate small or wanting.
CISTUDO AMBOINENSIS, Daudin.
SYN. Testudo amboinensis, Daudin.
Emys amboinensis and couro, Schweigger.
Tortue a boite d'Amboine, Bosc.
Terrapene amboinensis. Merrem.
Kinosternon amboinense, Bell.
Cistuda amboinensis, Gray.
Terrapene couro, Fitzinger.
Emys couro, apud Wagler.
Terrapene bicolor, Bell.
Emys couro, var. Schlegel apud Gray.
" Baning " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula, Singapore.
Java, Amboina, Philippine Islands, Tenasserim provinces.
Shell hemispherical, slightly three-keeled, blackish ; margin
broad, expanded ; nuchal shield linear ; sternum black and
yellow-varied ; animal blackish, varied with yellow ; head dark,
with two broad yellow streaks on each side.
The dorsal keels become obsolete with age, and the margin of
the shell, particularly the posterior part, becomes revolute. This
species appears to be numerous in the valleys, in ponds, rivulets,
and paddy fields. It is very timid, withdrawing its head and limbs-
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 117
when handled, though it neither bites nor scratches. The largest
individual observed was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head 2 inches.
neck 2\
i> shell 7 . M
,, tail i inch.
Gen. TETRAONYX, Lesson.
Toes five ; nails 4-4 ; sternum solid, broad, with six pairs of
shields; 25 marginal shields.
TETRAONYX AFFINIS, N.S.
Young. Shell orbicular, its breadth exceeding its length ; the
back sharply keeled longitudinally, slightly arched, laterally de-
pressed ; costal shields with a tubercular nucleus at the posterior
margin ; greyish-green olive, minutely spotted with brown ; edge
sharply toothed, pale greenish-yellow. Sternum truncated in front,
angularly indented behind, narrow, yellow ; laterally keeled, com-
pressed, pale yellowish-green.
HAB. Sea off Pinang.
The outline of the shell and its composing shields strikingly
resemble the young of Cyde?nys orbiculata, Bell.*
The nuchal shield (wanting in one individual) is small, subrec-
tangular or subtriangular, with the base directed backwards. The
vertebral shields are strongly keeled, laterally sloping, hexagonal,
broader than long, which, however, with the first is less the case
than with the rest ; the second, third, and fourth are the broadest,
and of nearly equal size ; the fifth assumes a broadly truncated
triangular shape. The costal shields are nearly all as broad as
long ; the first, second, and third have each a tubercular nucleus
in the centre of the posterior margin ; the fourth is smooth, and
a little smaller than the preceding. The first pair of marginal
shields are truncated triangular; the second and third subrec-
tangular ; the fourth, sixth, and eighth pentagonal ; the rest sub-
rectangular. In all, the posterior external angle forms a more or
less sharp spine, directed over the anterior external margin of the
next shield. From the first to the sixth the shield gradually in-
creases in size, the sixth being the largest and broadest, from
which the following gradually decrease towards the twelfth pair,
and their angular spines become obsolete. The sternum consists
of two parts, one central and two lateral, formed by the sterno-
* SYN. Emys dentata, Illust. Ind.' Zoolog. ; Emys dhor, Gray; Emys
ffasseltii, Boie ; Emys Spenglcri, var. Schlegel ; Cistudo Diardii y Dum. and
JJibr.
1 1 8 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
costal processes of the two central pairs, sharply sloping towards
the marginal shields. The central part is longitudinally a little
concave, narrowing towards both extremities, truncated in front,
angularly indentated behind. The gular pair of shields is very
short, broadly subtriangular, with the posterior margin concave,
curved backwards. The second and fifth pairs are of nearly equal
size, subquadrangular ; their external margins forming a sharp ridge.
The central part of the third and fourth pairs is subrectangular,
broader than long, their margins forming a sharp ridge where they
join the sterno-costal processes. The latter are of nearly equal
size, longer than broad ; their united length being less than one-
half of the central part of the sternum. The sixth pair is sub-
rhomboidal, longer than broad. The axillary and inguinal pairs
are large ; the former subrhomboidal or lozenge-shaped, the latter
subtriangular. The head is conic, the muzzle short-pointed, the
vertex irregularly wrinkled. On the temples, cheeks, and round
the orbits and the lower jaw appear some large polygonal scalesr
The occiput, angle of the mouth, and the rounded tympanum are
covered with similar minute scales. The eyes are large, prominent >
the iris silvery grey, the pupil round, black. The nostrils are
minute, round, horizontally pierced, close together at the apex of
the muzzle. The jaws are minutely toothed ; the upper has at the
symphysis two larger teeth, between which fits a similar single one
in the lower jaw, thus hermetically closing the mouth. The neck,
the throat, and the other soft parts are studded with minute
tubercles, except the fore-arm, the posterior tarsal margin, and the
back of the fingers and toes, which are covered with broad but
very short polygonal scales. On the ulnar margin of the fore-arm
are four to five large rounded flexible scales. The interdigital web
is large and lax. The nails are strong, of nearly equal size, sharp,
and arched. The conical tail reaches but little beyond the shell,
with a longitudinal furrow behind the vent. The head, neck,
throat, and the limbs are of the same greyish-green olive as the
shell. The interdigital membrane is blackish, except the web-
connecting the fourth and fifth (nailless) toe, which is of a bright
greenish-yellow colour. Of three individuals observed, differing
but little in size, the largest was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head o inch.
neck of
shell 2$ inches.
,, tail o| inch.
Greatest transverse diameter of the shell 2$ inches.
Two were at different times found in fishing stakes placed along
the sea-shore of Pinang ; a third was also taken out of the sea
with a small hook baited with a shrimp. The Malays assert that
this tortoise also inhabits estuaries and rivers on the peninsula.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 119
and that it grows to a considerable size. The young is very timid,
withdrawing the head and extremities when touched, and thus it
remained immovable while a sketch was taken.
From the description of the young of Tetraonyx Lessonii, Dum.
and Bibr., given in " Erpe'tologie Gdne'rale," tome 2, p. 338, and
from the plates of Emys batagur and Emys baska in " Illustr. Ind.
Zool.," from B. Hamilton's MSS., the present appears to differ in
too many particulars to warrant the conclusion of its being the
young of those or that species.* The detailed description of the
young will enable future observers who may succeed in examining
the adult finally to decide the question.
FAM. POTAMIDA, or RIVER TORTOISES, Dum. and Bibr.
Gen. GYMNOPUS, Dum. and Bibr.
(Trionyx t Geoffrey; Aspidonectes, Wagler; Tyrse, Dogania,
Chitra, Gray.)
Shell cartilaginous in its circumference, very broad, flexible
behind and externally not bony ; sternum too narrow behind
completely to cover the extremities, when the animal withdraws
them under the shell.
GYMNOPUS GANGETICUS, Cuvier.
SYN. Testudo ocellatus (young), \
Testudo hurum, > Buchan. Ham. MSS.
Testudo (adult), j
Trionyx gangetictis, Cuvier.
Trionyx hurum, Gray.
Trionyx hurum, Illust. Ind. Zool.
Trionyx ocellatus, Illust. Ind. Zool. (young).
Trionyx gangeticus, var. Guerin. (young).
Gymnopus ocellatus, Dum. and Bibr. (young), Hardwicke
(young) apud Jaquemont : " Atlas," pi. ix.
Gymnopus Duvaucellii, Dum. and Bibr.
Tyrse gangetica, Gray, Catal.
Young. Teshtdo ocellatus, B. Ham. MSS. Head, above pale
olive, with one large yellow spot between the eyes and a similar
behind each eye ; neck, limbs, and posterior margin of the shell
dark olive, with paler round spots ; shell olive, with black irregu-
lar lines, and four or five central ocelli, black in the centre, edged
with red, round which a black leg ; sternum pale whitish-olive.
Testudo hurum, B. Ham. MSS. is the transition state of the
former, being about changing the livery. Head yellow olive, with
* MM. Dumeril and Bibron describe them as two distinct species ; Mr.
Gray is of opinion that they are identical.
120 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
irregular dark lines ; shell light olive, vermiculated with blackish
or dark olive. The four ocelli are present, but are altered in
colours and shape : the centre, instead of being black, is like the
rest of the surface, light olive, vermiculated with black ; the red
ring is changed to black, and the outer black one to light olive.
The shape is changed from round to irregular oval.
Adult. Tcstudo chim. B. Ham. MSS. Dark olive-green,
vermiculated, and spotted with light olive-brown. Beneath
greenish-white.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang (rivers and sea-coast).
Rivers and Bay of Bengal.
It is of fierce habits, desperately defending itself by biting,
emitting when excited a low, hoarse, cackling sound. At Pinang
the present species appears to be far less numerous than the two
following. The largest individual was of the following dimensions j
Length of the head . . . . o foot 4 inches.
neck . . . . o 4$
shell .... i ii
tail . . . . o 5
GYMNOPUS CARTILAGINEA, Boddaert.
SYN. Young :
Testudo cartilaginea, Boddaert.
Testudo Boddaertii, Schneider.
Testudo rostrata, Thunberg ?
Testudo rostrata, apud Schoepff. and Daudin ?
Trionyx stellatus, Geoffrey.
Trionyx stellatus, apud Merrem.
Aspidonectes javanicus, Wagler.
Adult:
Trionyx javanicus, Geoffrey.
Trionyx javanicus, apud Schweigger and Gray.
Gymnopus javanicus, Dumeril and Bibron.
Tyrse javanica, Gray, Catal.
Very Young. Above olive-green ; the head and upper part of
the neck with numerous small white spots, becoming larger and
more distant on the cheeks and chin ; on the vertex, two round
black spots ; on the occiput two diverging black lines ; the shell
with several large black white-ringed spots, between which nume-
rous smaller indistinct white spots ; margin pale white ; several
longitudinal ridges, composed of close minute tubercles. Beneath
greenish-white.
Older. Above uniformly olive-green ; the longitudinal ridges
of the shell consisting of tubercles, more distant and proportion-
ally smaller than in the very young.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 121
HAD. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang.
Java, Dekhan, " India," " China."
This species is numerous in rivers and ponds. The largest
individual observed was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head .... 2 inches.
neck . . . . 2f
shell . . . . 6|
tail .... of inch.
GYMNOPUS INDICUS, Gray.
SYN. Testudo chitra, Buchan, Ham. MSS.
Trionyx indicus, Gray.
Trionyx aegyptiacus, var. indica, Gray : " 111. Ind. Zool."
Gymnopus lineatus, Dume'ril and Bibron.
Chitra indica, Gray, Catal.
Shell remarkably depressed, smooth.* Above greenish olive,
vermiculated and spotted with brown or rust colour; beneath
greenish white.
HAB. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula (estuaries, sea-coast).
Rivers in India, Philippine Islands.
At Pinang this species is frequently taken in the Ashing stakes.
The Chinese inhabitants greatly relish this as well as the preceding
species of Gymnopus, as articles of food. Individuals weighing
240 Ibs. occur in the Ganges, and others of gigantic dimensions
are not uncommon at Pinang. It is very powerful, and of
ferocious habits. The largest individual measured :
Length of the head . . . . o feet 6 inches.
neck . . . . o 5
shell .... 3 i inch.
tail . . . . o 4 inches.
FAM. THALASSID^E, or TURTLES, Dum. and Bibr.
Gen. CHELONIA, Brogniart.
Body covered with horny plates ; mis with one or two nails.
Sub-Gen. CHELONIA LIBRAE (Chelonees /ranches), Dum. and Bibr.
Discal shields 13, not imbricate; muzzle short, rounded ; upper
jaw slightly notched in front, toothed on the sides ; lower jaw
* In the living adult no longitudinal central depression is apparent, nor the
outline of the costae, as represented in the figure in " Ilustratious of Indian
Zoology."
122 CA TAL OGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
formed of three pieces, and with the edges deeply toothed ; the
first finger of each fin nailed.
CHELONIA VIRGATA, Schweigger.
SYN. Turtle of the Red Sea, Bruce.
Chelonia virgata, apud Cuvier, Guerin, Dumeril and Bib-
ron, Gray, Catal.
Chelonia midas, var. D. Gray.
Chelonia fasciata, Cuvier apud Schlegel.
" Pinyii " of the Malays of Pinang.
Yoimg. Head, shell and fins greenish-black; margin of the
shell and fins and sternum white.
Adult. Head and fins chestnut, scales edged with yellow ; shell
greenish-yellow with chestnut rays and spots ; sternum gamboge,,
or greenish-yellow.
HAB. Malayan Seas.
Teneriffe, Rio Janeiro, Cape of Good Hope, New York f
Indian Ocean, Red Sea.
This species is at all seasons plentifully taken in fishing stakes
in the Straits of Malacca, and is the "Green Turtle" of the
European inhabitants of our Malayan settlements and of the sea-
ports of India. In size it equals Chelonia midas, Schweigger r
which it rivals in flavour. About December and January is the
season when the female deposits her eggs in the sandy beach of
some sequestered island, and then the fishermen watch during the
moonlight nights to " turn turtles." The eggs are of a spherical
shape, about one inch in diameter, covered by a soft hemitrans-
parent membrane of a pale yellow colour. The expert eye of the
fisherman baffles the pains with which the turtle conceals her eggs r
and prodigious numbers are disinterred. They are very rich r
flavoured like marrow, and will keep for weeks although exposed
to the air.
MM. Dumeril and Bibron have pointed out the differences-
between the adult of the present species and Chelonia midas,.
Schweigger, principally consisting in colours, and in the form of
the vertebral and costal shields, to which may be added the com-
paratively greater length of the fronto-nasal shields in Chelonia
virgata, in which the breadth is one-third of the length, whereas
in Chelonia midas it is one-half, and these proportions appear to
be constant in all ages of the two species. The very young of
both greatly resemble each other in colours and shape. Six living
young of the present species were all of the following dimensions ;
Length of the head o inch.
neck o|
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. \2y
Length of the shell 2 inches.
tail
inch.
The following slight differences are the result of a comparison
between the living young of Chelonia virgata and the representa-
tion of Chelonia midas given by Schoepff. tab. xvii. fig. 2.
Chelonia vtrgata.
1 . Shell cordiform ; the length
exceeds the breadth by one-
eighth.
2. 2nd vertebral shield much
broader than ist, and is alto-
gether the largest of the series.
3. 2nd costal shield larger
than the 3rd.
4. Sincipital plate broader
than long.
5. Breadth of fronto-nasal
shields one-third of their length.
6. Each fin with a single nail
Chelonia midas.
1. Shell ovate; the length
exceeds the breadth by more
than two-eighths.
2. ist and 2nd vertebral of
equal dimensions.
3. 2nd and 3rd costal equal.
4. Sincipital plate longer than
broad.
5. Breadth of fronto-nasals
one-half of their length.
6. Each fin with two nails.
Sub-Gen. CHELONIA IMBRICATVE (Chelonees imbriquees), Dum.
and Bibr.
Discal shields thirteen, imbricate ; muzzle long, compressed ;
jaws with the edge straight, not toothed, at the extremity slightly
recurved : each fin with two nails.
CHELONIA IMBRICATA, Linne.
SYN. La Tortue Caret, Dutertre.
Scaled Tortoise, Grew.
Caret, Labat, Fermin, Lacep., Bosc, Cuvier.
Testudo marina americana, Seba.
Hawksbill Turtle, Brown, Catesby.
/Gmelin.
Pennant.
Donnd.
Schoepff.
Latreille.
Schneider.
Shaw.
^Daudin.
Testudo imbricata, Linne, apud
Testudo caretta, Knorr.
La Tuilee, Daubenton.
. Caretta imbricata, Merrem apud Gray : Catal.
Chelonia multiscutala, Kuhl ?
124 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Chelonia imbricata, Schweig-
Prince Maxim.
Gray.
Dumeril and Bibron.
r > a P ud ' Prince Musignano.
Bell.
Che'lonee faux caret, Lesson.
Chelonia caretta, Temminck and Schlegel.
" Kiira-kiira " of the Malays of Pinang.
Head brown, scales edged or rayed with yellow ; shell yellow,
marbled or rayed with rich brown ; sternum yellowish-white. In
the young the areola of the sternal shields black.
HAB. Malayan Seas.
Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
The largest individual observed was of the following dimen-
sions :
Length of the head . . . . o foot 4! inches.
neck . . . . o 3+
shell .... i 7
tail . . . . o 2|
Sub-Gen. CAOUAN^E (Caouanes), Dum. and Bibr.
Discal shields fifteen, not imbricate; jaws at the extremity
slightly recurved.
CHELONIA OLIVACEA, Eschscholtz : Atlas.
.SvN. Chelonia caouana, var. B. Gray.
Chelonia Dussumierii, Dum. and Bibr.
Caouana olivacea, Gray : Catal.
Young. Above, blackish olive, lighter than in the adult ; shell
and fins edged with pale yellow ; sternum pale greenish-yellow,
washed with chestnut ; areolie blackish.
Adult. Head brown ; shell blackish-green ; some of the mar-
ginal scales of the fins yellow ; sternum yellow, washed with chest-
nut ; twenty-seven marginal shields ; fins with one nail.
HAB. Malayan Seas.
Bay of Bengal, Chinese Seas.
This species is at Pinang of rare occurrence. A single young
individual observed was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head ....... ij inches.
,, neck ....... i inch.
shell ....... 6 inches.
,, tail ....... og inch.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 125
The shell is broad sub-cordiform (its length exceeding its
breadth by half an inch), three-keeled, the vertebral keel strongest,
dentated behind ; the marginal shields 27, obliquely placed. The
ist and 4th pairs of costals, and the 4th vertebral shield each
divided in two pieces.
In a not quite full-grown specimen in the Museum of the
Asiatic Society the length of the shell is 2 ft. i| in.; its greatest
breadth is 2 ft. o| in., the length exceeding the breadth by one
inch. The vertebral shields are still slightly keeled. The ist
arid 4th pairs of costals, the 2nd left costal, and the 4th vertebral
are divided. The central part of the margin is slightly curved
upwards. The edges of the jaws are not toothed, but they are
transparent, with fine white vertical lines, which give them a
fringed appearance.
The flesh of this turtle, though relished by the Chinese settlers,
is unpalatable to Europeans.
SAURIA.
FAM. CROCODILIDyE, Bonaparte (ASPIDIOTES, Dum. and
Bibr.}
Sub-Gen. CROCODILUS, apud Cuvier.
Muzzle oblong, depressed ; teeth unequal, the fourth of the lower
jaw fitting into lateral notches, and not into hollows of the upper
jaw. Skull behind the eyes with two large holes, perceptible
through the integuments. Hind-feet with an external dentated
crest, and the toes palmated.
CROCODILUS VULGARIS, Cuvier (var. B.), Dum. and Bibr.
SYN. Crocodilus palustris, Lesson.
Crocodilus vulgaris, var. E. Gray.
Crocodilus biporcatus raninus, Miiller, tab. 3, fig. 7.
Crocodilus palustris, apud Gray : Catal.
" Buaya " of the Malays.
Muzzle a little widened, thick, transversely very slightly curved ;
head covered with angular rugosities ; lateral margins of the skull
not raised. Above greenish-olive, speckled with black ; beneath
yellowish or greenish white.
HAD. Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
Java, Sumatra, Tenasserim, Bengal, Coromandel, Malabar.
It inhabits not only rivers and estuaries, but also the sea-coasts,
and may in calm weather be seen floating at a distance of two to
three miles from the shore. Although numerous at Pinang and
i26 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
the opposite coast, it appears to be less so than Crocodilus
biporcatus. Fishermen while working the nets are not seldom
attacked by crocodiles, and would, but for their presence of mind,
oftener than they do, forfeit their lives. When seized they force
their fingers into the eyes of the crocodile, which immediately lets
go its victim, who is farther rescued by his comrades. From 1842
to 1845 amputations from accidents of this description were un-
fortunately of no rare occurrence in the General Hospital at
Pinang.
Individuals 15 ft. in length are not uncommon ; some attaining
to 20 ft. and upwards are reported to occur. In rivers a single
one will often appropriate to himself a limited district, which, if it
happens to be in the vicinity of a village, will soon be perceived
in the loss of the grazing cattle. Instances of Malays, who, to
avenge the loss of a relative, have watched the crocodile, and by
diving from below plunged a kris into its heart, are on record.
The eggs are white, the shell hard, of a cylindrical form, upwards
of 3 in. in length, and about ij in. in diameter.
CROCODILUS POROSUS, Schneider.
SYN. Crocodili Ceylonici ex ovo prodiens, Seba.
f/Tideman, Oppel, Liboschitz.
Merren.
Cr. biporcatus, Cuvier
apud
Bery de St. Vincent.
Fitzinger.
Lesson.
Gue'rin.
Wagler.
Gray.
^Horsfield, I.e.
Crocodilus biporcatus raninus, Miiller, tab. 3, fig. 8.
Crocodilus porosus, Schn. apud Gray : Catal.
" Buaya " of the Malays.
Upper jaw surmounted by two rugged ridges, each commencing
from the anterior angle of the eye ; nuchal plates, either none or
two very small. Above, yellowish-green with large black oval
spots ; keels of the dorsal scales green; beneath greenish-white.
HAD. Malayan Peninsula, Pi?iang, Singapore.
India, Tenasserim, Sumatra, Java, Timor, Seychelle Islands.
This, in the Malayan countries exceeding numerous species, is
of the same habits and attains to the same size as the preceding.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 127
FAM. GECKONID^E, Bonaparte (ASCALABOTES, Dum. and
Bibr.}.
Gen. PLATYDACTYLUS, Cuvicr.
Toes more or less dilated throughout their length, beneath with
transverse imbricate plates, either entire or divided by a central
longitudinal groove.
PLATYDACTYLUS LUGUBRIS, Dum. and Bibr.
SYN. Amydosaurus lugubris, Gray.
Thumbs nailless ; transverse plates beneath all the toes ; back
finely granular. Above, whitish, with black spots.
HAB. Pinang.
Otaheite.
A single male was captured in my house in the valley of Pinang.
The integuments correspond to the description given by MM.
Dum^ril and Bibron, to which may be added the following
characters : The skin is somewhat loose, forming a slight longi-
tudinal fold on each side of the body and on the anterior margin
of the thigh. The anus is covered by a transversal fold, reaching
across from the one thigh to the other. There are no femoral
pores. The tail is tapering, much depressed, convex on the
upper surface, flat beneath, sharp at the sides. Near the root,
.about | of an inch distant from the anus, the skin forms an annular
fold, completely encircling that part of the tail. The colour
slightly differs from that of the Otaheite individuals. The upper
parts and the lower surface of the tail from the annular fold are
of a buff or pale dust colour, so closely and minutely dotted with
reddish -brown that the parts have a pale greyish-brown appearance.
On the loins and between the shoulders are a few distant blackish
spots ; besides, in the latter place, appear two short lateral lines,
and an indistinct band proceeds from the nostril across the eye to
the shoulder. The throat, inner side of the limbs, abdomen, and
the lower surface of the root of the tail to the annular fold are buff-
coloured. The pupil is black, vertical, dentilated, the iris silvery,
dotted with reddish brown.
Length of the head ....... o^ inch.
,, trunk ....... 1 1
tail ........ if
Entire length ....... 3j inches.
128 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
PLATYDACTYLUS GECKO, Linnd
SYN. Salamandra indica, Bontius.
Gekko ceilonicus, Seba.
Lacerta cauda tereti mediocri, Linne mus. Adolph.
Lacerta gecko, Linne.
Gekko teres, ) T
Gekko verticillatus, } Laurentl -
Salamandre, ou Gecko de Linneus. Knorr.
Stellio Gecko, Schneider.
Common Gecko, Shaw.
Gecko guttatus, Daudin apud Gray.
Lacerta guttata, Hermann.
Gecko verus, Merrem apud { {g;^ ^"
Gecko annulatus, Kiihl.
Gecko a gouttelettes, Cuvier.
Platydactylus guttatus, Cuv. apud Guerin, Dum. and Bibr,
"Toke"ofthe Malays*
Above, ash-coloured, with numerous pale orange spots ; beneath
yellowish-white. Between the scales of the back twelve longitudinal
rows of large distant tubercles, and six similar on the tail ; the
latter with minute scales beneath.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Philippine Islands, Java, Tenasserim, Burmah, Bengal,
Coromandel Coast.
On the Malayan Peninsula this species appears to be less-
numerous than in the Tenasserim Provinces, where its shrill cry,
" To-ke," is nightly heard in houses. The male has two tuber-
cular scales on each side of the root of the tail. The largest
individual observed was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head ....... if inches.
trunk ...... 4
tail ....... 4
Entire length lof
PLATYDACTYLUS STENTOR, N.S.
SYN." Toke " of the Malays.
Above, light bluish-grey, with numerous irregular blackish spots
forming on the vertex an angle like an inverted V., and on the
neck short oblique lateral bands. Beneath, pearl-coloured. On
* The Malays denominate the family of Geckotidcc : Gckko, Keko, Gdgo,
Coke, evidently Onomatopoeias, in imitation of the cry of these lizards.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 129
the back and sides ten longitudinal rows of large distant lenticular
scales, and six similar on the tail ; the latter with scutella beneath.
HAD. Pinang.
In form and size this species closely resembles the preceding,
from which it, however, differs in the following particulars : The
oval nostrils are bordered in front by three scales viz., the first
upper labial, a smaller rectangular, and a larger pentagonal scale,
both of which latter are situated between the nostril and the
rostral. Above, the nostrils are surrounded by two smaller irre-
gular triangular, and behind by a narrow crescent-shaped scale. Of
labial scales there are fourteen above, twelve below. There are about
seventy- two teeth in each jaw. The eye is very large ; pupil, black,
dentilated ; iris, silvery bluish-grey. The ear is very large, obliquely
oval, without dentilations. The cheeks are much swollen. The scales
of the back are small, rounded, hexagonal, becoming more rectan-
gular on the sides. The rows of lenticular scales along the vertebrae
are smaller than the rest, but not so close as in P. guttatus.
Behind the mental scale is a pair of large elongated scales, and
five pentagonal larger appear on each side behind the lower labials.
The gular scales are small, polygonal ; the abdominal are rounded,
hexagonal, not imbricate, and below the root of the tail become
somewhat larger. The rest of the lower surface of the tail is
covered with scutella. Above, the covering of the tail is like that
of P. guttatus. On each side of the posterior margin of the cloaca
are two very large tubercular scales, and towards the centre two
rather large post-anal pores, covered by a loose fold of the skin.
Fourteen femoral pores are placed on a slightly angular line. This
species is also closely allied to Platydactylus monarchus, Schlegel,
from which it, however, readily may be distinguished by the
regular rows of lenticular dorsal scales, by its far greater size, and
by its loud note. It is not numerous at Pinang. The only indi-
vidual obtained, from the villa on the Pentland Hills, was a male
of the following dimensions :
Length of the head 2 f inches.
trunk 5f
tail 8f
Entire length 16
PLATYDACTYLUS MONARCHUS, Schlegel, MS.
SYN. Platydactylus monarchus, Schl. apud Dum. and Bibr.
Gecko monarchus, Gray : Catal.
On the back, sides, and limbs numerous conical tubercles
irregularly scattered among the smaller flat polygonal scales : on the
VOL. n. K
T3o CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
upper surface of the tail six to thirteen transversal series of small
spines ; beneath scutella, sometimes mixed with scuta. Chin with
two larger oblong scales.
New-born. Above, brown, with the dorsal and caudal tubercles
(no spines) white ; the posterior part of the tail indistinctly white-
ringed beneath, uniformly paler brown.
Adult. Above, buffer ash-coloured, or reddish-brown, with eight
to twelve pairs of irregularly rounded, distant, dark brown spots
along the spine ; the head, limbs, and sides with numerous more or
less distinct, irregular, dark brown spots ; in some younger indi-
viduals the tail with whitish rings. Beneath, yellowish- white.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang, Singapore.
Philippine Islands, Amboyna, Borneo.
The Malayan Geckonidse have the power of somewhat changing
the ground colour ; none, however, in a greater degree than the
present species. In the valley and on the hills of Pinang it is
very numerous, swarming at night in rooms, on the walls, and
under the ceiling, occasionally giving out a sound resembling the
monosyllable " Tok," repeated six or eight times with increased
celerity. The aim of these lizards is by no means unerring ; they
frequently miss an insect, and fall from the ceiling. Among them-
selves they are pugnacious ; when two or more covet an insect, the
successful one has to defend its prize, or give it up to the stronger.
The new-born (with umbilical aperture) and adult are of the follow-
ing dimensions :
New-born. Adult.
Length of the head ... of r ; inches.
trunk . . o| 2%
tail . . . ii 3 i ,.
Entire length . 2^ 6|
Sub-Gen. PTYCHOZOON, Kuhl.
Toes webbed to the last compressed joint; thumbs nailless; sides
of the head, body, limbs, and tail with broad, scaly membranes,
those of the tail anteriorly scalloped. Male with femoral pores.
On the sides scattered tubercles.
PTYCHOZOON HOMALOCEPHALUM, Creveld.
SYN. Lacerta homalocephala, Creveld.
Gecko homalocephalus, Tilesius.
(" Fitzinger.
Ptychozoon homalocephalum, apud < Wagler.
( Wiegmann.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 131
Pteropleura Horsfieldii, Gray.
Platydactylus homalocephalus, Cuv. apud Dum. and Bibr.
Ptychozoon homalocephala, Kuhl. apud Gray : Catal.
Head. The ground colour yellowish-green olive. Between the
eyes and muzzle a double figure, in whitish outline, representing
in front a broad arrowhead, posteriorly united by a narrow stalk
to a rectangular transversal band, situated in front of the eyes.
On the vertex another, larger figure, traced in whitish outline,
rectangular in front, spreading like a four-rayed star over the
occiput. A dark brown band proceeds from behind the eye,
across the ear, to the shoulders, where it is lost in the general
dark brown colour of the sides of the body. The superior margins
of these two lateral bands are white, proceeding backwards in zig-
zag line, approaching each other over the shoulders, where they
join the anterior black transversal line. The lips white. The
membranes of the cheeks pale flesh-colour, with dark blue spots,
and with the interstices between the scales pale lilac. The pupil
vertical, dentilated ; the iris rich golden brown.
Back. Of the same ground colour as the head, becoming dark
reddish-brown on the sides, relieved by four to six distant transversal
black dotted lines, on the upper part, of the form of the letter M,
sending oblique, forwards pointed, lines on the sides. The upper
part of the lateral membrane reddish-brown ; the interstices of
the small rectangular scales purple.
Tail and limbs. Same ground-colour as that of the head and
back, with broad, distant, indistinctly whitish, transversal bands.
On each elbow a whitish ring. Membranes of the tail, limbs, and
toes are yellowish-grey, with numerous minute spots of brown,
purple, blue, and red, which impart a purple, changing appearance
to the general colour. The number of the indentations of the
caudal membranes varies individually ; the posterior part is entire,
with waving surfaces.
Lower parts. Brownish-white, with a few pale brown spots on
the throat, inner side of the limbs, in the palms and soles. The
tail and its membranes brownish.
HAB. Pinang Hills.
Singapore, Java, Ramree Island (Arracan).
As correctly observed by MM. Dume'ril and Bibron, the scales
of the female, corresponding to those with the femoral pores of
the male, have a slight yet distinct central depression. The
female has a large tubercular scale on each side of the root of the
tail, as well as the male, In colour and size the two sexes resemble
each other. Two individuals were at different times captured in
the villa occupied by Sir William Norris on the Great Hill of
Pinang. When the lizard is at rest, the membranes of the cheeks
and the body are kept in close contact with these parts ; in leap-
K 2
132 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
ing, those of the body are somewhat stretched out, and all the
membranes together then act as a parachute. Also, this lizard
has in some degree the power of changing the ground colour from
a darker to a lighter shade. The apex of the tongue is rounded,
with a small notch in the centre. A female while in my possession
refused insects and water. She deposited a single egg, of a spheri-
cal form, about half an inch in diameter, soft, and of a yellowish-
white colour, which the following day she devoured. A male ate
the integuments he had been changing. The female was of the
following dimensions :
Length of the head i inch.
trunk 2 inches.
tqil -.5
11 11 ldli 08 11
Entire length yf
In the Museum of the Asiatic Society is preserved a specimen
of Leptophis ornatus (Merrem) in the act of devouring one of the
present species. The serpent was captured in the island of Ramree,
on the coast of Arracan.
Gen. HEMIDACTYLUS, Cuvier.
End of the toes widened into an oval disk, with a double series
of transverse imbricate plates beneath. From the middle of the
disk rise the slender second and third nailed phalanx. A series
of scuta beneath the tail.
HEMIDACTYLUS PERONII, Dum. and Bibr.
SYN. Hemidactylus leiurus, Gray.
Peripia Peronii, Gray : Catal.
Under the chin a large triangular figure, composed of six elon-
gated, towards the sides decreasing, scales; thumbs nailless ; male
with femoral pores ; tail much depressed, very broad at the root,
tapering towards the point (sometimes with a small membrane on
each side of the point), with a series of scuta beneath ; pupil
vertical, shaped like two rhombs placed with the angles towards
each other.*
Above, ash-coloured, labial scales whitish, each with a brown
spot ; beneath, whitish. Iris silvery grey, spotted with brown.
HAB. Ptnang.
Isle of France.
* Such is its appearance in the living animal, when the eye is exposed to the
influence of light. MINI. Dumeril and Bibron note the pupil being "ellipti-
cal," which probably originates in their describing from preserved specimens,
although my own, in spirits of wine, have retained the orig'nal form of the
pupil.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 133
Of two individuals captured at different times in my house in
the valley of Pinang, the larger was of the following dimensions:
Length of the head clinch.
trunk 1 1 inches.
tail 23}
Entire length 4f ,,
HEMIDACTYLUS COCIVEI, Dum. and Bibr.
Thumbs well developed, nailed ; * back with minute granular
scales ; in some individuals with a few larger ones on the sides ;
tail broad at the root, tapering, a little depressed, with from four to
fifteen indistinct rings and six series of minute spines ; beneath
with scuta ; chin with four larger scales ; the central pair elongate
pentagonal ; male with twelve femoral pores ; pupil as in Hemi-
ilactylus Pcronii.
Above, ash-coloured, whitish beneath.
HAB. Pinang.
Bengal, Bombay.
Of two males observed in houses in the valley of Pinang, the
larger was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head if inches.
. trunk 2|
>, tail 3f
Entire length . . ... 7 ,,
HEMIDACTYLUS FRENATUS, Schlegel, MS.
SYN. Hemidactylus frenatus, Schlegel, apud Dum. and Bibr.
Hemidactylus lateralis, ^ ) Q . B M
Hemidactylus quinquelineatus, j
Back with some larger granular scales ; tail rounded, tapering
above, with six series of small spines, scuta beneath ; chin with four
or six larger scales ; ears very small ; pupil as in the preceding
species ; thumbs very small, femoral pores twenty-six to twenty-
eight, disposed on a slightly angular line.
Young and Adult. Buff or ash-coloured, with or without brown
gpots ; some with one or two brown lateral bands, commencing
-one above the other from the muzzle, interrupted or continued to
the tail ; the latter in some with indistinct brown rings. Beneath,
whitish or buff.
* Mr. Gray gives the present species as a syn. of Boltalia sub<elvis, Gray
.(Catalogue, p. 158). As the latter species is characterised as having the thumbs
"clawless," it cannot be identical with H. coctai. 4
134 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
HAB. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang, Singapore.
Amboyna, Timor, Java, Marianne Islands, Ceylon, Bengal,
Assam,* South Africa, Madagascar.
In the Malayan valleys and hills this small species is very
numerous. It is of fierce habits, like several other Geckonida,
destroying its own species. Its normal colour appears to be
greyish, which it, however, has in its power to change. The
largest individuals observed were of the following dimensions :
Length of the head ....... o| inch.
,, trunk ....... 2 inches.
tail ....... 2
Entire length ...... 4 .,
HEMIDACTYLUS PLATYURUS, Schneider.
SYN. Stellio platyurus, Schneider.
Lacerta Schneideriana, Shaw.
Gecko platyurus, Merrem.
Hemidactylus platyurus, Wiegmann.
(Wagler.
Hemidactylus marginatus, Cuvier, apud< Wiegmann.
(Gray.
Platyurus Schneiderianus, Gray : Catal.
Sides of the body and posterior margin of the thighs with a
loose membrane ; tail tapering, depressed, with sharp, fringed
margins, with scuta beneath ; toes webbed half their length ; chin
with four pentagonal broad scales, placed in pairs, behind each
other : six femoral pores placed on a continued line.
Young and Adult. Above, ash-coloured, in some with a greyish-
brown lateral band from the muzzle continued to the tail ; the
latter with indistinct brownish transversal bands ; others irregularly
spotted and marbled with blackish-brown ; pupil and iris as in the
preceding species. Whitish beneath.
HAB. Pin a ng.
Philippine Islands, Borneo, Java, Bengal, Assam.*
The individuals were observed in houses in the valley of Pinang.
In a male the posterior half of the tail happens to be divided so
as to appear double ; one of the pieces, the continuation of the
normal tail, is depressed, slightly fringed, and beneath with the
row of scuta continued, the other is cylindrical, somewhat shorter,
and above and below covered with minute scales. The largest
individual was of the following dimensions :
* Specimens in the Museum of the Asiatic Society.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 135
Length of the head o^ inch.
trunk 2 inches.
tail 2\
Entire length 4|
Gen. GYMNODACTYLUS, Sptx.
Toes not widened into a disk, nor with dentilated margins ; all
five with non-retractile nails ; fifth hind toe versatile or capable of
turning from the others under a right angle.
GYMNODACTYLUS PULCHELLUS, Gray.
SYN. Cyrtodactylus pulchellus, Gray.
Gonyodactylus pulchellus, Wagler.
Gymnodactylus pulchellus, Dumeril and Bibron.
Head, back, and limbs with numerous three-sided tubercles
among the smaller flat scales ; sides of the body with a longitudinal
fold of the skin ; the anterior upper part of the cylindrical tail with
distant rings of rounded, pointed tubercles ; beneath, a row of
scuta. Chin with six scales, the centre pair elongated pentagonal.
Males with thirty-six femoral pores on two not connected lines,
between which, in front of the anus, a short, narrow, longitudinal
furrow. Both sexes with three or four tubercles obliquely situated
on each side of the root of the tail.
Young and Adult. Above a rich brownish ochre ; the nape of
the neck and back with six broad transversal bands (the two anterior
horse-shoe shaped), of a rich velvety mulberry, or snuff-colour with
sulphur or chrome-yellow margins. The tail with eight or nine
complete rings of similar colour, without the margins. Beneath,
throat and belly whitish-yellow, or pale brownish, each scale
minutely dotted with brown. Pupil vertical, dentilated ; iris golden,
finely vermiculated with Vandyke brown.
HAB. Pinang Hills.
Singapore.
In the male the two rows of femoral pores commence as two
short, parallel, longitudinal lines, separated from each other by a
narrow, short furrow, on the sides of which (vertically) the first five
femoral (preanal) pores are placed. In front of the anus the short
vertical portions turn right and left under a nearly right angle,
continuing the entire length of the thigh, each supporting thirteen
more femoral pores. The interval between the anus and the latter
is partly occupied by a flat, slightly raised, triangular space,
covered by rather large imbricate rounded scales. In the female
the two lines of larger scales carrying the femoral pores of the
males are present, each scale having a small, shallow, round
136 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
depression. The short, longitudinal furrow of the male is either
wanting or barely distinguishable ; but the triangular space with
larger scales, in front of the anus, is present. The species appears
to be rather numerous on the hills at Pinang, where the individuals
obtained were captured in houses at an elevation of 2,200 feet.
The largest male was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head if inches.
trunk 3
tail 5-t
Entire length 10 ,,
Its habits offer nothing peculiar ; it bites fiercely in defence.
In captivity it refuses insects. The integuments, when about
being renewed, are piecemeal torn off by the teeth and devoured.
A single egg deposited was of a spherical form, about half an
inch in diameter, of a whitish-yellow colour. MM. Dumeril and
Bibron assign Bengal as the habitat of this species. The specimen
originally described by Mr. Gray, some in the Museum of the
Asiatic Society, and a number in my own collection, are all from
the hills of Prince of Wales Island (Pulo Pinang), but no authen-
ticated record exists of this species ever having been observed in
Bengal. Another, widely different, species of Gymnodactylus in-
habits Bengal, as yet not published, and only known from three
specimens, preserved in spirits, in the Museum of the Asiatic
Society, where they are marked Gymnodactylus Innatus, Blyth. One
of these came from Midnapore, the others from Chyebassa. The
species somewhat approaches to G. fasciatus, Dum. and Bibr.
( Cubina fascia fa, Gray). The Museum possesses another nonde-
script species from Almorah, Gymnodactylus ndudosus, Blyth MSS.,
allied to G. marmoratus, Gray.
The plate of Cyrtodactylus pulchelliis in Gray's illustrations of
Indian zoology is not taken from life, and gives a most inadequate
idea of the physiognomy and beauty of the living animal This
should be observed, as MM. Dumeril and Bibron praise the figure,
which evidently has served as the original of their own descrip-
tion, and of copies introduced in illustrative works upon that order
of animals.
FAM. VARANIDyE, Bonaparte (PLATYNOTES, Dum. and Bibr).
Gen. VARANUS, Merrem.
Scales set side by side, surrounded by an annular series of very
minute tubercles ; tail above more or less trenchant ; on the throat
a fold in front of the chest.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 137
VARANI AQUATICI, Dum. and Bibr.
VARANUS NEBULOSUS, Dume'ril and Bibron.
SYN. Tupinambis nebulosus, Cuvier MSS.
Monitor nebulosus, Gray.
Monitor nebulatus, Schlegel.
Uranus nebulosus, apud Gray : Catal.
-Muzzle very elongated; nostrils obliquely cleft, situated half-
way between the muzzle and the anterior angle of the eye ; lips
each with fifty scales ; teeth compressed, with sharp but not den-
tilated edges.
Young. Above : ground-colour deep chocolate brown ; the
head largely marbled with greenish-yellow ; neck with indistinct
obliquely converging gamboge lines ; back, sides, and limbs with
gamboge spots, consisting of one to five scales (those of the upper
margins of the fingers forming continued lines) ; sides of the
anterior half of the tail similarly coloured ; the double row of
scales covering the back of the tail gamboge ; the posterior half
deep chocolate, with two distant (the second subterminal) indis-
tinct gamboge-coloured rings.
Beneath : ground-colour pale chocolate ; chin, throat, chest,
and fore-limbs transversely undulated with greenish-yellow ; abdo-
men with short, interrupted, transversal yellow bands, consisting
of from four to twelve scales ; hind-limbs with larger similar spots ;
anterior half of the tail indistinctly marbled with yellowish-green ;
posterior half like the upper surface ; pupil round ; iris narrow,
golden.
Adult. Above, brownish-olive with yellow dots ; anterior half
of the tail yellow, with minute square brown spots ; posterior half,
brown and yellow- ringed ; margin of the toes yellow. Beneath,
marbled and barred with brown and yellow.
HAB. Pinang.
Java, Siam, Bengal.
The only individual observed was a young male, captured in
the hills at Pinang, of the following dimensions :
Length of the head if inches.
trunk 5f
tail 9^
Entire length 16
VARANUS FLAVESCENS, Gray.
SYN. Monitor flavescens, Gray.
Monitor Hardwickii, Gray MSS.
138 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Varanus Russellii, Schlegel MSS.
Monitor exanthematicus, var. indica, Schlegel.
Varanus Picquotii, Dum. and Bibr.
Empagusia flavescens, Gray : Catal.
Muzzle obtuse ; nostrils oval, oblique, nearer the muzzle than
the orbit ; a series of supraorbital scales larger than the rest ;
scales of the back distant, bluntly keeled ; of the tail and outside
of the hind limbs, closer, sharply keeled ; toes very short, nails
yellow.
Above : ground-colour light green-olive, with numerous distant,
interrupted, transversal yellow bands ; temples, cheeks, and.ilips
yellow. Beneath, yellow ; the throat with transversal pale brownish
bands.
HAB. Pinang.
Bengal, Nipal.
A single male observed was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o foot 3 inches.
trunk . ... i of
tail ..... i
Entire length ... 2 feet 9f ,,
VARANUS SALVATOR, Laurenti.
SYN. Lacertus indicus, Lochner?
Lacerta mexicana, Seba.
Lacertus americanus amphibius, Tupinambis dictus, Seba,
Stellio salvator, Laurenti.
Monitor lizard, Shaw.
Lacerta monitor ? Hermann.
Tupinambis bivittatus, Kuhl apud Boie.
Monitor elegans, Gray.
Monitor a deux rubans, Cuvier.
Hydrosaurus bivittatus, Wagler.
Monitor vittatus, Lesson.
Varanus bivittatus, Dumeril and Bibron.
Hydrosaurus salvator, Gray : Catal.
" Beyawak " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
Head very elongated ; nostrils oval, nearly transversal, close to
the muzzle ; a series of supraorbital scales, larger than the rest ;
teeth with dentilated edges j toes very long. Above, ground-
colour dark brown or black ; a band on the side of the neck from
the shoulder to the eye, five to seven distant transversal series of
separate rings, between which numerous spots or interrupted trans-
versal lines, all yellow or yellowish-white ; the outside of the limbs
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 139
and the tail spotted, the latter indistinctly banded with yellow.
Beneath, yellow, the throat with indistinct transversal black bands
and minute spots ; the sides of the body and limbs in some indi-
viduals with large blackish dentilations.
HAP,. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang.
Philippine and Molucca Islands, Amboina, Java, Bengal.
This species is very numerous both in hilly and marshy localities.
It is commonly during the day observed in the branches of trees
overhanging rivers, preying upon birds and their eggs, and smaller
lizards, and when disturbed it throws itself from a considerable
height into the water. When attacked on level ground it attempts
its escape by running, if possible towards the water. Its quick-
ness, however, is not so great as to prevent a man from overtaking
it, when it will courageously defend itself with teeth and claws and
by strokes of the tail. The lowest castes of Hindoos capture these
lizards commonly by digging them out of their burrows on the
banks of rivers for the sake of their flesh, which by these people
is greatly relished. Some individuals attain to nearly seven feet in
length, but the majority are smaller. A female examined was of
the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o foot 4! inches.
trunk . . . . i s|
tail ..... 2 feet 8
Entire length ... 4 feet 4f
FAM. IGUANID^E, Gray (EUNOTES, Dnmeril and Bibron\
SUB.-FAM. ACRODONTIN.E (ACRODONTES, Dum. and J5ibr.}.
Gen. CALOTES, Cuvier.
Head quadrangular pyramidal, more or less elongated, with
small angular scales of nearly equal diameter ; occipital scale
minute ; tongue thick, fungous, rounded, with the apex slightly
notched ; in the upper jaw five incisors and two canines ; nostrils
lateral, pierced through a plate situated close to the muzzle ; no
transversal fold on the throat, sometimes with a large longitudinal
fold on both sides ; a gular pouch varying in size ; a crest from
the nape of the neck to the tail ; scales of the sides of the trunk
homogeneous, imbricated in oblique series ; no femoral pores.
Sub.-Gen. BRONCHOCELA, Kaup.
Scales of the trunk in oblique series, inclined backwards, their
points directed downwards ; posterior part of the sides of the head
not swollen.
140 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
BRONCHOCELA CRISTATELLA, Kuhl.
SYN. Lacerta mexicana strumosa, &c., Seba, 89, i.
Agama cristatella, Kuhl.
Agama gutturosa, Merrem.
Bronchocela cristatella, Kaup apud Dum. and Bibr.
Agama moluccana, Lesson apud Schinz.
Calotes gutturosa, Guerin.
Calotes cristatellus, Schinz.
Calotes gutturosus, Wiegmann.
" Griining " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
Cervical crest (six to ten scales) abruptly decreasing on the
anterior part of the back ; scales of the side of the trunk keeled,
scarcely half the size of those of abdomen ; behind the posterior
angle of the orbit three to five flattened scales, pointing outwards,
forming a minute longitudinal crest.
Normal colours. Beautiful grass green, lighter beneath, entirely
or partially changeable to light grey, greyish-olive, greenish-brown,
or blackish ; sometimes with orange spots, or with indistinct black
network ; large isolated round spots on the head or back, or the
lips, eyelids, or margins round tympanum momentarily black ;
sometimes with transversal distant brown bands, particularly on
the tail.* Scales of the outside of the limbs and feet edged with
brown. Pupil circular ; iris brown, with a narrow golden ring.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang, Singapore.
Amboyna, Island of Buru, Java, Sumatra.
This species is very numerous in the Malayan countries, both in
the valleys and on the hills. It moves and leaps with great quick-
ness among the branches of trees. The most striking feature is
the great power of suddenly changing its colours. The Malayan
denomination of this species is " Griming," which in Marsden's
Dictionary is translated" a species of lizard which changes its
colour as it is affected by fear or anger ; the chameleon." No
chameleon, however, appears to inhabit the Malayan countries, but
the present lizard passes under that name among the European
inhabitants. One of the largest males was of the following
dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o foot rjj inches.
trunk . . . V o 3}
tail i 2--
Entire length . . . i y|
* During life there is no trace of blue, or even bluish-green, about this
lizard, but after death it sometimes acquires this colour from the effects of sphiis
of wine, to which circumstance must be attributed the denomination of " Blue
.Calotes," Gray, in Griffith's edition of Cuvier, vol. ix. p. 55.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 141
Those of the intestinal canal :
Small intestines 3* inches.
Large i* inch
Csecum of
The stomach is cylindrical, simply a continuation of oesophagus
without fundus, but separated from the small intestines by a valve.
In several dissected it contained nothing but mucus. The length
of oasophagus and the stomach together was i~ inch. The
anterior part of the small intestines is widened till about a quarter
of an inch from the pyloric valve, where ductus coledochus enters.
Caecum is very widened, more so than any other part of the canal,
of a crescent shape.
Gen. LOPHYRUS, Dumeril.
Head triangular, more or less elongated, shelving in front;
orbital edge arched or angular ; nostrils lateral, circular, or oval ;
tongue papillary, rounded, and very slightly notched at the point ;
in the upper jaw five incisors and two canines ; tympanum superfi-
cial ; skin of the throat lax, forming in some a scarcely perceptible,
in others a highly developed pouch, and an angular cross fold in
front of the chest ; neck, trunk, and tail compressed, with a crest,
generally most elevated on the nape of the neck ; scales of the
trunk rhombic, sub-imbricate, unequal (with scattered larger scales);
femoral pores none.
LOPHYRUS ARMATUS, Gray.
SYN. Agama armata, Gray.
Calotes tropidogaster, Cuvier.*
Acanthosaura armata, Gray.
Orbital edge slightly angular, with a long spine at its posterior
extremity ; no spinous tubercles on the occiput ; on each side of
the nape of the neck, immediately above the ear, another long
spine, surrounded with five or six shorter ones at its base, from
whence proceed obliquely over the temple and cheek a, curved
series of eighteen larger polygonal keeled scales ; tympanum
thick, circular ; on the neck a crest of eight to twelve long spines,
surrounded with numerous smaller ones at the base ; at a short
interval the dorsal crest, the anterior five to six spines of which
are very k ng, the rest rapidly decreasing towards the tail ; gular
pouch very small, not toothed, with scales of equal size ; tail sub-
triangular, with a toothed crest above.
Above : head chestnut ; trunk and limbs blackish-green, with
a black transversal band in the interval between the cervical and
* By mistake, Calotes lepidogaster ("Regne Anim." 1829, t. ii. p. 39).
142 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
dorsal crests, continued over the shoulders, with numerous pale
yellowish-white, black-edged, rounded spots, assuming the shape
of transversal bands on the limbs and the tail ; the larger single
scales on the sides, limbs, and tail, clear sky-blue ; from the orbit
over the lip five to six radiating black lines. Beneath, yellowish
white. Pupil circular, iris brown, with a narrow golden ring.
HAB. Pinang, Singpaore.
Cochin China.
At Pinang this species appears to be very local, and not
numerous : two individuals examined were obtained from spice
plantations in the valley. They were very active and fierce,
possessed in a slight degree the power of changing the ground-
colour to a lighter hue, and in captivity refused food and water.
In a female were found thirteen eggs of a yellowish-white colour,
of an oval shape, f inch in length. The stomach contained
fragments of leaves and twigs, and a quantity of earth and lime.
The latter probably originated from the lime-water with which
the spice-trees are copiously sprinkled, to secure them against the
attacks of insects. The dimensions of the lizard were :
Length of the head 1 1 inches.
trunk 3f
tail 6
Entire length . . ... . lof
Of the intestinal canal :
Small intestines 7f inches.
Large if
Ccecum of ,,
The stomach capacious, with thick parietes. The first portion
of duodenum is much widened till within half an inch from
pylorus, where ductus coledochus enters. Caecum is of a crescent
shape, much widened, as well as the large intestine.
Gen. DILOPHYRUS, Gray.
Head four-sided. Forehead rather concave, face-ridge high.
Eyebrows rounded. Occiput with three or four larger tubercles
on each side.
Parotids unarmed. Nape and back with a crest of high com-
pressed scales, with series of smaller scales at their base. The
throat rather lax,* with a cross fold behind, f extending up the
front of the shoulders. Scales of the back small, rhombic, equal ;
* Add : tvit/i a compressed pouch > minutely toothed in front.
f Questionable.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 143
of the belly rather larger, smooth. Tail compressed, keeled and
toothed above, with two series of elongated keeled scales beneath.
Femoral and preanal scales none.
DILOPHYRUS GRANDIS, Gray.
HAB. Pinang Hills.
Rangoon.
As the only published characters of this species leave its
identity with the Malayan somewhat doubtful, they are here
preposed.
" Olive-green ; sides white spotted, beneath whitish ; tail black-
banded ; head with lines of rather larger scales ; crest very high,
formed of broad compressed close-set scales, with three or four series
of scales on each side of the base, interrupted over the shoulders"
GRAY : " Catalogue of the Specimens of Lizards," &c. p. 239.
Form. The head is elongated, four-sided pyramidal, its greatest
height and breadth being equal, and less than one-half of the
length. The muzzle is narrow, rounded, depressed. The upper
surface of the head is very sloping, with a narrow furrow between
the arched orbital parietes ; the forehead depressed or concave.
The scales are polygonal, keeled ; those of the margin of the
orbits and forehead larger, imbricate, forming a sharp ridge ; four
similar scales form a short ridge in the centre of the forehead, close
to the muzzle. Behind the orbit, over tympanum, and on each
side of the nape of the neck, are similar short, oblique ridges, each
composed of five larger pointed tubercular scales. The rostral
shield is very broad, narrow, triangular; the mental is much
smaller, pointed, triangular, with two large polygonal scales on
each side. The upper jaw is covered with twenty-six, the lower
with twenty-four elongated, narrow, rectangular scales. Den-
tition :
Incis. 1; Canin. !Zj Mol. 'J^ = 36
4 i i 14.14 34
The incisors and anterior molars are very small ; the latter
gradually increasing in size, flat, sharply edged, bluntly tricus-
pidate. The tongue is thick, flattened, very slightly notched in
front, the anterior half spongy, the posterior with large backward-
pointed papillae. The nostrils are nearly circular, pierced in a
large oval scale, in front of which three scales intervene between the
rostral. The eyes are large, sunk in the orbits ; the pupil circular,
black ; the iris blue, with golden spots and a narrow ring. The
eyelids are covered with very minute polygonal tubercular scales.
Each tarsus with a double row of scales, the inner one of small,
polygonal, tubercular ; the outer one of rhombic, flat, with the
angles overlapping, so as to give the free margin a toothed
144 CATALOGUE Of REPTILES INHABITING
appearance. The tympanum is large circular. The skin of the
throat is very lax, forming a compressed pouch, the anterior
margin of which is slightly toothed, owing to the series of scales
overlapping each other. But there is during life no trace of any
" cross fold behind, extending up the front of the shoulders. The
scales of the neck and back are very minute, rhombic, or sub-
rectangular, smooth, increasing in size, and becoming imbricate on
the sides, abdomen, limbs, and throat. On the neck is a high-arched,
toothed crest, composed of twenty-six large ensiform scales, the
thirteen anterior gradually increasing in length, the rest decreasing.
The base of the crest is supported by two parallel, slightly arched
series of rectangular scales, much larger than those of the rest of
the body, but those of the upper series double the size of those of
the inferior. The dorsal crest commences at a short interval a
little behind the shoulders. In shape and component parts it
resembles the former, but is double the extent, consisting of forty-
five scales, all of which, however, are inferior in height to those of
the cervical crest, which, as well as the somewhat lower, sloping
level, renders the dorsal crest less conspicuous than the former.
The skin is somewhat lax on the sides of the body, leaving the
ribs visible. The tail is very much compressed, attenuated,
elongated. Its sides are covered with rather large, smooth,
imbricate, rhombic scales. The anterior third of the upper
margin is toothed, composed of a single row of large, gradually
decreasing, sharply keeled scales. The other two-thirds are
covered by two rows of keeled scales, thus giving the posterior
part of the tail a bidentated appearance. The lower surface of
the tail is covered by two series of large, gradually decreasing,
imbricate, keeled scales, giving it a bidentated appearance. The
limbs are slender ; the anterior little more than half the length of
the posterior, and the toes very short. The posterior fourth toe is
excessively long. The palms and soles are covered with minute,
pointed, rough scales ; the toes above and beneath with sharply
keeled, imbricate, rhombic scales. The claws are large, trenchant,
curved.
Colours. The ground-colour of the head, neck, throat, gular
pouch, and the chest is impure gamboge, the scales edged with
brown ; the eyelids dark brown, the tarsi burl. A dark blue
triangular streak proceeds from the anterior angle of the orbit to
the nostril; another is placed parallel with the upper labial scales,
which, as well as the lower, are of a pale blue, as also the tympanum.
From the labial scales and tympanum on each side across the
throat, the pouch, and the sides of the neck, proceed seven oblique,
undulating, dark blue bands. The tympanum is enclosed by two
oblique, broad, purple-brown bands, which join each other under
an angle at the anterior extremity of the cervical crest, where a
third broad, longitudinal, purple-brown band commences, pro-
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 145
ceeding over the side of the neck, then expanding, covers the
back and the upper half of the sides of the body, where its lower
margin describes two large curves. The lower part of the sides
are of a deep lilac, changing on the abdomen to bluish-white.
On the sides of the body and on the abdomen appear several
oblique series of lozenge-shaped spots : a few on the brown portion
of the sides of a deep Indian red, the rest bright gamboge. The
cervical and dorsal crests are mulberry-brown ; the former with the
upper half of each of the first thirteen scales light green ; the latter
with the upper half of the first ten scales pale yellow. The scales
at the base of the crest partake of the general colour, but many
of them have a pale yellow spot. The tail is coloured above and
beneath with alternate broad rings of impure white, the scales
edged with brown and purple-brown, changing to black on the
posterior half. The legs, feet, and toes are dark purple-brown
with indistinct transversal yellowish bands. Dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o foot 2 inches.
trunk . . . . o 4|
tail i 4
Entire length . . . i io|
Length of cervical crest . i| in. height of 1 3th scale of- in.
dorsal crest . 3 15th of
humerus . . i of femur . . . ij
fore-arm . . i| of tibia .... 2
hand and 4th toe i of foot and 4th toe 2|
Entire length 3! 6
The only individual examined was captured on a botanical
excursion by Sir William Norris, on the Pinang Hills, on the bank
of a mountain stream, at an elevation of about 2,000 feet. It
appeared slow in its movements, of general sluggish habits, showed
no power of changing colours, and in confinement it refused
insects, vegetable food, as well as water. After having been pre-
served in rectified spirits of wine for upwards of three years, the
specimen has retained the original brown and white colours and
the Indian red spot ; but the yellow, light green, and light blue
have changed to whitish, and the dark blue marks to blackish.
Although the colours in this state do not agree with those given
by Mr. Gray, apparently, though not stated, taken from a preserved
specimen, the peculiar distribution of the markings correspond,
and induce' me to believe in the identity of the animals.
Gen. DRACO, Linne apud Dumeril and Bibron.
Head triangular, obtuse in front, slightly depressed, covered
with small scales of unequal diameter. Three or four incisors and
VOL. n. L
146 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
two canines in the upper jaw. Tongue spongy, thick, rounded,
entire.* Tympanum hidden f in some, visible in others. In the
centre of the throat an elongated vertical pouch ; on each side
a smaller horizontal. In general a small cervical crest.} Trunk
depressed, with a lateral membrane, supported by the spurious
ribs. No femoral pores. Tail very long, thin, angular, slightly
depressed at the root.
A. Tympanum visible, metallic iridescent.
DRACO VOLANS, Linne.
SYN. Draco volans, apud Gmel., Latr., Gray.
Draco praepos, Linne' apud Gmelin.
Draco major, Laurenti.
Draco minor, Laurenti.
Le Dragon, Deubenton, Lacepede, Bonnat.
Flying Draco, Shaw.
Draco viridis, Daudin apud Merr., Kuhl, Wolf, Waglr.
Draco fuscus, Daudin apud Merr., Kuhl.
Draco bourouniensis, Lesson ?
Draco Daudinii, Dumeril and Bibron.
" Chichak terbang " or " Kubin " of the Malays.
Scales of the back rhomboidal, imbricate, indistinctly keeled ;
of the throat granular, of equal size ; the adult male with a small
cervical crest ; tongue minutely notched in front ; gular pouch of
the male very long, narrow, nearly double the length of the head ;
of the female, shorter, broad, triangular.
Adult male and female. Head metallic brown or green, with
a black spot between the eyes. Back and inner half of the wing
membrane varied with metallic, iridescent dark brown, and rose
colour, in some disposed in alternate transversal bands, with
numerous black spots and short, irregular waved or zigzag lines.
Limbs and tail in some with rose-coloured transversal bands.
Sides of the neck and lips also rose-coloured with black spots.
Cheeks and eyelids silvery-white or sky-blue, the latter with short
radiating black lines. Throat and gular pouch bright yellow, the
former dotted with black ; lateral pouches yellow or silvery rose,
dotted with black. Outer half of the wing membrane black with
indistinct transversal bands, composed of large, sometimes con-
fluent, spots of silvery rose or whitish colour ; the margins appear-
ing as minutely fringed with silver. Beneath, either whitish-yellow
* In the following species the tongue is minutely yet distinctly notched.
f i.e., Dractmctilus, Wei^mann.
i The female of Draco fimbriatus, Kuhl (i.e., Draco abbreviates, Gray),
D. volans, and D. tnaculatus, differs from the male in having no cervical crest,
and in having a smaller, less elongated gular pouch.
THE MALA VAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 147
or pale sky-blue with metallic lustre ; the membrane largely, the
abdomen in some minutely, spotted with black or brown. Iris
hazel, with a golden narrow ring. Young of the same more vivid
colours, with a series of double black spots along the spine of the
back, and some scattered on the sides.
HAD. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang.
Philippine Islands, Borneo, Java.
The transcendent beauty of the individually varying colours
baffles description. Such as are current of this and other species
appear to have been taken from preserved specimens. As the
lizard lies in the shade along the trunk of a tree, its colours, at a
distance, appear like a mixture of brown and grey, and render it
scarcely distinguishable from the bark. Thus it remains, with no
signs of life except the restless eyes, watching passing insects,
which, suddenly expanding the wings, it seizes with a sometimes
considerable, unerring leap. It is but on close inspection, exposed
to the light or in the sun, that the matchless brilliancy of its
colours is visible. But the lizard itself appears to possess no
power of changing them. This species is numerous on trees, in
valleys and hills. The female, apparently less numerous than the
male, carries three to four eggs of an oval cylindrical shape, f of an
inch in length, and of a yellowish-white colour. Of a number
examined none exceeded the following dimensions :
Length of the head . ...... o- inch.
trunk 2^ inches.
,, tail >. 4|
T 4
7f
B. Tympanum hidden by scales.
Gen. DRACUNCULUS, Wiegmann.
DRACO MACULATUS, Gray.
SYN. Dracunculus maculatus, Gray.*
HAD. Pinang.
Tenasserim.
Form. This species closely resembles Draco lincatus, Daudin
(Dracunculus lineafus, Wiegman), from which it differs in the fol-
lowing particulars. The adult male carries a very elongated,
* " Grey, black-spotted ; wings black-spotted ; throat grey ; pouch of the
male elongate ; scales of the back rather unequal, rhombic, keeled ; of the
sides rather smaller ; sides with a series of large-keeled scales ; ears rather
sunk, with unequal flat scales ; tail slender, with a central keel above, and five
more small ones on the sides, base dilated, with five nearly equidistant equal
keels above. Catalogue of the Specimens of Lizard s t &c., p. 236.
L 2
148 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
pointed gular pouch, double the length of the head, and a slightly
elevated cervical crest, consisting of six to eight pointed tubercular
scales, and continued along the anterior half of the back in the
shape of a ridge composed of a raised fold of the skin. The
female has neither cervical crest nor dorsal ridge, and her gular
pouch is much reduced, its length being about one-half of the
length of the head. Both sexes have the following characters in
common : From each side of the neck commences a series of
spinous scales, sometimes close together on one side, distant on
the other, which, increasing in size and becoming more distant,
continue along the side of the body, where they deviate outwards,
marking the origin of the wings, and again converge towards the
root of the tail, where they terminate. The scales of the back are
generally smooth, consisting of smaller polygonal, mixed with
some larger rhombic, indistinctly keeled, imbricate scales. In
some individuals the latter are disposed so as to form a series on
each side of the dorsal spine. The supraorbital margin has from
three to four large pointed tubercles, of which but the one situated
at the posterior angle appears to be constant. The scales of the
neck and throat are small granular, from which those covering the
tympanum differ by being larger, flattened, and polygonal. The
tubercles of the throat and neck, and many of the scales of the
back, wing membranes, and the limbs, have each a minute rounded
cavity at the point, discernible by a lens. The pouches, chest and
abdomen are covered with rhombic, imbricate, keeled scales with-
out apical cavities. Each jaw has sixteen labial scales. The tail
is long, very broad at the base, particularly in the male, suddenly
tapering, rounded above, and covered with strongly keeled, imbri-
cate, rhombic scales. The first large ones of the lowest series of
the root form a more or less conspicuous toothed crest. The
lower surface is flattened, with scales like the upper. The apex
of the tongue is notched. Dentition :
Incis. i : Canin.
2 I 1
Colours. This species bears so close a resemblance to Draco
volans, that it is scarcely possible to point out any difference.
The upper parts of the body are metallic greenish-brown, varied
with golden rose-colour or Isabella, indistinctly dotted and lined
with black. The wings are golden Isabella with transversal black
bands, formed by series of black rounded spots, either separate or
confluent on the inner half, but blending into one another on the
outer half. In some individuals numerous undulating golden rose-
coloured or burf lines longitudinally intersect the bands. The
margins are finely fringed with silver. The limbs and tail are
indistinctly ringed with black or brown. A black spot on the
vertex, between the eyes, appears to be constant also in this-
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 149
species. The gular pouch and the throat are bright yellow, the
latter in some dotted with pale brown. The chest and abdomen
whitish-yellow in some, bluish-white in others. The under surface
of the wings is of the latter colour, in some with single large
rounded black spots near the margins, independent of the upper
markings; which maybe distinguished through the hemitransparent
membrane.
Of this species but four, of which two males were received from
Sir Wm. Norris. They were all from the Hills of Pinang ; * none
exceeded the following dimensions :
Length of the head of inch.
trunk 3 inches.
>, tail 5f-
8J
The intestinal canal of a female measured :
Small intestines 3 inches.
Large of
Caecum of
The capacious stomach contained remains of insects, par-
ticularly of the gigantic black ant, inhabiting the Malayan hill
forests. The first portion of duodenum is much widened till
within a quarter of an inch from pylorus, where ductus coledochus
enters. Caecum is of a short crescent shape, much widened, as
well as the large intestine. In the abdominal cavity appeared
five eggs, of an oval form, yellowish-white colour, each half an inch
in length.
Gen. LEIOLEPIS, Cuvier apud Dumeril and Bibron.
Head sub-pyramidal, quadrangular, with minute polygonal
tubercular scales. Tympanic membrane a little sunk. Tongue
scaly on the anterior, papillary on the posterior half, apex bind.
Chest with a transversal fold in front. Two canines in each jaw.
Trunk sub-cylindrical with granular scales above ; beneath, with
larger, smooth? imbricate, rectangular scales. Femoral pores.
Tail conical, very long ; the root broad and depressed, the rest
.excessively slender.
To these characters it will be necessary to add : Skin of the
sides of the trunk excessively tax, capable of being expanded into a
large wing-like membrane by means of the six anterior very long
.spurious ribs.
* The Museum of the Asiatic Society possesses two females, obtained by
(the late Dr. Spry in the Tenasserim Provinces.
150 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
LEIOLEPIS BELLII, Gray.
SYN. Uromastix Bellii, Gray.
Uromastix belliana, " 111. Ind. Zool."*
Leiolepis guttatus, Cuvier apud { g^ and Bibron<
Cynosaurus punctatus, Schlegel.
Leiolepis Bellii, Gray : Catal.
Ground-colour above, blackish- grey ; the back and sides with
seven parallel lines of pale sulphur colour, edged with black, the
second from below, the fourth and sixth composed of more or less
confluent spots, the other three of distant round spots. The ex-
panded membrane black with seven or eight broad distant, trans-
versal bars of a brilliant orange. The tail above with numerous
small pale yellow spots. The fore-legs with orange-coloured rounded
spots, some of which tipped with azure ; the hind-legs minutely
spotted with yellow. The throat pale azure ; abdomen pale orange
marble with broad bluish-black veins ; the tail beneath pale yellow-
ish-white. The lower eyelid is pure white ; pupil circular, iris hazel
with a narrow golden ring.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang.
Cochin-China,
The head is covered with small elongated polygonal keeled scales ;
the upper jaw with twenty-six, the lower with eighteen to twenty. The
mental shield is elongated, polygonal ; the upper part of the sides
is joined to the first lower labial scale ; the centre part is on each side
in contact with the first series of thirteen to fifteen elongated poly-
gonal scales, which follow the track of the labial, between which there
is a narrow intervening space covered with smooth polygonal scales,
larger than those of the rest of the throat. The back and wing
membranes are covered with minute granular scales ; the abdomen
with larger smooth rhombic scales. Those of the tail, above and
beneath, are verticillated, rectangular, sub-imbricate, and strongly
keeled. The tongue is thick, fungous, not scaly, as incorrectly
represented, with the tip much flattened, free and slightly extensile,
divided in two laterally compressed sharp points. The molar
teeth are tricuspidate, increasing in size, the anterior being the
smallest. In the adult they are much worn and incrustated with
brown tartar, like the teeth of Semnopitheci and Ruminantia.
Dentition :
* In the supposition that this incorrectly drawn and coloured figure has been
taken from the living animal, MM. Dumeril and J5ibron have been led to
publish an erroneous description and figure. The last description of this species
of Mr. Gray appears to be founded on the same authority. It runs thus :
" Olive with black-edged white spots, and a black-edged white streak on each
side ; beneath, whitish." Catal. &c., p. 263.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 151
Incis. - 4 - ; Canin. I ~~ I ; Mol. "
i i i i ii. ii
The nails are long, slightly arched, of a pale yellowish horn-
colour.
The wing membrane in a state of repose appears like a longi-
tudinal loose fold, extending along each side from the axilla to
the inguinal region. Expanded, the external margin becomes
arched, the trunk and the membranes forming a greatly flattened
oval disk (strongly contrasting with the bulky appearance of the
parts in a state of repose), resembling the hood of Naja. The
transversal diameter of the disk across axilla and the inguinal
region is i \ inch ; across the centre 2| inches. Like the mechanism
of the genus Draco, the membranes are expanded by means of
the very long six anterior pairs of spurious ribs, which the lizard
has the power of moving forward under a right angle with the
vertebral column. The six posterior ones are excessively short,
and, though equally movable, do not appear materially to assist
in expanding the membranes. The latter are used as a parachute
in leaping from branch to branch, after which they immediately
resume their state of repose. Sudden fear or anger will also cause a
momentary expansion. The femoral pores are situated on a series
of rather large rhombic scales on each thigh. In a number of
twelve adult individuals, the pores varied from thirteen to nineteen
on each thigh. In the specimens in the Paris Museum, described
by MM. Dume'ril and Bibron, there are from twenty to twenty-
four on each thigh.
This species appears to be numerous, but local. Twelve were
at one time obtained from a spice plantation in province Wellesley,
some of which were in the act of changing the integuments. They
were very active and swift, more so than their rather heavy make
would induce one to believe, and they would bite and scratch when
handled, although among themselves in a spacious cage they
appeared peaceable, and patiently submitted to being trodden or
run over by a neighbour, about ascending the perch. The Malay
who brought the lizards asserted they were frugivorous, and
might be fed with soft fruit and boiled rice, which was perfectly
true. In one immediately examined, the stomach and intestines
contained rounded seeds of various kinds, from the smallest size
to that of a large pea, and vegetable fibres.*
The rest refused insects and different kinds of fruit, but during
the several months' confinement each would daily eat a little boiled
rice, and occasionally take water. Of these none exceeded the
following dimensions :
* The latter, however, as well as sand and fragments of stone, also occur in
carnivorous and insectivorous lizards, as well as serpents, which swallow these
substances to stimulate digestion.
152 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Length of the head . . . . o foot i ^ inches.
trunk . . . . o 45
tail i o
Entire length . . . i ,, 5f
Length of the intestinal canal :
Small intestines 5f inches.
Large 3
Caecum of
The stomach is of a lengthened pyriform shape, one inch in
length ; duodenum, narrow, receives ductus coleductus at f in.
distance from pylorus. Caecum is very short, nearly circular.
The large intestine is sacculated, terminating in a short simple
rectum.
There seems to be reason to believe that Leiolepis revesii* Gray,
inhabiting " China " and Arracan, is also found on the Malayan
Peninsula.
FAM. SCINCID^:, Gray (LEPIDOSAURES, Dumeril andBibron).
SUB-FAM. SAUROPHTHALMIN^, Cocteau.
Gen. GONGYLUS, Wagler apud Dumeril and Bibron.
Nostrils lateral, pierced either through the nasal or between the
nasal and rostral shield ; tongue notched, squamous ; teeth conical,
* Syn. Uroniastix revesii, Gray. " Olive with a series of briglit red spots
on each side" (Griffith, "Animal Kingdom," ix. p. 62.) Such was the only
account of this species at the time of the publication of " Erpetologie Generale,"
where it is not introduced. Mr. Gray's latest description runs thus : " Olive
with longitudinal scries of pale whitish spots ; when alive, blackish, -with orange
spots on the back, and a series of bright red spots on the sides. China." (" Cata-
logue," &c., p. 263.)
The Museum of the Asiatic Society possesses an adult male and a young speci-
men sent from Arracan by Capt. Phayre. The form resembles in every par-
ticular that of Lew 'tt pis guttatiis, from which the present species principally differs
by its colours, larger, heavier make and size. Each jaw is covered by twenty
scales. From the' mental scale proceeds a series of ten larger scales on each side
below the labial. On the throat appear two or three strong transversal folds,
of which the anterior commences from the posterior margin of the tympanum.
The tail is covered with keeled verticillate scales, as in L.guttatus, but not with
" rings of smooth scales," as Mr. Gray's generic character states. Dentition :
Incis. - 4 - ; Canin. ?--? ; Mol. IO< ; Femoral pores 20.
i i I I 10.10
Length of the head o foot i| inches.
,, trunk o ,, 6 ,,
tail i o
Entire length i 7| ,,
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 153
often slightly compressed, and as it were wedge-shaped, simple ;
palate toothed or not, with a posterior notch or a longitudinal
groove ; auricular apertures ; four feet, each with five unequal,
slightly compressed, not dentilated, nailed toes ; sides rounded ;
tail conical or slightly compressed, pointed.
Sub-Gen. EUMECES, Wiegmann.
. Nostrils pierced through the nasal shield, near the posterior
margin ; two supernasal shields ; palate not toothed, with a rather
shallow triangular notch behind ; scales smooth.
EUMECES PUNCTATUS, Linnd, var.
SYN. Lacerta punctata, Linne'.
Stellio punctatus, Laurenti.
La Double raie, Daub, apud Lace'p. Bonnat.
( Donnd.
Lacerta interpunctata, Gmelin apud < Shaw.
( Latreille.
Scincus bilineatus, Daudin.
Scincus punctatus, Schneider apud Merrem.
Seps scincoides, Cuv. apud Griffith, A.K.
Lygosoma punctata, Gray apud Griff. A.K.
Riopa punctata. Gray.
Tiliqua Cuvierii, Cocteau.
Tiliqua Duvaucellii, Cocteau.
Eumeces punctatus, Wiegmann apud Dum. and Bibr.
Riopa Hardwickii, Gray : Catal. (young).
Trunk individually varying in length ; limbs very small, giving
the lizard a blindworm-like appearance; tail very thick at the
root, fusiform, tapering to a very sharp point, its length varying
from one to two-thirds of the entire length of the animal. On the
anterior margin of the ear a small tubercle. Above, metallic
chestnut, or greenish-bronze, in some with six more or less distinct
dotted black lines along the back, or with two rows of scales
nearest each side of a lighter shade than the ground colour, thus
forming two lighter longitudinal bands. From the nostril to the
middle of the side of the tail a black or brown band, with numerous
small white spots on the sides. Limbs outside dotted with white.
Beneath, sulphur-coloured, in some the throat and tail minutely
dotted with black. Iris dark brown, with a narrow circular
golden ring.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang, Singapore.
Malabar and Coromandel Coast, Bengal.
The variety described above is numerous in the Malayan
154 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
countries, both on hills and in valleys. Of several the largest
individual was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head ....... of inch.
trunk ...... 2 inches.
tail
Entire length 4
Sub-Gen. EUPREPIS, Waglcr.
Nostrils pierced through the posterior part of the nasal shield
two super-nasals ; palate with a more or less deep triangular in-
cision ; pterygoid teeth ; scales keeled.
EUPREPIS RUFESCENS, Shaw.
SYN. Lacerta maritima maxima, c., Seba ii. tab. 105, fig. 3.
Lacerta rufescens, Shaw, iii. p. 1. p. 285.
Scincus rufescens, Merrem apud
Scincus multifasciatus, Kuhl.
Mabouya multifasciata, Fitzinger.
Euprepis multifasciatus, Wagler.
Tiliqua fufescens, Gray.
Eumeces rufescens, Wiegmann.
Tiliqua carinata, Gray.
Tiliqua affinis, Gray (Young).
Euprepis Sebce, Dumeril et Bibron.
Body strong ; limbs proportionate ; tail rounded, slightly com-
pressed, little exceeding half the entire length. Scales of the back
and sides : in the young with five to seven keels ; in the adult the
dorsal scales with three to five keels, the rest smooth. The anterior
margin of the ear with three or four minute lobules. Lower eyelid
with a series of four or five larger, square scales. Pterygoid teeth
minute, few, hid in the palatal membrane, forming a short line on
each side of the triangular incision of the palate.
HAB. Sandwich Islands, Philippines, Timor, Celebes, Borneo,
Java, Coromandel, Bengal.
Var. D., Dume'ril and Bibron.
Above : ground colour shining bronze with five to seven zigzag, or
dotted black lines, in some continued on the tail ; sides with many
of the scales black, with a square white spot in the middle, in
some arranged so as to produce numerous distant transversal
bands. The margins of some or all the shields of the head
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 155
black. Beneath, sulphur-coloured. Iris black, with a golden
circular ring.
HAD. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang, Singapore.
Var. E., Dumeril and Bibron.
Above, uniformly shining bronze ; sides in some sprinkled with
blood-red ; rest like the preceding.
HAD. Same localities.
Var. F., Dume'ril and Bibron.
Above, uniformly shining bronze ; the anterior half of the sides
with a blood-red stripe, which in specimens preserved in spirits of
wine changes to whitish, or disappears ; the posterior part of the
sides of the body and the anterior of the tail in some with square
sky-blue spots in the middle of some of the scales ; rest like the
preceding.
HAB. Same localities.
These three varieties are exceedingly numerous in the hills and
valleys of the Malayan countries. They may be seen basking in
the sun in bamboo hedges or on trees, and they fearlessly enter
houses in pursuit of insects, in which they display great agility.
The female deposits six to twelve yellow-white, oval cylindrical
eggs, half an inch in length. Nearly all have on the lower two-
thirds of the tail a series of large scuta. In one individual
observed the last two-thirds of the back of the tail was covered
with a single series of very broad scales, of which each of the
anterior had fifteen to sixteen keels. In another the tail had
been lost near the root, and reproduced by a pyramidal, soft,
naked process, f inch long, with circular folds like those of the
body of Ichthyophis. Var. E. appears to exceed the others in
size : the largest was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head of inch.
trunk 3$ inches.
tail 4t
Entire length 8f
EUPREPIS ERNESTII, Dumeril and Bibron.
SYN. Scincus Ernestii, Boie, MSS.
Psammite de Van Ernest, Cocteau.
Dasia olivacea, Gray : Catal.
Form like E. rufescens. Triangular incision of the palate very
small, with a few minute pterygoid teeth on each side. Ears ob-
i56 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING '
liquely oval, small, appearing more so, being half-covered by two of
the temporal scales ; no lobules on the anterior margin. Scales of
the back with minute, longitudinally waved lines, and from three
to eight indistinct keels. The outer half of the toes and the nails
sharply compressed. A series of scuta beneath the tail.
Very young. Head light green-bronze, shields edged with black,
and a black line, edged with silver, from the muzzle to the ear.
Back, sides, root of the tail, and outside of the limbs shining black,
with numerous transversal silvery lines. Feet and toes rose or
flesh coloured. Tail brilliant scarlet.* Throat, abdomen, and
inside of the limbs silvery-white.
Adult. Ground colour, greyish-brown bronze. Frontal and
supraorbital shields black-edged ; fronto-parietals, inter-parietals
and parietals black, each with a whitish elongated mark, united,
forming a symmetrical figure. From the nostril to the eye a black
streak. Neck and body with a number (twelve to fourteen) of dis-
tant, transversal, waved bands, composed of black scales, each with
a rectangular white spot in the middle. Outside of limbs with
four or five similar bands. In some a buff-coloured lateral band
on the posterior part of the back, and the anterior half of the side
of the tail. Beneath, iridescent light bluish-green ; scales with
whitish edges. Iris black with a golden narrow circle.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula, Pinatig.
Java.
In habits this species resembles uprepis Erufescens, but appears
to be far less numerous. In a female were found eleven eggs, in
shape, size, and colours resembling those of E. rufescens. The
young above described was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head of inch.
trunk i
tail if
Entire length 3| inches.
Of the two adult individuals the larger measured :
Length of the head of- inch.
trunk 3'^- inches.
tail 4*
Entire length 8*-
Sub-Gen. LYGOSOMA, Gray apud Dum. and Bibr.
Nostrils pierced through the nasal shield ; no supranasals
* The very young of Eumcces lessonii, Dum. and Bibr. (Scinais cyanurus,
jLesson), is distinguished by a similar distribution of colours.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 157
palate toothless, with a small triangular incision, situated far back,
scales smooth.
LYGOSOMA CHALCIDES, Linne.
SVN. Scincus pedibus brevissimis, &c., Gronov. p. ii. No. 43.
Lacerta chalcides, Linne.
Angvis quadrupes, Linn apud Hermann.
Le Chalcide, Daubenton.
Der Vierfuss, Miiller.
Lezard vert a ecailles lisses, Vosmaer.
/Hermann.
Gmelin.
Lacerta serpens, Bloch apud \ Leske.
Donnd.
VShaw.
Angvis quadrupede, Lacepede.
Chalcida serpens, Mayer.
Lacerta serpens, Donnd apud Shaw.
Scincus brachypus, Schneid. apud Merrem.
Chalcides serpens, Latreille.
Seps pentadactylus, Daudin.
Seps (Angvis quadrupedes, Lin.), Cuv. apud Griffith, A.K.
Mabouya serpens, Fitzinger ?
Lygosoma serpens, Gray apud { ^^ A>K>
Lygosoma aurata, Gray apud Griffith, A.K.
Tiliqua de Vosmaer, Cocteau.
Lygosoma brachypoda, Dumeril and Bibron.
Podophis chalcides, Gray : Catal.
Blindworm-like; limbs excessively small; tail strong, conical,
about two-fifths of the entire length. A single large lozenge-
shaped fronto-parietal shield. Ear minute, circular. Lower eyelid
scaly, with a few larger scales. Preanal scales larger than the rest.
Ground colour : iridescent, lighter or darker copper or bronze,
in some with indistinct dark-brown zigzag lines, produced by the
scales being laterally edged or dotted with that colour. Beneath,
pale or whitish-yellow. The tail in some minutely dotted with
brown. Iris black, with a minute golden ring. The supraorbital
scales being somewhat transparent, the black colour of the eye
gives them a blackish appearance.
HAB. Pinang.
Singapore, Java.
But two individuals were observed on the Great Hill of Pinang
one by Sir W. Norris, the other by myself. The latter made its
appearance through a hole in the soft moist mould beneath a
group of Polycopodium Horsfieldii. Above ground its movements
158 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
were very quick, serpent-like, apparently little assisted by the tiny
limbs. The head of the larger measured f- inch, the trunk 2J
inches in length. One had but four toes on the anterior feet. In
both the tail was reproduced, which is also the case in a third,
from Singapore, preserved in the Museum of the Asiatic Society.
OPHIDIA.
(Innocuous Serpents.}
FAM. TYPHLOPID^E, GRAY.
BURROWING.
Gen. PILIDION, Dumeril and Bibron.
Head covered with shields, cylindrical, very short, as if trun-
cated, convex above, declivous in front ; muzzle rounded ; rostral
shield like a large rounded cap covering the head and muzzle ;
an anterior frontal, a frontal, a pair of supraorbital, ocular,
nasal, and fronto-nasal shields; neither parietals, interparietals,
nor preorbitals ; nostrils hemispherical, under the muzzle,
between the nasal and fronto-nasal shields ; eyes excessively
small, hidden by the ocular shields.
PILIDION LINEATUM, Boie.
SYN. Acontias lineatus, Reinwardt, MS.
Typhlops lineatus, H. Boie.
Typhlina, Wagler.
Typhlops lineatus, Gray in Griffith, A.K.
Typhlops lineatus, Schlegel.
Pilidion lineatum, Dumeril and Bibron.
Typhlinalis lineatum, Gray : Catal.
Ground-colour pale gamboge or orange, uniform on the head,
the apical third of the tail, and the abdomen ; interrupted on the
back and sides by twelve longitudinal serrated brown lines, pro-
duced by a minute triangular spot on each side of the scales.
HAD. Pinang Hills.
Java, Sumatra, Singapore.
A single individual, captured by Sir William Norris, differs from
the description given by MM. Dumeril and Bibron in the com-
paratively greater dimensions of the tail. It is strongly arched ;
its length equals twice the breadth of the head ; it is covered
with sixteen transversal series of scales, and it is considerably
thicker than the rest of the uniformly cylindrical body. The an-
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 159
terior frontal shield is very broad, larger than the frontal. It was
of the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o foot o^ inch.
trunk . ... x of
,, tail o oi
i if
Circumference of the trunk, f in. ; of the tail, f in.
Gen. TYPHLOPS, Schneider.
Head covered with shields, depressed ; muzzle rounded, covered
above and beneath by the rostral shield ; an anterior frontal, a
frontal, a pair of supraorbitals, one or two pairs of parietals and
interparietals ; a pair of nasals, fronto-nasals, preorbitals, and
oculars; nostrils lateral, hemispherical, opening in the suture
between the nasal and fronto-nasal ; eyes lateral, more or less
distinct ; pupil round.
TYPHLOPS NIGROALBUS, Dumeril and Bibron.
SYN. Argyrophis bicolor, Gray : Catal.
Shining black above ; on the head some transversal and radiating
whitish-yellow lines ; scales of the back edged with white ; beneath,
whitish-yellow.
HAB. Pinang Hills, Singapore.
Sumatra.
This species is closely allied to T. JDiardi, Schlegel,* an inhabi-
tant of Assam and the Khassia Hills. Of two individuals observed,
the larger was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head o foot o-J inch.
trunk i o
tail o of
Circumference of the trunk, J inch ; of the tail, i J inch.
TYPHLOPS BRAMINUS, Daudin.
SYN. L'Orvet lombric, Lacepede.
Anguis. Rondoo Talooloo Pam. Russell, i. pi. 43.
Punctulated Slow-worm, Shaw.
Eryx braminus, Daudin.
* Syn. T. Diardii, apud Dum. and Bibr. ; Argyrophis Horsfieldii^ Gray,
Catal. '
160 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Typhlops rondoo talooloo, Cuvier.
Tortrix Russellii, Merrem.
{Cuvier.
Fitzinger.
Gray in Griffith, A.K.
Typhlops Russellii, Schlegel.
Typhlops braminus, Cuvier apud Dumeril and Bibron.
Argyrophis bramicus, Gray : Catal.
Shining copper-coloured or brown, of various shades above,
paler beneath. Some individuals of a uniformly bluish white.
All the scales with a dark-brown spot at the anterior part. The
shields of the head have a whitish line close to their margins.
In the young the latter is crenulated, and the sides of the head,
lips, throat, the anal region, and the point of the tail are yellowish
or whitish, and the body is semitransparent.
HAD. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
Canton Province, Philippines, Guam (Marian Isles),
Java, Tenasserim, Bengal, Assam, Coromandel, Ceylon,
Malabar.
In the Malayan countries this species is numerous in hills and
valleys. The eyes are black, the pupil round, which is also the
case in T. nigro-albus. The largest of a great number examined
was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head of inch.
trunk 7f inches.
tail o| inch.
7 inches.
Circumference of the neck, f inch ; of the tail, f inch.
The preceding species of this family are all of similar habits,
They mostly live under ground, but appear occasionally in shady
places, particularly after showers of rain, in Bengal, in the rainy
season. They are very agile, and appear to make use of the
horny point of the tail as a propeller. When taken, they fre-
quently press it against the hand in their attempts to escape.
Reposing on the ground, Typhlops braminus may easily be mis-
taken for an earthworm, until its serpentine movements, the
darting of the white furcated tongue, while the head and neck are
raised, make it known. In confinement they refuse food and
water. In all dissected, the stomach contained some earth ; in a
few, remains of insects (Myriapoda, ants). A young female had a
string of six cylindrical soft eggs, of a yellowish-white colour, each
about | of an inch in length, -^ in diameter.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 161
FA.M. BOID^E, BONAPARTE.
BURROWING.
Gen. CYLINDROPHIS, Wagkr.
Scales smooth, imbricate, hexagonal ; those of the abdomen
broader than the rest ; nostrils subvertical, opening in the lower
part of the anterior frontal shield ; neither nasals, frenals, nor
preorbitals ; a single postorbital ; frontals large, reaching the
minute eye, and the large second and third labials ; supraorbitals,
occipitals, and vertical distinct ; tail very short.
CYLINDROPHIS RUFUS, Laurenti.
{' Gmelin.
Schneider.
Shaw.
Anguis striatus, Gmelin.
Anguis scytale, Linne* apud Russell, ii. pi. 27.
Shilay Pamboo, Russell, ii. pi. 28 (young).
Anguis corallina, Shaw.
Eryx rufa, Daudin.
/ Gray.
Tortrix rufa, Merrem apud
FHippi
Scytale Scheuchzeri, Merrem.
Ilysia rufa, Lichtenstein apud Fitzinger.
Cylindrophis resplendens, Wagler.
Cylindrophis rufa, Gray apud Dume'ril and Bibron.
Iridescent blackish-brown above ; beneath, with alternate black
and yellowish- white transversal bands or interrupted bars. Iris
black, pupil vertically contracted by the light ; tongue whitish.
Central series of abdominal scales, 206; subcaudal, six.
HAB. Singapore.
Java, Tranquebar, Bengal (?).
A single individual, turned up with the earth in a garden at
Singapore belonging to Dr. Montgomerie, differs from the descrip-
tion given by MM. Dumeril and Bibron in the following particu-
lars. The head is uniformly black, without the two scarlet frontal
spots ; the apex of the tail whitish ; the posterior part of the body
is more robust than the anterior ; the length of the head forms
more than J s of the entire length of the animal ; there are six
pairs of labial shields on each jaw, and the scales of the trunk are
disposed in twenty longitudinal series. It unites characters assigned
by MM. Dume'ril and Bibron as distinguishing Cylindrophis rufus
VOL. II. M
162 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
from C. melanotus, Wagler, and it would therefore appear that Dr.
Schlegel is justified in considering the latter from Celebes (Tor-
trix melanota, Boie, MS.) as a variety of rufa. In the present
individual there is no external appearance of the very rudimentary
anal hooks. It was slow in its movements ; attempted to escape,
but not to bite.
Length of the head . . . . o foot of inch.
trunk . . . . x 6f inches.
tail o of inch.
i 7 \ inches.
Gen. XENOPELTIS, Reinwardt.
Head rather narrower than the trunk, depressed, obsoletely
angular ; eyes small, round ; nostrils large, apical ; frenal shield,
very large ; preorbital none;* postorbitals three ;t interparietal
very large, equalling the vertical ; trunk thick, short, with imbri-
cate, smooth, hexagonal scales, disposed in longitudinal series,,
increasing in size towards the narrow abdominal scuta ; tail thick,
short, awl-shaped, beneath with scutella.
XENOPELTIS UNICOLOR, Reinwardt.
SYN. Xenopeltis concolor, Reinwardt.
Xenopeltis leucocephala, Reinwardt (young).
Guerin : Iconog. pi. xxi. fig. 3.
Tortrix xenopeltis, Schlegel.
Adult. Blackish or reddish-brown above, with strong metallic
blue, purple, and green lustre ; lips and throat buff ; the lowest
lateral series of scales, scuta, and scutella pale reddish-brown, with
broad whitish margins. Iris black; pupil lanceolate, with the
apex downwards, vertically contracted by the light ; tongue buff.
Young. Head yellowish-white, with a brown spot on the crown
and labial shields ; the scales of the sides edged with white, pro-
ducing longitudinal zig-zag lines ; the two lowest series of scales
and scuta yellowish-white; scutella of the same colour, with a
brown transversal line.
Scuta, 175 to 179 ; scutella, 26 to 27.
HAB. Pinang) Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
Celebes, Java, Sumatra.
Of three young individuals, one was found by Sir William Norris
on the Great Hill at Pinang, a second by Dr. Montgomerie at
Singapore, and a third was obtained in province Wellesley, where
* The single preorbital is very large, the frenal small, subrectangular ; the
nostrils open between the latter and the nasal shield.
t Three individuals examined presented two postoi'bitals.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 163
also a single adult male was killed. As this serpent in general
appearance bears a strong resemblance to Lycodon au/icus, Linne",
(syn. L. hebe t apud Schlegel), so it also does in its fierce habits
and mode of attack. The scales are smooth, rhombic-hexagonal,
disposed in fifteen longitudinal series. Labial shields -if . The
stomach of a young individual examined contained the remains
of a rat. The adult attains to a much larger size than supposed ;
a male was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o feet i-*- inch.
trunk . . . . 3 2 inches.
tail . . . . o 4
3 11 7a "
Circumference of the neck 2f , of the trunk 4, of the root of
the tail 2 inches.
TERRESTRIAL.
Gen. PYTHON, Daudin.
Entire shields under the abdomen and tail, the latter cylindrical,
sometimes with scutella ; anus with scales and a hook on each
side.
PYTHON RETICULATUS, Schneider.
SYN. Seba i. tab. Ixii. fig. 2 ; ii. tab. Ixxix. fig. i, and tab. Ixxx.
fig. i.
Ular sawa, Wurmb.
La jaune et bleue, Lace*pede.
L'oularsawa, Bonnaterre.
Boa reticulata, Schneider apud Daudin.
Boa rhombeata, Schneider (?).
Boa amethystina, Schneider.
Boa constrictor, var. e, Latreille.
Boa phrygia, Shaw.
Coluber javanicus, Shaw.
Boa constrictor, var. 5, Daudin.
Python amethystinus, Daudin.
Python des iles de la Sonde, Cuvier, R.A.
( F. Boie.
Python Schneiderii, Merrem apud < Guerin.
( Schlegel.
Coluber javanensis, Fleming.
( Fitzinger.
Python javanicus,* Kuhl apud 1 Gray in Griffith, A.K.
( Eichwald.
* PytJw javanicus, figured and described in Abel's "Narrative," &c., is
Python inolurnS) Linne.
M 2
1 64 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Constrictor (P. Schneiderii, Kuhl), Wagler.
Python reticulatus, Gray apud Dumeril and Bibron.
" Ular sa\va " of the Malays.
Ground-colour above, light yellowish-brown, chestnut, or olive-
green, assuming a greyish hue on the sides ; all the colours strongly
iridescent, particularly reflecting metallic blue or green. The
head is divided from the muzzle to the nape of the neck by a
black line, continued along the back to the point of the tail, and
describing a series of large lozenges, sometimes linked to each
other by a small black ring, sometimes broken up into large
irregular patches. A black oblique line proceeds from behind the
eye towards the angle of the mouth, continuing on the sides as a
series of more or less regular lozenges, which are joined to the
lateral angles of those of the back by a large, black, triangular
spot, with a white arched mark in the centre. The scales nearest
the black margins of the lozenges are of a lighter colour than the
rest, sometimes whitish. Between and within the lateral lozenges
appear numerous black spots, or interrupted lines. The lips (the
lower in some present a black line) and abdominal scuta are
gamboge or pale yellow, as well as the lowest two or three series
of scales, but the latter with irregular black spots. The caudal
scutella and scuta, when present, are yellow marbled with black.
The iris is silvery flesh-coloured or yellowish-brown, sometimes with
a black bar ; the pupil vertically contracted by the light. The
tongue is black above, bluish-white beneath. In the young the
colours are brighter than in the adult.
Scuta, 297 to 330; scutella, 82 to 102.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
Chusan ? * Amboina, Java, Banka, Sumatra, Bengal. f
The two fossets of the rostral shield are pyriform, with the apex
diverging, and those of the nearest three or four upper labials are
of similar shape. The inferior fossets are square, occupying the
lower margin of the shield, varying from seven to nine on each side.
The foremost of these is situated on the shield corresponding to
that of the upper jaw, which borders the orbit.
This species is very numerous in the Malayan hills and valleys,
* Skins are of frequent occurrence at Chusan, and the natives assert that the
serpent is found there and on the neighbouring continent. Serpents from 14
to 1 6 feet in length, " rock-snakes," were observed by several officers dining
our occupation of the island.
f MM. Dumeril and Bibron state that this species has been sent from
Bengal by M. A. Duvaucel. The natives are not acquainted with it, and the
specimens in the Museum of the Asiatic Society are from Pinang. The living
animal is occasionally brought from the Straits of Malacca to Calcutta, and
such is probably the history of the specimen sent from Bengal by M. Duvaucel.
Python molttrns, Linne (Palda poda and bora of Russell), is very numerous
in Bengal.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 165
feeding upon quadrupeds and birds. It often takes up its abode
in outhouses, preying at night, and is thus useful in destroying
vermin, although plunder is occasionally committed in poultry-
yards. Dr. Montgomerie has seen in Georgetown, Pinang, a
young one which the inhabitants suffered to retain unmolested
possession of the rice stores in order to secure them against the
ravages of rats. Individuals of 16 ft. in length are of no rare
occurrence. In 1844 one was killed at the foot of Pinang, which
a jgentleman informed me measured more than 30 ft. During
the expedition to China, in 1840, one was shot from the poop of
one of H.M. transports, then riding in Singapore roads, between
three and four miles from the shore. It was about 9 ft. long, and had
the upper part of the head infested with Ixodes ophiophilus, M tiller.
The Chinese attribute great medicinal qualities to the heart and
the gall-bladder, and use the skin to cover the bodies of some of
their musical instruments. Python molurus, Linne (Pedda poda,
Russell, i. pi. 22, 23, 24, and bora, pi. 39), is said also to occur,
but rarely, in the Malayan Peninsula, but I never had an oppor-
tunity of seeing it.
AQUATIC.
Gen. ACROCHORDUS, apud Schlcgel.
(Acrochordus, Hornstedt, 1787; Chersydrus, Cuvier, 1817.)
Acrochordus, Hornstedt. Nostrils vertical, eyes encircled by a
ring of rninute scales ; trunk compressed, attenuated towards both
extremities ; tail tapering, compressed ; all the scales small, trifid,
strongly keeled.
ACROCHORDUS JAVANICUS, Hornstedt.
SYN. Acrochordus javanicus, apud Shaw.
Acrochordus javensis, Lace*p. apud Cuvier.
Acrochordus javanicus, apud Schlegel.
" 'Ular karong, or sapi, or lembu " of the Malays.*
Young. Above, dull greyish-brown ; sides and lower parts pale
yellow or dirty ochre ; back with three longitudinal, undulating,
frequently interrupted black bands ; sides and abdomen with
rows of rounded spots, marbled and dotted with black.
Adult. Of similar but less distinct colours. Iris brown, pupil
elliptic, vertically contracted by the light; tongue whitish.
HAB. Pinang, Singapore.
Java.
- 1 * 'Ular signifies a serpent, kdrong a sac, sdpi and lembu a cow or ox.
These expressive vernacular names refer to the loose skin and the bulk of the
annual.
166 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
A female captured on the Great Hill at Pinang, at a distance
from water, was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o feet if inch.
trunk .... 4 7 inches.
tail o 9
Greatest circumference, i foot.
Notwithstanding the sharply compressed abdomen, the serpent
moved without difficulty, but sluggishly, on the ground, and pre-
ferred quiet. When touched she attempted to bite, but the pupil
being contracted by the glare, she missed her aim. Shortly after
being brought, while the rest of the body remained motionless the
posterior ribs were observed moving, and the serpent successively,
in the course of about twenty-five minutes, brought forth twenty-
seven young ones. Each birth was followed by some sanguinolent
serum. With two exceptions the foetus appeared with the head
foremost. They were very active, bit fiercely, and their teeth were
fully developed. Shortly after birth the integuments came off in
large pieces, which is also the case with the foetus of several
species of Homalopsis. The present ones were placed in water,
which, however, appeared to distress them, as they all attempted
to escape on dry ground. Nearly all were of the following
dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o foot o!; inch.
trunk .... i if
tail o 3 inches.
The Malays of Pinang assert that this species is of very rare
occurrence. During a residence of twenty years at Singapore,
Dr. Montgomerie observed it but in a solitary instance. The
physiognomy of this species bears a striking resemblance to that
of a thorough-bred bull-dog, which t in a somewhat less degree
also may be said of the following.
Sub-Gen. Chersydrus* Cuvier. Head and body uniformly
covered with small scales.
ACROCHORDUS GRANULATUS, Schneider.
SYN. Hydrus granulatus, Schneider.
Angvis granulatus, Schneider.
Acrochordus fasciatus, Shaw.
* This sub-gen, was founded upon the erroneous supposition that Aero-
cnoi'iii fasciatus, Shaw, possessed venomous organs.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 167
Acrochordus dubius, Shaw.
Pelamis granulatus, Daudin.
Chersydrus (A. fasciatus, Shaw), Cuvier.
Acrochordus fasciatus, apud Raffles.
Chersydrus granulatus, Merrem apud Wagler.
Acrochordus fasciatus, apud Schlegel.
" 'Ular limpa "* or " 'Ular laut " of the Malays.
Young. Blackish-brown or liver-coloured; the head with a few
scattered yellowish-white spots, the rest of the body with numerous
rings of the latter colour, some interrupted on the back, others on
the abdomen.
Adult. The dark colours fade to a dull greyish-black, uniform
on the back, and the sides and abdomen present alternate dark
and whitish vertical bands. Iris black, pupil vertically con-
tracted ; tongue whitish.
HAB. Rivers and sea-coast of the Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
Bay of Manilla, New Guinea, Timor, Java, Sumatra, Coro-
mandel.
This species appears not to exceed about 3 ft. in length. The
body is less bulky and the skin less loose than in A. javanicus ;
but the form is more compressed, particularly the sword or oar-
like tail, and, like that of the pelagic venomous serpent, appears
exclusively calculated to aquatic habits. The scales also resemble
those of the latter, and are generally smaller than in A. javanicus.
Those of the back, the largest, are rounded rhombic, each with a
minute tubercle in the centre. The skin in the interstices is finely
wrinkled. On the abdomen the scales are mucronate, with a
sharp, reclining central point. In both species the medial line is
raised by two or three quincunx rows of scales with their points
overlapping each other. The orbit is surrounded by a ring of
scales a little larger than the rest. The nostrils, pierced high up on
the muzzle, are almost vertical, slightly more so than they are in
A. javanicus. In both they are tubular, larger in the present
species, sinuous, and provided with a deeply seated membranous
fold, which can hermetically close the passage. The mouth is
secured in a similar manner by a central arched notch and two
lateral protuberances, which correspond to a protuberance and
two lateral cavities in the lower jaw. This contrivance also occurs
in Hydras, and to a certain extent in Hoinalopsis. With the
exception of the dentition and the absence of venomous organs,
in anatomical details both species of Acrochordus closely resemble
Hydrus. As observed by M. Schlegel, the most striking feature
is the great development of the lung, which occupies nearly three-
fourths of the extent of the abdominal cavity. A somewhat
* Limpa Le. t liver, liver-coloured.
i68 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
similar arrangement also occurs in Hoinalopsis. All the maxillary
teeth (inter-maxillary none) are strong, pointed, inwardly reclining
and disposed in double or treble rows. The three anterior teeth are
the shortest ; the upper jaw has on each side upwards of twenty
teeth, the lower three or four less. The palatal teeth number twelve
on each side, the pterygoid nine, and are shorter than the rest.
Acrochordus granulatus is of no rare occurrence in the sea of the
Malayan coasts, although, according to Raffles, it is rarely seen on
the coasts of Sumatra. At Pinang they are found among the fishes
taken in the stakes some three or four miles distant from the coast.
M. Schlegel is mistaken in stating that this species never inhabits
the sea,* and in censuring M. Eschscholtz for his stating that the
fishermen often take it in the Bay of Manilla. A female of the
following dimensions had six eggs :
Length of the head . . . . o feet of inch.
trunk . . . . 2 y-f inches.
tail o 3-{j-
2 i if
Greatest circumference, 4 inches.
The egg is cylindrical, soft, coriaceous, whitish, about i| inch
in length. In each egg was coiled up a living young one of the
following dimensions :
Length of the head of inch.
trunk 9 inches.
tail if inch.
io| inches.
Greatest circumference, i inch. In food and general habits,
this species resembles the pelagic venomous serpents ; in its-
element it is active, but on dry land, blinded by the daylight,
it is sluggish and of uncertain movements.
FAM. COLUBRID^E, BONAPARTE.
TERRESTRIAL.
Gen. CALAMARIA, II. Boie.
Body diminutive, elongated, obtuse at both extremities, through-
out of equal diameter, cylindrical ; eyes very small, with round
pupil ; frontals one pair, laterally extending to the labials ; frenals
none ; nostrils lateral, opening in a small shield between the
irontal, rostral, and anterior labial; one preorbital, one post-
* "Essai,"c., p. 492.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 169
orbital, four mental shields; dorsal scales rhombic, polished,
smooth ; tail very short.
CALAMARIA LUMBRICOIDEA, Schlegel, var.
SYN. Calamaria lumbricoidea, Boie, MS.
Calamaria virgulata, Boie, MS. (Young).
Strongly iridescent, brownish-black, lighter on the head, scales
with whitish edges ; cheeks, lips, and throat citrine ; the lowest
row of scales and abdominal surface yellowish-white ; subcaudal
scutella faintly marked with brown ; eyes and tongue black.
Scuta, 169; scutella, 26.
HAB. Pinang, Singapore.
Celebes, Java.
This variety differs in nothing but colours from the species
described by M. Schlegel. Of three individuals observed, two
were taken by Sir W. Norris and W. T. Lewis, Esq., in the hills
of Pinang, the third by Dr. Montgomerie at Singapore. The
largest was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head 3f inches.
,, ,, trunk n
tail i| inch.
i ft. i|
Circumference, f inch.
The livery bears a remarkable resemblance to that of Calamaria
alba, Linne (C. brachyorrhos, Schlegel), from which it, however,
differs in the absence of the anterior frontal shields, and in having
thirteen instead of seventeen longitudinal series of scales.
CALAMARIA LINNEI, H. Boie, var. Schlegel.
SYN. Calamaria reticulata, Boie, MS. ?
Changulia albiventer, Gray: "111. Ind. Zool." pi. Ixxxvi.
figs. 6-9.*
Calamaria Linnei, var. Schlegel.
Adult. Head brown, minutely dotted with black, lips and
cheeks pale gamboge ; trunk reddish-brown, on each side with
two vermillion longitudinal bands with black serrated edges;
beneath, carmine, with a black serrated line on each side ; sub-
caudal scutella with a central black zig-zag line ; all the colours
strongly iridescent ; eyes black, tongue vermilion.
* Referred by M. Schlegel to C. lumbricoidea, but the characteristic distribu-
tion of the colours is that of the present var. The figure, however, is not
good, and not coloured from life.
170 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Young. Like the adult, but with a broad black nuchal band
edged with white, a vermilion band at the root of the tail, and in
some a similar near the point.
Scuta, 1 66; scutella, 17.
HAB. Pinang.
Java.
The present variety corresponds in all particulars to the de-
scription of C. Liimei by M. Schlegel, who, however, does not
mention that the two or three anterior teeth on each side of the
lower jaw are longer than the rest. Of six individuals from the
hills of Pinang, the largest individual measured :
Length of the head ........ of inch.
trunk iOg inches.
tail of inch.
1 1 inches.
Circumference of the neck f , of the trunk f inch.
CALAMARIA LONGICEPS, N.S.
Strongly iridescent soot-coloured, a shade lighter beneath ; the
scuta and scutella edged with whitish. Eyes and tongue black.
Scuta, 131; scutella, 26.
HAB. Pinang.
The head is elongated, narrow, conical, the muzzle rounded,
projecting over the lower jaw. The anterior frontals are much
smaller than the frontals, which on the sides occupy the place of
the absent frenal shield, and thus reach the second upper labial ;
the nasal is very small, rectangular, perforated by the rather large
nostril near the lower anterior angle. The eye is comparatively
large, between an obliquely placed rectangular preorbital and a
similar postorbital shield; the supraorbitals are narrow, rectan-
gular ; the vertical, moderate, pentagonal, arched, and somewhat
narrower at the anterior margin. The occipitals, the largest, are
elongated, bordered below by the large fifth upper labial, and
behind by a single pair of post-occipitals. Each jaw has five pairs
of labials. Of the two pairs of mentals, the anterior is the longer,
and is enclosed by the rostral and three anterior labials, the posterior
pair by the fourth labial. The teeth are minute, sharp, reclining,
all of equal size. The trunk is cylindrical, narrowed towards
both extremities, covered with fifteen longitudinal series of
smooth rhombic imbricate scales. The abdomen is arched, the
short tail tapering to a blunt point. This species approaches to
Calainaria alba, Linne (C. brachyorrhos, Schlegel), -but differs by
its elongated shape of the shields of the head and its larger
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 171
eyes. A single individual, captured by W. T. Lewis, Esq., on
the Great Hill of Pinang, was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head og inch.
trunk 5 inches.
tail o inch.
6| inches.
Circumference of the trunk T \, of the neck f , at the root of the
tail inch.
CALAMARIA SAGITTARIA.
SYN. Calamaria sagittaria, Cantor : Spicil.
Head yellow or white, marbled with black, forming a streak
above the citrine lips ; neck white, with a black arrow-shaped
mark ; back partly ash, partly rust-coloured, with a medial series
of distant minute black spots ; sides bluish-black or grey, with a
narrow black line above ; beneath citrine, the throat marbled with
black, and with a minute black spot near the lateral angle of each
scutum. Iris golden, tongue carmine.
Scuta, 216 to 227; scutella, 57 to 70.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Bengal, Assam.
But for the diminutive size and the reduced shields of the head
and throat, this species might be taken for a Coronella. The head
is but little distinct, depressed, ovate, covered by the normal
number of shields. The anterior frontals are very small, pent-
agonal; the frenal short, rectangular. The nostrils are rather
large, piercing the middle of the nasal. The eyes are large,
prominent, with one preorbital, two postorbitals ; the upper jaw,
but slightly longer than the lower, has on each side six labials, the
lower seven, enclosing two pairs of small mentals. The temples are
covered by three shields. The trunk, with seventeen longitudinal
series of smooth rhomboidal imbricate scales, is slightly thicker
towards the middle than at the extremities ; the back throughout
depressed, forming an angle with the sides, and the abdomen is flat,
which makes a vertical section of the body square. The tail is very
slender, tapering to a sharp point, and exceeds one-fifth of the
entire length. The teeth are very minute, of equal size. A single
specimen from the Malayan Peninsula was of the following
dimensions :
Length of the head o inch.
trunk 93 inches.
tail 2
172 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Circumference of the trunk f, of the neck and root of the tail
| inch.
In Bengal this species is of no uncommon occurrence, particu-
larly during the rainy season, when the water compels the serpents
to leave the shady recesses which most of them occupy to avoid
the heat of the day. The present species appears to be closely
allied to the African C. arctiventris, Schlegel.
Of the preceding four species, the three first appear at Pinang
exclusively to inhabit the hills, but the variety of C. lumbricoidea
occurs at Singapore in valleys. They are nowhere to be met in
numbers. They are of gentle, peaceable habits, never attempting
to bite, and scarcely to escape. They are sluggish, move but
slowly and to a short distance, even when compelled by danger,
and soon resume the motionless position which they appear to
affect The remarkable abstinence of most of their congeners
they possess but in a very limited degree. In captivity they
refuse food, and soon expire ; besides, they are so delicate that
slight pressure in examining them is sufficient to kill them. Their
bodies are very smooth, and brilliantly reflect rainbow-colours,
which continue in preserved specimens long after the gay livery
has faded. They feed upon slugs, earthworms, and insects. The
stomach of a C. sagittaria contained remains of an lulus and some
sand. In general appearance and habits these species of Cala-
maria strongly resemble the Malayan Elaps (vide infra].
Gen. CORONELLA, Laurenti.
Head above covered with large plates, of which one between
the eyes ; sides of the head and occiput with imbricate scales ;
trunk narrowed near the head, thicker towards the middle ; tail
conical, elongated, tapering to a sharp point.
CORONELLA EALIODEIRA, Schlegel.
SYN. Patza tutta, Russell, i. pi. 29?
Coluber pictus, Daudin ?
Coluber Plinii, Merrem ?
Coronella baliodeira, Boie MS.
Above lighter or darker olive-brown, yellowish on the head, the
scales minutely dotted with dark brown ; the anterior part of the
trunk with a number of distant transversal ocellated lines, com-
posed of single transversal series of white scales edged with black,
labial shields yellow edged with black ; beneath, pearl-coloured or
yellowish-white ; iris golden, lower half blackish ; tongue black.
Scuta, 122 to 132; scutella, 65 to 72.
HAB. Pinang.
Java.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 173
Of two individuals from the hills of Pinang, the larger was of
the following dimensions :
Length of the head ....... o*f inch.
trunk ...... 8fj inches.
tail ....... 3-
i ft. i inch.
Circumference of the neck f , of the trunk |, of the root of the
tail | inch.
Both agree with the description of M. Schlegel, except in having
two small preorbitals instead of one. Russell's No. 29, from
Casemcotta, which, according to M. Schlegel, is Coluber pictus,
Daudin, C. Plinii, Merrem, is probably intended to represent the
present species. It is of fierce habits.
Gen. XENODON, H. Boie.
Head scarcely distinct, muzzle obtuse, nostrils rounded, between
three shields ; eyes encircled behind only by three shields ; trunk
short, robust ; tail rather short, slowly tapering ; four very large
mentals, the last upper maxillary tooth the longest.
XENODON PURPURASCENS, Schlegel.
SYN. Coronella albocincta, Cantor, var.
Above, olive-brown, with black spots and numerous pale red
transversal zig-zag bands, each with a submarginal black line.
The first occupies the space between the eyes, continuing obliquely
backward over the cheeks and lips ; the second, arrow-shaped,
diverging over the neck ; labial shields yellow with brown margins.
Beneath, strongly iridescent pale carmine ; every other scutum
entirely or partially black near the lateral angles. Iris circular,
golden, lower half dotted with black ; tongue black.
Scuta, 179 to 183; scutella, 36 to 65.
HAB, Pinang.
Java, Tenasserim, (var.) Chirra-Punji, Assam, Darjeeling,
Midnapore (Bengal).
A solitary individual observed on the summit of the Great Hill
of Pinang defended itself vigorously. The dimensions were :
Length of the head . . . . o foot i inch.
trunk .... i
tail ..... o
trunk .... i 8f inches.
2 feet i inch.
174 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Circumference of the neck if, of the trunk 2, of the root of the
tail i^ inches. It differs from the description of M. Schlegel in
having twenty-one longitudinal series of scales instead of nineteen,
and on the right side three preorbitals. Labials on each side T S .
The variety described as Coronella albocincta inhabits Assam,
Chirra-Punji, Darjeeling, and Midnapore (Bengal). It differs from
those of the southern localities in having the head not distinct
from the trunk, and its shields are shorter. The eyes are smaller,
and, owing to the much swollen cheeks, appear sunk, which, with
the remarkably shelving profile, contribute to render the physiog-
nomy singularly scowling. The largest specimen in the Museum of
the Asiatic Society measures in length 2 feet 5 inches, of which
the head f, the trunk 2 feet if, and the tail 3 inches. In all, the
livery is individually varying, but the arrow-shaped mark, double
in some, appears to be constant. Labials on each side -.
Gen. LYCODON, H. Boie.
Head not very distinct, oblong, depressed ; supraorbital shield
triangular, narrowed in front ; preorbital, one ; postorbitals,
two ; frenal, one ; eyes sunk, far removed from the muzzle ; pupil
vertical ; trunk elongated, somewhat compressed, with smooth,
rhomboidal, imbricate scales ; tail short, tapering ; anterior
maxillary teeth longer than the rest.
LYCODON AULICUS, Linne.
SYN. Coluber aulicus, Linne (not apud Daudin).
Russell, * i. pi. 1 6, Gajoo Tutta.
Coluber striatus, Shaw ?
Coluber malignus, Daudin.
Lycodon hebe, Boie apud Wagler, Schlegel (excl. synon.
Col. hebe^ Daud.)
Lighter or darker chestnut with numerous white transversal
bands (in some spotted with black) on the sides, forming a forked
network, composed of brown scales edged with white ; on each
side of the hind-head a white triangular spot (confluent in some)
with brown spots ; lips similarly coloured ; beneath, pearl-coloured;
eyes black ; tongue whitish.
Scuta, 208 to 257 ; scutella, 57 to 91.
HAB. Pinan^.
Bengal, Coromandel.
Var. A.
SYN. Lycodon hebe, var. Schlegel.
* Russell, i. pi. 26, Karelta, upon which is founded Coluber galathea,
Daudin, appears to represent the present specie-, or one of its varieties.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 175
With a number of large, square, white spots, with black edges
and central spots.
HAD. Pinang.
Bengal.
Var. B.
SYN. Russell, ii. pi. 37.
Lycodon capucinus, Boie.
Lycodon hebe, var. javan., Schlegel.
Lycodon atropurpureus, Cantor.
Chestnut or deep purple marbled with white veins, edged with
black, with or without a white collar.
HAB. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Tenasserim Provinces, Java.
Var. C.
SYN. Lycodon hebe, var. timorensis, Schlegel.
Chestnut, with a white collar and indistinct traces of white
network.
HAB. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Pulo Samao, Timor.
Var. D.
SYN. Russell, ii. pi. 39.
Lycodon subfuscus, Cantor.
Uniformly light brown above, the lips white edged with brown.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Bengal.
This species occurs in the Malayan countries, both in the hills
and valleys, but it is apparently not so numerous as it is in Bengal.
It is of fierce habits, and defends itself vigorously. In one examined
the stomach contained a young Euprepis rufescens, Shaw.
The largest individual observed, var. B., was of the following
dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o foot o inch.
trunk . . . . i 8| inches,
tail o
2 feet i inch.
Circumference of the neck i inch, of the trunk if, of the root
of the tail inch.
Ophites. Wagler, differing from Lycodon in the absence of the
preorbital shield ; frenal elongated ; eyes small ; scales rhombic,
with truncated points ; some of the posterior dorsal scales keeled.
176 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
LYCODON PLATURINUS, Shaw.
SYN. Seba, Thes. i. 83, 3.
Russell, ii. pi. 41.
Coluber platurinus, Shaw.
Coluber platyrhinus, Merrem.
Lycodon subcinctus, H. Boie.
Ophites, Wagler.
Lycodon subcinctus, apud Schlegel.
Shining blackish-brown with steel-blue reflections, and a varying
number of broad, distant bands ; the lips, throat, and a collar
all white, spotted with black ; beneath, pale blackish-brown, the
anterior part of the abdomen, the sharp lateral angle, and the broad
posterior margins of the scuta and scutella whitish ; eyes black ;
tongue flesh-coloured.
Scuta, 221; scutella, 74.
HAD. Pinang.
Java, Bengal.*
On both sides of each jaw the anterior four or five teeth increase
in size, and are longer than the rest. The fifth upper maxillary
tooth is removed from the preceding, which, in addition to the
general shape of the head and the lax integuments, imparts to
this serpent a striking resemblance to the venomous genus Bun-
garus. In fierceness it resembles the preceding species. The only
individual observed was captured near the summit of the Great
Hill of Pinang, where it had seized a large Eitprepis rufescens t
Shaw. It was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o feet i inch.
trunk . . . . 2 ,, 8*- inches.
tail o 7}
3 ,, 5 i
Circumference of the neck i, of the trunk 2* inches.
LYCODON EFFR^ENIS, N.S.
Shining bluish-black above, with a few minute white spots, not
affecting the ground colour j the throat, lips, and a band border-
ing the sides of the head from the muzzle to the hind head, buff-
coloured, finely marbled with black ; beneath, strongly iridescent,
pale bluish-black, the scuta with whitish edges ; the body encircled
* According to M. Schlegel, who observes that a specimen has been for-
warded from Bengal by M. DuvauceL No specimen exists in the Museum of
the Asiatic Society, nor are the natives acquainted with the species.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 177
by a number (eleven) of broad distant buff rings, above with in-
dentated margins ; eyes black, pupil elliptical ; tongue whitish.
Scuta, 228 ; scutella, 72.
HAB. Pinang.
The head is elongated, ovate, depressed, broader than the neck,
the muzzle rounded, slightly projecting ; the anterior frontals are
orbicular pentagonal, much smaller than the frontals, which are
bent over the sides, substituting the absent frenal, so as to meet
the second upper labial ; the nasal is small, rectangular, obliquely
wedged in between the rostral, the two pairs of frontals, and the
anterior upper labial ; the nostril large, piercing the middle of the
shield ; the vertical is elongated pentagonal, broader in front, so
as to render the posterior part of the moderate supraorbitals
broader than the anterior ; the occipitals are the largest, elongated,
on each side surrounded by three scales, somewhat longer than the
rest covering the temples, and behind by two small postoccipitals.
The eyes are proportionally large and prominent, surrounded by
one preorbital and two smaller postorbitals, the lower of which
touches the narrow projecting fifth upper labial, which with the
fourth borders the lower part of the orbit ; the jaws are covered
by eight pairs of upper, nine of lower labials. The gape is
moderate ; the particulars of the dentition noted in L. platurinus
exist in the present species. The two anterior of the three pairs
of small elongated mental shields are bordered by the six anterior
pairs of labials ; behind by a number of small scales. The trunk
is slender, decreasing towards both extremities, with seventeen
longitudinal series of smooth, rhomboidal, slightly imbricate scales.
The back is depressed, forming an angle with the compressed
somewhat bulging sides. The latter are joined to the flat narrow
abdomen under a right angle on the sides of the scuta, so that the
vertical section of the body is quadrangular. A single individual
found by Sir Wm. Norris on the Great Hill of Pinang was of the
following dimensions :
Length of the head ojj- inch.
trunk 9 inches.
tail 2-g-
i ft. o*- inch.
Circumference of the neck j, of the trunk , of the root of the
tail f inch.
In fierceness the present species resembles its congeners, but,
unlike them, it raises vertically the anterior part of the body, and
bites after a few oscillating movements from side to side. Lycodon
platurinus and aulicus, like many other harmless and some
venomous serpents, the pupils of which are vertically closed by
VOL. II. N
178 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
the light, prepare to attack horizontally coiled on the ground, with
the head bent close to the body, and drawn as far back\vards as
possible, when, suddenly uncoiling the anterior part of the body,
they dart obliquely upwards, but as they are blinded, not always
in the direction apparently aimed at, and they frequently miss
the aim.
Gen. COLUBER, Linn'e.
Abdomen with scuta ; scutella under the tail.
COLUBER FASCIOLOTUS, Shaw.
SYN. Russell i. pi. xxi. Nooni Paragoodoo.
Coluber hebe, Daudin (syn. apud Boie, Wagler, Schlegel).
" Cineritious grey with an obscure cast of reddish-brown, par-
ticularly about the head and neck. The back variegated by black
and white or black and yellowish, narrow bands ; and on the
sides are two or three rows of short, separate oblique lines, formed
by the yellow or white edges of the lateral scales ; but in general
these bands are not visible on the tail. The scuta (192) and
scutella (62) are of a dusky pearl colour." (Russell, i. p. 26.)
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Coromandel Coast.
A young individual, killed in Province Wellesley, corresponds
to the description of Russell, copied by Shaw and Daudin. It
has two small postorbitals, one elongated preorbital, one minute
irregularly hexagonal frenal, and on each side eight upper, nine
lower labial shields. The trunk is covered by twenty-one longi-
tudinal series of smooth imbricate scales, which are rhombic on
the sides, rhomboidal above, all with rounded points. The teeth
are of uniform size, and, as Russell correctly describes them, very
small, reflex, sharp, numerous. The dentition, therefore, suffici-
ently indicates that the species cannot be placed in the gen.
Lycodoii) to which it has been referred by MM. H. Boie, Wagler,
and Schlegel. The young one is of the following dimensions :
Length of the head o-*- inch.
trunk 8| inches.
tail . . 2-i-
1 8
Greatest circumference of the trunk, | inch.
Scuta, 281 ; scutella, 73.
COLUBER RADIATUS, Schlegel.
SYN. Russell, ii. pi. xlii.
Coluber quadrifasciatus, Cantor (var.).
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 179
Head and back light yellowish-bay, paler on the sides ; the hind
head with a transversal black line, branching off along the exterior
margins of the occipitals ; a black oblique streak behind the eyes,
and another beneath them dividing both jaws. On each side of
the back a broad longitudinal black band, relieved at intervals by
a short network, produced by three or four scales of each series
being edged with pale brown, and the skin between them white.
The bands, in some commencing at a distance from the head, are
continued or interrupted, terminating on the posterior part of the
back. Below them is on each side a parallel black line ; lips,
throat, and lower surface yellow ; iris bright gamboge, with a con-
centric black ring ; tongue bluish-black.
Young. Above, of clearer colours ; beneath, pearl-coloured.
Scuta, 222 to 248; scutella, 82 to 94.
HAB. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Cochin China, Tenasserim, Assam.
This species is numerous in marshes and paddy-fields, and
often becomes a tenant of outhouses, where during the day it
remains concealed, till nightfall favours its pursuit after rats. It
is, however, equally diurnal, preying upon smaller birds, lizards,
and frogs. Assam produces a local variety distinguished by
eighteen instead of seventeen longitudinal series of scales, of
which the three upper ones are all lineated, whereas normally such
is the case on those of the posterior part of the body. It makes a
vigorous defence, and in darting at an enemy is capable of raising
nearly the anterior two-thirds of the body from the ground. In a
female were found twenty-three whitish, soft, cylindrical eggs, of
which the largest measured i \ inch in length. The largest indi-
vidual observed was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head .... o feet i| inch.
trunk . . 4 3 inches.
tail o 10*
5 3$ ,,
Greatest circumference, 3! inches.
Habits and general appearance link the present species to CoL
dluunnades, Cantor,* and Col. mucosits, Linne' (Col. Blumenbachii^
Merrem), but the latter, as well as its variety with uniformly smooth
scales (Col. dhumna, Cantor : Spicil.), utter when irritated a peculiar
diminuendo sound, not unlike that produced by a gently struck
tuning-fork.
* Chusan. It is covered by fourteen to sixteen long it series of rhomboidal
scales, of which those of the two uppermost series commence at a short distance
from the head, exhibiting the central raised line.
N 2
i8o CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
COLUBER KORROS, Reinwardt.
SYN. Coluber karros, Reinwardt apud Wagler, Schlegel.
Brownish-green above, the scales of the posterior part of the
trunk and of the tail with black points and edges, producing a
regular network ; beneath, yellowish-white or pearl-coloured ; the
lateral part of the scuta light bluish-grey ; iris bright yellow with a
bluish-grey or blackish concentric ring ; tongue black.
Young. Above, with some indistinct transversal bands, pro-
duced by two lateral white spots on some of the scales ; the pos-
terior part of the trunk with dark longitudinal lines.
Scuta, 162 to 190; scutella, 79 to 136.
HAB. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Arracan, Tenasserim.
It is numerous in the Malayan valleys. The largest individual!
measured
Length of the head . . . . o feet i| inch.
,, trunk . . . . 2 ,, 6 ; | inches.
tail .... i foot 4-| .,
3 feet i if
Greatest circumference of the trunk, 3 inches.
Its habits are similar to those of the last-mentioned species,,
from which it is easily distinguished by its fifteen longitudinal series,
of smooth rhomboidal scales with rounded points.
COLUBER HEXAHONOTUS, N.S.
Head and back dark brown, changing to pale brownish-buff oiu
the sides ; trunk with numerous close transversal black bands,
each with a few white spots on the lower parts, becoming indistinct
towards the posterior extremity of the trunk, from whence the
colour is uniformly dark brown ; labial shields yellow, edged with
black ; beneath, yellowish-white, scutella edged with brown. Iris
gamboge, with a black concentric ring ; pupil round ; tongue,
black ; central series of dorsal scales hexagonal.
Scuta, 191; scutella, 148.
HAB. Pinang.
The head is distinct, elongated, with the muzzle broad, truncated,
covered above with the normal number of shields, in form resem-
bling those of Col. korros. The eyes are large, prominent, with
two preorbitals, of which the superior is the larger, the inferior is
wedged in between the third, fourth, and fifth upper labials. In
addition to two postorbitals there is an elongated crescent-shaped
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. i8r
infraorbital resting on the sixth and seventh upper labials. The
latter are eight on each side, of which the fifth, broad hexagonal,
borders the orbit ; the following are elongated, gradually increasing
in size. The lower labials, nine on each side, lie on the chin in
contact with two pairs of elongated shields. The nostrils are
rather large, orbicular, opening near the margin of the anterior
frontals. The frenal is small, obliquely situated between the sur-
rounding shields. The temples are covered by two pairs of elon-
gated shields. The gape is wide, the teeth minute, of equal
length. The trunk is slender, much compressed, with seventeen
longitudinal series of smooth, rhombic, subimbricate scales, of
which the central series is hexagonal. The abdomen narrow,
arched. The tail is very slender, elongated, tapering to a sharp
point.
A solitary individual, discovered by Sir William Norris on the
Great Hill of Pinang, was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head o-jj- inch.
trunk 10 inches.
tail 4|
i ft- 3-J
Circumference of the neck f , of the trunk i, of the root of the
tail | inch. In fierceness it resembles the preceding species.
ARBOREAL.
Gen. DIPSAS, Laurenti.
Head large, broad, depressed, cordate, covered with shields ;
neck narrow ; trunk much narrower than the head, compressed,
very long, beneath covered with scuta ; tail cylindrical, imbricate.
DIPSAS DENDROPHILA, Reinwardt
SYN. Scheuchzer, 662, fig. n (Col. variabilis apud Merrem).
Dipsas dendrophila apud Wagler.
Dipsas dendrophila, Wagler apud Horsfield: "Life of
Raffles."
Dipsas dendrophila, apud SchlegeL
Head, back, and sides intense black with steel-blue, lilac, and
green reflections ; beneath, pale black, iridescent ; body and tail
with numerous bright yellow transversal bands, widened below,
sometimes joined on the back or abdomen, occasionally reduced
to irregular spots ; throat and lips bright yellow, labials with black
edges. Pupil elliptical, vertical ; iris and tongue black.
i82 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Scuta, 218 to 225; scutella, 100 to 112.
HAD. Piimng, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Celebes.
It inhabits the Malayan hills and valleys, but apparently in no
great numbers. The largest individual measured :
Length of the head . . . . o feet i inch.
trunk . . . . 3 3l inches.
tail i foot o
4 feet 5f
Greatest circumference of the trunk, 4 inches.
DlPSAS MULTIMACULATA, SchlcgeL
SYN. Scheuchzer, 657, fig. 2.
Russell, ii. pi. xxiii.
Dipsas multimaculata, Schlegel.
Ground colour : above, light greenish-grey, minutely spotted and 1
marbled with brown ; on the head an angular backwards diverg-
ing black mark with whitish edges ; a black oblique line from
behind the eyes to the hind head, where it joins a lozenge-shaped
black spot with whitish edges ; along the back and tail a series of
large, irregularly oval, black spots with whitish edges, arranged in
close quincunx series ; the sides with numerous, similarly coloured,,
oblique or arched, often interrupted bands ; labials greenish-white^,
black-edged; beneath, greenish-white, tinged with rose-colour,
minutely spotted with brown, and with a double or treble lateral
series of irregular black spots. Iris pale greenish-golden, minutely
dotted with black ; pupil elliptical, vertical ; tongue whitish.
Scuta, 202 to 235; scutella, 80 to 106.
HAD. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Celebes, Java, Tenasserim, Bengal.
On the hills of Pinang this species appears to be more numerous
than the former. The largest individual measured
Length of the head . . . . o foot o inch.
,, trunk .... i io* inches,
tail , o q' :
2 feet 45
Greatest circumference, 1 f inch.
The central hexagonal scales are elongated, narrow on the
anterior part of the trunk, which is covered by nineteen longitu-
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 183
dinal series of smooth, lanceolate, imbricate scales ; from thence
commence seventeen series of broader scales.
DIPSAS CYNODON, Cuvier.
SYN. Dipsas cynodon, apud Boie, Guerin, Schlegel.
Young. Ground colour yellowish-brown, head with a dark
black-edged arrow-shaped mark, and a black oblique streak from
the eye to the nape of the neck; labials pearl- coloured, edged
with black ; back with numerous black transversal marks, shaped
like two letters Y placed horizontally towards each other or in
quincunx, becoming indistinct towards the tail. Beneath, pearl-
coloured with a black spot near the lateral part of the scuta ;
scutella edged and minutely dotted with brown.
Scuta, 225 ; scutella, 92.
Adult. Head and back uniformly greyish-brown, tinged with
lilac, with a number of distant large, transversal, purple bands (the
scales edged with black), lozenge-shaped, with triangular lateral
appendages, becoming indistinct towards the tail, which is alter-
nately brownish- buff and purple, with black-edged scales. Beneath,
pale yellow, scutella minutely dotted and edged with brown. Iris
pale golden, minutely dotted with purple ; pupil elliptical, vertical ,-
tongue whitish.
Scuta, 275 ; scutella, 158.
HAB. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Tenasserim.
A young one was captured on the Great Hill of Pinang by W.
T. Lewis, Esq. An adult killed in Province Wellesley was of
the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . o feet if inch.
trunk ... 4 of
tail .... i foot 4 inches.
5 feet 5 1
Circumference of the neck i{|-, of the trunk 2| inches.
The young had twenty-one, the adult twenty-three longitudinal
series of smooth, lanceolate, imbricate scales. The long maxillary
and palatal teeth are disproportionally less developed in the young
than in the adult
DIPSAS BOA, H. Boie.
SYN. Amblycephalus boa, H. Boie : Isis.
Dipsas boa, apud Schlegel.
184 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Ground colour : above, rose-coloured washed with brown, vary-
ing in intensity and shade from light bay to umber, prevailing so
as to make the ground colour appear as minute spots, and with
numerous irregular black spots, confluent on the head ; cheeks
and lips carnation, with a vertical black streak from the middle of
the orbit. Beneath, carnation, dotted with umber, sometimes
assuming the shape of large irregular spots. Iris, silvery rose-
coloured, lower half dotted with black ; pupil elliptical, vertically
contracted by the light ; tongue whitish.
Scuta abdominalia, 164; scuta subcaudalia, 112; or 170 +
109.
HAB. Pinang.
Java.
The head is depressed, elongated, conical, with the muzzle
truncated ; the rostral shield is very large, vertically placed ; the
cheeks compressed, but the lips very tumid below the eyes. Of
the nine crown shields the occipitals are distinguished by their
reduced size and frequent subdivision in two linear interoccipitals,
bordered by two large polygonal postoccipitals, enclosing a
smaller third, linear. Behind the latter appears on each side a
small hard tubercle, covered like the rest of the hind-head with
minute polygonal scales. Each temple is protected by five to six
large shields, and as many smaller resting upon the labials. The
nasal is large, pyramidal, with the rounded nostril in the centre,
and the apex wedged in between the three frenals, placed obliquely
or vertically one above the other. The eye is large, prominent,
encircled by a supraorbital and seven smaller shields, so that none
of the upper labials reach the orbit. The lips are arched, and
outwardly appear to reach to the hind-head ; but the commissure,
or the angle of the mouth, is situated immediately below the eye,
which greatly reduces the opening of the mouth. Of the nine
pairs of upper labials, the anterior six are narrow, but very deep
and bulging ; the posterior three are broader, elongated ; the in-
ferior labials, eleven pairs, are, as well as the rostral, greatly reduced
by the three pairs of very large mentals. The front view of the
head grotesquely resembles that of a mastiff. All the teeth are
strong, but the front tooth on each side of the lower jaw is longer
than the rest ; the palatal rows are very close together and con-
verging. The trunk is much compressed, covered by thirteen
longitudinal series of scales, of which the dorsal row is composed
of very large hexagonal ones, each with a strong keel ; the rest
are smooth, rhombic, imbricate. The abdomen is very narrow,
and the sides of the scuta are bent upwards. The tail is elongated,
slender, tapering, and much less compressed than the trunk. Of
two individuals from the hills of Pinang, the larger, a male, was of
the following dimensions :
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 185
Length of the head . . . . o foot i inch.
trunk ....! 1 1 inches.
tail "
2 feet 1 1
Circumference of the neck i inch, of the trunk i , of the root
of the tail | inch. In a female were observed four cylindrical
whitish eggs, each -| inch in length. The stomach contained a few
remains of insects.
This species is closely allied to Dipsas carinata, Schlegel
(AmblycephaluS) Kuhl ; Pareas, Wagler), in which also the dorsal
series of scales are keeled. M. Schlegel's short description and
figure appear to have been taken from an immature specimen.
The preceding four species are very fierce ; their mode of attack
is that of Lycodon aulicus. Kuhl has observed vibrating move-
ments in the tail of Dipsas multimaculata, which, however, are
also exhibited by Dipsas trigonata, Schneider {Col. catenularies,
Daudin), D. cynodon, Cuvier ; and among the venomous serpents
by Vipera Russell'^ Shaw, and several Asiatic species of Trigono-
cephalus, when they are irritated and preparing to bite.
Gen. HERPETODRYAS, H. Boie.
Head trigonal, very long, depressed, smooth, rather sharp;
trunk and tail very elongated ; scales, particularly those of the tail,
large; those of the back partially carinate; in other respects
resembling Coluber.
HERPETODRYAS OXYCEPHALUS, Reinwardt.
SYN. Coluber oxycephalus, Reinwardt.
Gonyosoma viride, Wagler.
Herpetodryas oxycephalus, apud Schlegel.
Head, above, shining dark green with a blackish straight line
from the nostrils to the angle of the mouth ; lips and throat pale
yellowish-green ; trunk sea-green, changing to light yellowish-
green on the lower part of the sides all the scales with black
edges ; the anterior half of the tail, separated from the trunk by a
transversal orange band, ochre, gradually changing to greyish-
brown on the posterior half, all the scales edged with black.
Abdominal scuta light yellowish -green with pale yellow edges ;
subcaudal scutella grey with black margins. Eyes moderate, little
prominent ; iris pale sea-green with a narrow pale yellow inner
ring and a transversal black band ; pupil circular, black. _ Tongue
ultramarine, divided in the middle by a black longitudinal line.
The exposed part of the larnyx black.
Scuta, 268; scutella, 149.
1 86 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
HAB. Pinang.
Java, Celebes.
The shields of the head are elongated, most so the linear frenal.
The teeth are numerous ; in each row the anterior six or eight
are longer than the rest, which gradually decrease. The scales of
the trunk, in twenty-five longitudinal series, are rhombic with
rounded points, imbricate, and all smooth except those covering
the spinous processes, which are faintly lineated.
Of two individuals from the hills of Pinang, the larger, taken
by Sir William Norris, was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o foot i-*- inch.
trunk ... 3 feet 4 inches.
tail .... i foot i inch.
4 feet 6f inches.
Circumference of the neck 2, of the trunk 3, of the root of
the tail if inch. The ferocious habits of this serpent have been
accurately described by M. Reinwardt. It has in a remarkable
degree the power of laterally compressing the neck and the ante-
rior part of the body, when the greyish-blue skin becomes visible
between the separated scales. In such state of excitement it
raises nearly the anterior third vertically from the ground, continues
fixed during several seconds with vibrating tongue, and bites. It
then throws itself down, to rise to a renewed attack. A similar
mode of attack characterizes the following species viz. Dryimis^
nasutus, Lacepede (Russell i. pi. xii. and xvi.) ; D. prasimts,
Reinwardt (DryiopJiis prasina, apud Schlegel) ; Deptophis pidus,
Gmelin ; and Leptophis caudalineatus.
Gen. DRYINUS,* Merrem, 1820.
Upper jaw much longer than the lower; muzzle attenuated,
more or less acute at the apex, which in some species is mucronate
and moveable.
DRYINUS PRASINUS, Rienwardt.
SYN. Seba, ii. tab. liii. fig 4.
Coluber nasutus, J Shaw apud Russell, ii. pi. xxiv.
Dryinus nasutus, Bell (not Merrem, 1820).
* In II. Boie's genera, published in "Isis," 1827, Dryiophis (Dahlman), is
substituted for this genus. \Vagler in 1830 separated some species under the
denomination of Tragops, and M. Schickel in his "Essay" has exclusively
retained Dryiophis , although Prof. Thos. Bell already in 1825 had published his
article on Leptopfiina (comprising Dryinus, Merrem, and Leptopliis, Bell).
t The specific name was previously applied by Lacepede in 1790 to the other
Asiatic species.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 187
Dryiophis prasinus, Reinwardt.
Tragops, Wagler.
Dryinus nasutus, Bell apud Horsfield : " Life of Raffles."
Passerita, Gray.
Dryiphis prasina, apud Schlegel.
" Ular daun" of the Malays.
Leek-green above, with some irregular white and black oblique
lines, paler on the cheeks and upper lips ; tail cinnamon ; under
lips and throat white, scuta and scutella light green or mother-of-
pearl, on each side with a white or pale yellow longitudinal line,
below which in some a second green line. Pupil black, elongated,
pyriform, with the apex turned forwards, horizontally contracted
by the light. Iris pale burnished golden, bright on the pupillary
margin, the upper half of which forms a little behind its middle a
small pointed lobe. Tongue bluish-white.
Scuta, 1 86 to 228; scutella, 140 to 203.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
Celebes, Java, Cochin- China, Siam, Burmah, Tenasserim,
Arracan, Bengal, Assam.
Var. A.
SYN. Dryiophis xanthozonius, Kuhl ?
Head less elongated and the rostral shield unusually small ;
upper lips in some white ; besides the yellow and green lateral
line a central green; scuta and scutella in some with brown
edges.
HAB. Same localities.
Var. B.
Head above, light brownish-grey, tinged with sky-blue and rose-
colour cheeks and lips pale rose ; trunk light brownish ash, changing
to pale rust colour on the tail ; whitish-grey on the sides ; beneath,
buff, with a white longitudinal line on each side. Iris burnished
silver, tongue white.
HAB. Pinang Hills.
Var. C.
Upper parts saffron yellow, paler on the sides'; beneath, sulphur-
coloured, with a lateral white line. Pupil deep burnished golden ;
tongue white.
HAB. Pinang Hills.
This .species is exceedingly numerous in the Malayan forests,
both in the hills and valleys, preying upon small birds, arboreal
i88 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
lizards, frogs, and in early age upon insects. It may readily be
distinguished from Dryinus nasutiis, Lacep. (Menem, not Bell ;
Russell, i. pi. xii. xiii.), by two, sometimes three frenals on each
side. The trunk is covered by fifteen longitudinal series of smooth
rhomboidal scales with rounded points, imbricate so as to appear
linear; those of the tale are all broad rhombic. The anterior
upper maxillary teeth gradually increase towards the sixth, which
is the longest, and enclosed in a pointed fold of gingiva. The
following teeth, commencing at a short interval, are short, but the
last is very long, with a furrow on the convex edge. The inferior
maxillary teeth also increase in length towards the sixth, the
longest, and are protected by a broad triangular scabbard, con-
taining several additional loose teeth ; the rest are uniformly small,
commencing at a short interval from the sixth. The palatal are
uniformly very short. The largest individual of a great number
measured
Length of the head . . . . o feet 2 inches.
trim
,, ,, tail . ,, v/y- .,
7 o| inch.
Circumference of the. neck ij, of the trunk 2-f, of the root of
the tail i inch.
The varieties, of which B and C were from the hills of Pinang,
are not numerous, and of a comparatively small size. The very
young ones are as gentle as those of a more advanced age are
ferocious. Their power of expanding the anterior part of the
body and their mode of attack have been noted under Herpetodryas
oxycephalus.
Gen. LEPTOPHIS, Bell, 1825.
Rostrum obtuse, and the upper jaw projects but very slightly
beyond the lower.
LEPTOPHIS PICTUS, Gmelin.
SYN. Coluber pictus, Gmelin.
Coluber decorus, Shaw.
Russell, ii. pi. xxvi., Cumberi muken.
Bungarus filum, Oppel.
Dipsas Schokari, Kuhl (not Forskal).
Dendrophis chairecacos, H. Boie.
Dendrophis, Wagler.
Dendrophis picta, Schlegel.
Head and body above, bronze with strong golden reflections ;
skin between the scales of the anterior part of the body alternately
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 189
ultramarine and black. Lips, throat, the two lowest lateral rows
of scales, and the abdominal surface silvery mother-of-pearl. From
the muzzle to the root of the tail a black line, bordering above
the silvery sides, which below are circumscribed by a second black
line, commencing a little behind the head. Iris bright golden with
a transversal black line ; pupil black, circular ; tongue scarlet.
Scuta, 167 to 187 ; scutella, 109 to 149.
HAD. Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
Manilla, New Ireland, Waigiou, Amboina, New Guinea,
Pulo Samao, Java, Sumatra, Cochin-China, Tennas-
serim, Burmah, Bengal, Assam, Coromandel.
Var. A.*
SYN. Coluber filiformis, Linne, young.
Fil, Double Raie, Lacepede, young.
Russell, ii. pi. xxv., Mancas, Rooka, Maniar.
Coluber bilineatus, Shaw.
Leptophis mancas, Bell.
Dendrophis maniar, Boie.
Ahoetula Bellii, Gray : " 111. Ind. ZooL"
Chrysopelea Boii, Smith.
Dendrophis picta, var. Schlegel.
Dendrophis Boii, apud Cantor.
Above, dull brownish-black, with a light brown dorsal line ; the
two lowest series of scales pale greenish-white, forming a lateral
band, bordered above by a black line, commencing from the
muzzle, more or less distinct, in some irregularly broken up on
the anterior part of the body. A second faint black line below.
Iris golden, in some dotted with black ; tongue black.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Bengal, Assam, Ceylon.
The species occurs numerously in the Malayan hills and valleys,
but the contrary appears to be the case with the plain variety,
which in Bengal is equally common. The following must be
added to the description of M. Schlegel : The frenal shield is
small, rectangular ; superior labials nine, inferior ten or eleven ;
one preorbital, two, in some three small postorbitals. The
trunk is covered by fifteen longitudinal series of smooth imbricate
scales ; the central dorsal series is wedge-shaped, in some almost
hexagonal ; the next six are linear ; but the lowest, as well as all
the scales of the tail, are broad rhombic with rounded points. In
a female were found seven coriaceous, whitish eggs of an elon-
* The variety, Col. po 7 ychrous, Reinwardt, appears to inhabit neither the
Malayan Peninsula nor Bengal.
i QO CA TAL OGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
gated cylindrical shape, each i f inch in length. In habits and
mode of attack this species resembles Dryinus prasinus, but it is
not exclusively arboreal. Probably no instance affords a more
striking difference in colours between species and variety than
the present : the former with dazzling brilliant livery, the latter
in its plain dull colours. Both attain to similar size : the largest
male examined was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head o feet i J inch.
trunk 2 6 inches.
tail i foot i inch.
3 feet 8| inches.
Circumference of the neck if, of the trunk 2, of the root of
the tail i inch. This serpent appears to possess uncommonly
acute hearing, and turns its head in the direction of the sound.
LEPTOPHIS CAUDALINEATUS, N.S.
SYN. Ahsetula caudolineata, Gray: "Illust. Ind. Zool."
Dendrophis ornata, var. Schlegel.
Head ; trunk, and tail, above, light brownish-bronze, the scales
with black edges ; on the posterior half of the trunk four parallel
black lines, terminating at the root of the tail, from whence com-
mences a single central black line ; sides metallic mother-of-pearl,
from a short distance behind the head bordered by two parallel
black lines, of which the lower, the broader, covers the lower half
of the last series of scales and the lateral part of the scuta ; both
the lines continue to the apex of the tail. Lips, throat and
abdominal surface pale metallic citrine ; the tail beneath with a
black central line. Iris golden, dotted with brown ; pupil round;
tongue bluish-white, the forked part black.
Young. Upper parts of the body Indian red, with metallic
reflections.
Scuta, 183 to 188; scutella, 105 to no.
HAB. Pinang, Singapore.
The head large, less depressed than in the preceding species,
the muzzle broad, blunt ; cheeks tumid ; all the shields of the
crown are short and broad, except the vertical, which is laterally
arched, and very narrow behind. There is a single elongated
postoccipital, and the rest of the hind head is covered with broad
hexagonal shields. Each temple is covered by two pairs of large
shields, in front of which a pair of very minute ones, bordering
upon the equally small postorbitals. The eye is large, prominent ;
the preorbital and the linear frenal proportionally small ; the
nostrils large, opening in the middle of the nasal; the rostral
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 191
broad, slightly arched beneath. The labials, nine on each side of
both jaws, resemble those of the preceding species. The mouth
is large ; the maxillary teeth strong, distant. In the lower jaw the
anterior ones gradually increase in length till the fourth, which
appears like a canine ; the rest, as well as the palatal teeth, are all
smaller, of uniform length. The chin is covered by the second
pair of labials and two pairs of mentals, of which the posterior
pair is elongated. The trunk is strong, less compressed than in
the preceding species, with thirteen series of smooth imbricate
scales, of which the two lowest series are large rhombic with
rounded points, the next four elongated rhomboidal (linear), and
the odd central dorsal rhomboidal, not larger than the rest. The
tail is covered with broad hexagonal, not imbricate, scales. The
abdomen is narrow, flattened ; the centre part of the scuta with
strongly arched margins ; the sides turned upwards and forming
a continued sharp lateral ridge. The tail is slender, tapering ; its
vertical section nearly square.
Of this species but two individuals were observed : a young
one at Singapore, an adult on the Great Hill of Pinang. The
latter measured
Length of the head . . t . o feet i| inch.
trunk . . . 3 sf inches.
tail . . . . i foot 2
4 feet 9
Circumference of the neck 2, of the trunk 3! , of the root of the
tail 1 1 inch.
In its mixed arboreal and terrestrial habits and in fierceness it
resembles L. pictus ; but its power of compressing and expanding
the fore-part of the body is somewhat limited.
This species appears somewhat to approach to Leptophis formosus
(Dendrophis formosa, Schlegel), but besides other distinguishing
characters, it differs from that and all other Asiatic species in
having but thirteen series of scales. The indifferent figure of
Ahcetula caudolineata in " Illustrations of Indian Zoology," which
appears to be all which has been published concerning this species,
has led M. Schlegel to suppose it was intended to represent a variety
of Leptophis pictus, although the black outline of the head is correct
LEPTOPHIS ORNATUS, Shaw.
SYN. Scheuchzer, t. 606.
Seba, i. t. xciv., fig. 7 ; h. t. vii., fig. i ; t Ixi., fig. 2.
Russell, ii. pi. 2, Kalla Jin.
Coluber ornatus, Shaw.
Coluber ibiboboca, Daudin,
1 9 2 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Coluber ornatus, Merrem apud Horsfield : t( Life of
Raffles."
Chrysopelea paradisi, H. Boie.
Dendrophis ornata, Schlegel.
HAB. Bengal, Ceylon.
Var.
SYN. Ular Chindi, Raffles.
Dendrophis chrysochloros, Reinwardt (young).
Head above, intense velvety black, with three or four distant
transversal bands, and numerous irregular spots of gamboge or
sulphur colour ; all the scales with an oval gamboge spot ; from
the hind head to the point of the tail a number of large rounded
vermilion spots ; lips, tkroat, and abdominal surface greenish-
gamboge, scuta and scutella with black margins. Iris and tongue
black.
Scuta, 198 to 236; scutella, 113 to 147.
Young. Head, trunk, and tail above, greenish-olive, with a series
of transversal black bands, in pairs ; the intervals between the
bands vermilion ; the sides with numerous distant, irregular, small
black spots ; lateral part of the scuta and scutella white, the ridge
and the anterior margin black ; the centre part pale greenish-
yellow ; scutella partially edged with black, and with a central
light blue line. Tongue vermilion, the forked part black.
HAB. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra, Tenasserim, Arracan.
The variety in which the black colour prevails appears to be
confined to the more southern countries, while that with yellow
ground colour preponderating the one described and figured by
Russell occurs in Bengal. The latter has the tongue alternately
vermilion and black. Individuals without the frenal shield are
not uncommon, and such was the one described by H. Boie as a
distinct species (Chrysopelea paradisi}. It inhabits the Malayan
hills and valleys, but is there apparently less numerous than in
Bengal. The largest male observed was of the following dimen-
sions :
Length of the head . . . . o feet i^ inch.
trunk. . . . 2 7g- inches.
tail . . . o ii- 4 -
Circumference of the neck ij, of the trunk i-J-, of the root of
the tail J inch.
The trunk is covered by seventeen longitudinal series of
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 193
smooth, imbricate, rhomboidal scales with rounded points. It is
but seldom seen in trees ; it is more frequently found on the
ground in the grass, watching for its prey lizards (Gtckonuto*)
and frogs. The female has six to eight white elongated cylin-
drical eggs, about if inch in length. It differs from the other
species in its being deprived of the power of compressing and
expanding the anterior part of the body, and in its gentleness.
The young ones never attempt to bite, the adult but seldom, and
without raising vertically the anterior part of the body. In the
latter the four anterior teeth of the lower jaw are a little longer
than the rest, which are uniformly small.
AQUATIC.
Gen. TROPIDONOTUS, Kuhl.
Head oblong ovate, rather indistinct, depressed; nostrils
between the sutures of t\vo shields ; eyes moderate, with circular
pupil, scales of the back lanceolate ovate, keeled, imbricate;
trunk elongated, cylindrical ; tail moderately long, tapering.
TROPIDONOTUS UMBRATUS, Daudin, var.
SYN. Tropidonotus trianguligerus, Schlegel.
Above, shining brownish, or yellowish-green olive ; lips gam-
boge, with a black oblique line between the sixth and seventh
labials, a second from the orbit to the angle of the mouth, a third
from the under lip to the upper part of the neck ; trunk and tail
with numerous black spots, in some very minute, irregular in
others larger, approaching to quincunx order ; the sides with num-
bers of large square or triangular scarlet spots, separated from
each other by broader or narrower black vertical bands. Scuta
and scutella gamboge, with black margins, the latter with a black
central line. Iris black, with a narrow golden circle ; tongue
black.
Scuta, 121 to 130; scutella, 76 to 84.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
Java, Bengal.
The vertical and supraorbital shields are of an elongated
narrow form ; the anterior frontals triangular, longer than broad ;
the nostrils small, placed high on the sides ; the frenal is elon-
gated pentagonal, with the largest margin touching the pre-
orbital. Of the three postorbitals the lowest is the longest,
wedged in between the fifth, sixth, and seventh upper labials, of
* Vide Ptychozoon homalocephalum, supra.
VOL. II. O
i 9 4 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
which the fifth is the only one which reaches the orbit ; the eye is
moderate, prominent ; the upper labials are nine, the lower eleven
on each side. The mouth is very large, the teeth small, crowded,
except the two last of the upper jaw, which are longer than the
rest. The trunk is slightly compressed, covered by nineteen
longitudinal series of scales, of which the two lowest are broad
rhombic, the rest elongated rhomboidal with rounded points ;
those of the back lineated. The abdomen is broad, arched. This
variety differs in nothing but colours from Tropidonotus umbratus*
Daudin, and, to judge by the description of M. Schlegel, it
appears to be identical with T. triangulierus. In the Malayan
valleys the variety is very numerous ; in Bengal it is less so, but
there the species abounds in and near fresh water, where it preys
upon fishes and frogs. The variety attains to a size similar to that
of the species, both of which are equally fierce. The largest indi-
vidual was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o foot if inch.
,, trunk . . . . i ,, 9f inches.
tail o 9!
2 feet Sf
Circumference of the neck 2, of the trunk 2f, of the root of the
tail if- inch.
TROPIDONOTUS STOLATUS, Linne".
SYN. Seba, ii. tab. ix. fig. i, 2.
Coluber stolatus, Linne".
Le Chayque, Daubenton, Lacdpede.
Russell, i. pi. x. xi. xix.
La vipere chaque, Latreille.
Coluber stolatus, Lin. apud Shaw, Daudin.
Coluber taeniolatus, Daudin.
Nalrix stolatus, Merrem.
Tropidonotus stolatus, Gray, Schlegel.
Head shining brownish-olive, with several black spots in the
sutures of the shields ; lips gamboge, with several black oblique
streaks ; head and trunk brownish-olive, with numerous distant
black transversal bands, becoming indistinct towards the tail, and
intersected by two parallel bands of a pale ochre or buff, the scales
of which on the anterior part of the body edged with black.
Beneath, gamboge or mother-of-pearl ; in some the scuta with a
* SYN. Russell, ii. pi. iii., Dooblee, young; pi. v., Dora, adult; Col.
iimbratus, Daudin; Col. dora, Daud. ; Col. brunncus, Hermann; Col.
aiilmtits, Herrm. ; Col. higubris, Merrem; Tropidonotus nmbratus^ Schlegel;
Tropidonotus dora, apud Cantor.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 195
small lateral black spot, or edged with black. Iris black, with a
narrow golden ring ; tongue black.
Scuta, 143 to 156; scutella, 69 to 79.
HAB. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Philippines, Tenasserim, Bengal, Assam, Nipal, Coro-
mandel, Ceylon, Bombay.
This species, so exceedingly numerous in Bengal, is but rarely
seen in the Malayan valleys. It is of very gentle habits, and feeds
upon young frogs and toads. The largest male observed was of
the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o foot of inch.
trunk . . , ' 1 4! inches,
tail o
Circumference of the neck |, of the trunk if, of the root of the
tail g inch.
The female has six small cylindrical white eggs, each about
half an inch in length.
TROPIDONOTUS SCHISTOSUS, Daudin.
SYN. Russell, ii. pi. iv., Chittee.
Coluber schistosus, Daudin.
Tropidonotus schistosus, Schlegel.
Tropidonotus moestus, Cantor.
Above, blackish-olive, some with an indistinct blackish line from
behind the eye along the side ; the lips, the two lowest series of
scales on each side, and the abdominal surface whitish-yellow.
Iris black, with a narrow golden ring; tongue small, flesh-
coloured.
Scuta, 138 ; scutella, 77.
Var.
SYN. Tropidonotus surgens, Cantor.
Above, bright greenish-olive, with a black serrated lateral line.
Scuta, 148; scutella, 23.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Philippines, Tenasserim, Bengal, Madagascar.
The shields of the head are short ; there is but a single anterior
frontal, of a triangular shape, truncated in front ; the frontals are
small pentagonal ; the nasals nearly squal to the latter ; the small
semicircular nostrils almost vertical, and appearing linear, as they
O 2
196 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
are provided with a valvule as in Homalopsis ; from the lower part
of the nostril a minute arched groove descends to the inferior
margin of the shield; the frenal is small; the preorbital in length
nearly equals the three postorbitals. The scales of the trunk are
disposed in seventeen longitudinal series, of which the two lowest
on each side are hexagonal, each scale with a minute round pro-
tuberance near the apex ; the scales of the next two series present
a raised line terminating in a protuberance, but the remaining
scales are elongated rhomboidal, with truncated, slightly notched
points, keeled, imbricate. These marks become indistinct when
the integuments are about to be changed, which probably caused
them to escape the notice of Russell. This species is not numerous
in Bengal, and apparently less so on the Malayan Peninsula. The
largest individual measured
Length of the head . . . . o feet i inch.
trunk . . . . 2 of
tail o 2f inches.
2 4
Circumference of the neck i|, of the trunk 2f, of the taiP
if inch.
The length of the tail is very variable ; in some it is contained
3-J-, in other six times in the entire length. This species is very
fierce, and prepares to attack by raising the head three or four
inches vertically from the ground, and it has the power of flatten-
ing and laterally expanding the skin of the anterior part of the
body, like Naja, but in a much slighter degree. It bites, uttering
a faint hissing sound. Frogs and fishes form its food.
TROPIDONOTUS CERASOGASTER.
SYN. Psammophis cerasogaster, Cantor.
Above, yellowish-brown with pale golden reflections ; lighter on
the sides, the scales of which in some partially edged with yellow;
cheeks, lips, throat, and abdominal surface cherry-coloured, with
a bright yellow lateral line from the muzzle to the point of the
tail. Iris and tongue cherry-coloured.
Scuta, 144 to 149; scutella, 60 to 69.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Bengal, Assam.
The head is elongated, depressed ; sides angular, compressed ;
muzzle truncated ; rostral broad, hexagonal, nearly vertical, arched
below; the anterior frontals the smallest, next to them the frontals;
the rest of the crown shields are narrow, elongated ; each occipital
bordered by two pairs of elongated temporals, below which three
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 197
smaller. Nasals rectangular, placed at a right angle with the
anterior frontals; nostrils moderate, lateral; the frenal smaller
than the nasal ; preorbital longer than either ; the eye moderate,
prominent. Besides three postorbitals, there is a minute infra-
orbital wedged in between the fifth and sixth upper labials, of
which but a small portion of the sixth touches the orbit below.
The lips are straight, turned up near their commissure, covered
with eight or nine pairs of upper, ten lower shields. The mouth is
large ; the teeth small, crowded, of equal length. The trunk is
cylindrical, compressed, covered with nineteen longitudinal series
of imbricate, elongated rhomboidal scales, with rounded, slightly
notched points, keeled, except the two lowest series on each side,
which are larger than the rest, rhombic, smooth. The abdomen
is broad, arched ; the tail robust at the root, cylindrical, tapering
to a sharp point. A solitary individual from Province Wellesley
was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o foot o| inch.
trunk . . . . i 5 1 inches.
,, tail o 6J
2 feet o| inch.
Circumference of the neck f, of the trunk if, of the root of the
tail I inch.
In Bengal this species is not numerous. It is very fierce, attacks
in a vertical attitude, but without expanding the anterior part of
the body. Its food is that of the preceding. The elongated
-angular head makes this species resemble a Psammophis.
TROPIDONOTUS JUNCEUS, N.S.
Head above, shining light brown, lips and throat gamboge ; from
the angle of the mouth an oblique gamboge band, both joining
under a sharp angle on the neck ; trunk and tail dull greyish-olive,
with a series of distant rounded whitish spots on each side ; each
scutum and scutellum with a small black spot on the sides,
which, as well as their anterior margins, are minutely dotted with
brown. Iris black with a golden ring ; tongue small, greyish.
Scuta, 157 ; scutella, 88.
HAB. Pinang.
The head is elongated ovate, with the sides angular, compressed ;
the muzzle truncated ; the rostral shield moderate, square, deeply
arched beneath, vertically fixed ; the anterior frontals small,
tetragonal ; the frontals larger ; angularly bent over the side, where
they border the small square frenal ; the other crown shields are
rather small, the occipitals on each side bordered by small elon-
gated shields, like the rest of the temples ; the eyes large,
1 98 CA TALOG UE OF REPTILES INHABITING
prominent ; preorbital, one ; postorbitals, three ; nasal rectan-
gular ; nostrils lateral, large, rounded ; upper labials, nine, of
which the fourth, fifth, and sixth border the orbit ; lower labials,
eleven ; mentals, two pairs, elongated. The lips are slightly
arched, the mouth wide ; the teeth small, crowded ; the last upper
maxillary tooth longer than the rest. The trunk is very slender,
cylindrical, with the centre of the back raised, forming a sharp
ridge, the sides bulging near the abdomen, which is arched. The
scales are imbricate, very elongated rhomboidal, with the apex
notched, except the two lowest series on each side, which are
broad rhombic ; they are all sharply keeled, and disposed on the
anterior part of the trunk in nineteen, on the middle part in seven-
teen longitudinal series. The tail elongated, cylindrical, very
slender, tapering to a fine point. A single individual observed on-
the Great Hill of Pinang by W. T. Lewis, Esq., was of the follow-
ing dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o foot of inch.
trunk .... i ,, 7 inches.
tail ..... o
2 feet 3 i
Circumference of the neck |, of the trunk ij, of the root of the
tail | inch.
Like most of the Asiatic species of this genus, the present is of
fierce habits. It twice urprovokedly bit a woodcutter who-
happened to pass it. The bite of course was productive of nc
consequences except a slight momentary pain. The very slender
make and the elongated tail are characters which approach this
species to the arboreal Colubrida.
Gen. HOMALOPSIS, apud Schlegel.
(Erpeton, Lacepede, 1803; Rhinopirus, Merrem, 1820;.
Pseuderyx, Fitzinger, 1826 ; Homalopsis, JCuhl, 1827 ; Cerberus,
Cuvier, 1829; Hypsirhina, Wagler, 1830; Hy drops, Wagler,
1830 ; Helicops, Wagler, 1830 ; Potamophis, Cantor, 1836.)
Homalopsis, Kuhl. Nostrils opening vertically in the centre of
the small nasals, with a valvule ; crown shields small ; dorsal
scales imbricate, keeled ; chin with many small shields, throat
scaly ; labials narrow ; abdomen with scuta ; tail short, tapering to
a sharp point ; beneath with scutella.
HOMALOPSIS RHINCIIOPS, Schneider.
SYN. Seba, ii. t. xv. fig. 3.
Hydrus rhinchops, Schneider.
Russell, i. pi. 17, Karoo Bokadam.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 199
Russell, ii. pi. 40 (young).
Boa moluroides, Schneider.
Elaps boaeformis, Schneider.
Enhydrus rhynchops, Latreille.
Hydrus cinereus, Shaw
Hurria Schneideriana, Daudin.
Coluber Schneiderianus, Daudin.
Coluber cerberus, Daudin.
Python rhynchops, Merrem.
Python elapiformis, Merrem.
Python molurus, Merrem.
Coluber obtusatus, Reinvvardt.
Cerberus (Homalopsis obtusatus), Cuvier.
Homalopsis Schneiderii, Schlegel.
Cerberus cinereus, Cantor.
Young. Ash-coloured above, the head with black irregular
spots and a short black line behind the eyes ; trunk and tail with
numerous distant black transversal bands ; lips and throat white-
dotted with black ; the three or four lowest series of lateral scales
white ; beneath, white, with a black undulating band, frequently
interrupted.
Adult. Ash, lead-coloured, or blackish-grey, with the black
marks indistinct or invisible. Iris black ; pupil elliptical, vertically
contracted by the light ; tongue very small, pale greyish.
Scuta, 143 to 156; scutella, 49 to 72.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
New Guinea, Amboina, Timor, Sarapua, Java, Sumatra,
Tenasserim, Bengal, Coromandel.
The shields of the upper part of the head, which appear to be
of a constant form, are the nasals, the frontals, which enclose the
small pair of triangular anterior frontals (sometimes soldered
together), and the supraorbitals. The rest are broken up in small,
irregular, smooth pieces, differing in outline in each individual.
The small eye, placed in a partly vertical, partly lateral position,
is surrounded by a preorbital, a postorbital, and two or three
infraorbitals. Thefrenal is comparatively large, irregular tetragonal.
The anterior seven upper labials are narrow, very high ; the
posterior five or six each divided in two. A similar arrangement
is observed in the inferior thirteen or fourteen of which the
posterior six or seven are very small. On the chin there is a pair
of elongated shields immediately behind the two pairs of labials.
The posterior upper maxillary tooth is longer than the rest, and
furrowed. The three anterior teeth in the lower jaw are longer
than the rest. The trunk is covered with imbricate, finely lineated
and keeled scales, of a rhomboidal form, with rounded points,
disposed on the anterior part in twenty-five, on the posterior part
200 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
in seventeen longitudinal series. The tail is robust, tapering, and
prehensile. In the Malayan countries this species occurs in
numbers in rivers, estuaries, and occasionally along the sea-coasts.
It feeds upon fishes. Single individuals measuring between three
and four feet in length are of very rare occurrence. Of a great
number the largest was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head .... o feet if inch.
trunk .... 2 3 inches.
tail o 7
Circumference of the neck if, of the trunk 3JJ, of the root of
the tail i inch. It is of peaceful habits; the female brings forth
eight living young, each of which measures from seven to seven
and a half inches in length.
HOMALOPSIS BUCCATA, Linne*.
SYN. Scheuchzer, pi. 660, fig. i (young).
Seba, ii. tab. xii. fig. i ; t. xiii. fig. i ; t. xxi. fig. 3 (young).
Coluber buccatus, Linne.
Coluber monilis, Linne
Coluber subalbidus, Boddaert apud Gmelin.
Le Demicollier, Lace'pede.
Vipernkopfige Natter, Merrem.
Coluber buccatus, apud Shaw.
Russell, ii. pi. xxxiii. (young).
Coluber viperinus, Shaw.
Coluber buccatus, Daudin.
Coluber horridus, Daudin.
Echidna semifasciata, Merrem.
Homalopsis buccata, Schlegel.
Young. Ground colour, white or buff, becoming brownish on
the crown shields, hind-head, and lips ; on the muzzle an angular
mark, with the apex between the frontals, vandyke-brown or
chestnut ; an oblique streak proceeds from the eye over the cheek,
joining a broad cervical band, which, sending a narrow straight
line to the occipitals, gives the upper part of the head a heart-
shaped outline ; the back and tail with numerous broad transversal
brown bands, between which the ground colour appears in the
shape of white, often interrupted, narrower bands, and of a white
spot in the centre and on each side of the brown bands. The
latter reach but as far as the lowest four or five series of scales
on the sides, which, as well as the throat and abdomen, are white;
on each side of every third or fourth scutum a brown spot;
scutella black or white, closely spotted with black.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 201
Adult. The livery of the young indistinct : the ground colour
of the upper parts pale greyish-brown or olive ; the bands of a
darker shade of the same colour, edged with black ; sides and
beneath impure buff, the brown marks pale. Pupil black, elliptical,
vertically closed by the light ; tongue small, whitish.
Scuta, 155 to 167; scutella, 73 to 89.
HAB. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Java.
From the small, nearly vertically opening nostrils proceeds a
furrow downwards to the lower margin of the nasal. The anterior
frontal is either entire and of a large rhombic shape, or consisting
of two triangular shields ; the frenal is elongated, rectangular ; the
small eye is situated more laterally than in the preceding species,
and surrounded by two postorbitals, cne preorbital, and two
infraorbitals. The seven anterior upper labials are very high, the
posterior five are double ; of sixteen or seventeen lower labials
the nine anterior are the highest. The last tooth in the upper jaw
is furrowed, and as well as the three or four anterior palatal
and inferior maxillary teeth, longer than the rest. The folds of
gingiva enveloping the teeth are very ample, and contain, in addi-
tion to the fixed, numerous, five to six deep, accessory teeth. The
chin is covered by four pairs of elongated scales, decreasing in
length from the centre towards the labials. The scales of the
trunk are rhombic, imbricate, slightly keeled and finely lineated,
disposed on the anterior part in thirty-nine, on the posterior in
twenty-five longitudinal series. The tail is robust, tapering, and
somewhat prehensile. The largest individual observed was of the
following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o foot i \ inch.
trunk .... i ,, ii inches.
tail o 7
2 feet 7 1
Circumference of the neck 2, of the trunk 3-*-, of the root of
the tail if inch.
In the valleys of Pinang and on the opposite continent this
species is numerous in streamlets, tanks, and in the irrigated fields,
where it feeds on fishes. The young ones are very gentle, and
the old but seldom bite. In their movements they are sluggish,
and on dry land very awkward. The female brings forth six or
eight living young at a time, each between seven and eight
inches in length.
Hypsirhina, Wagler. Resembling Homalopsis in the form and
situation of the nostrils, the integuments and general appearance
202 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
of the head, trunk, and tail ; but the dorsal scales are smooth,
and the labials are square, equal (frenal, one).
HOMALOPSIS SIEBOLDI, Sclllegel.
SYN. Seba, ii. tab. xlvi. fig. 2. ?
Young. Ground colour white, which on the upper part of the
head appears in the shape of two lines diverging from the muzzle
over the eyes to the sides of the head. From each side of the
vertical shield a line diverging towards the hind-head, where it
branches in two, sending a portion transversely to the throat, and
another to the upper part of the neck, joining under an angle that
of the opposite side. On the trunk and tail the ground colour
shows itself as numerous narrow, transversal bands, which on the
centre are frequently interrupted and placed in quincunx series;
on the sides the bands are bipartite. The intervals between the
ground colour are chestnut with dark brown edges. The lips and
the abdominal surface white with numerous pale brown irregular
spots. Iris greyish with a transversal black bar; pupil elliptical,
tongue white.*
Scuta, 155 ; scutella, 48.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Bengal.
The description is taken from a solitary young individual which
was killed in Province Wellesley. It measured
Length of the head o inch.
trunk 5 1 inches.
tail if
8
Circumference of the neck f , of the trunk , of the root of the
tail inch.
In livery and in general appearance this species resembles
H. buccata, from which it differs in the following particulars: Both
the upper and the lower rostral shield are very small ; the anterior
frontals are much broader than long, each like a small transversely
placed cone, surrounded by the nasal (with a slit towards the
lower margin), the tetragonal frenal, and behind by the frontal.
* Adtilt. A preserved specimen in the Museum of the Asiatic Society
differs from the young in having the head above of a uniform colour, while the
rest of the peculiar design is retained. The ground colour is yellowish-white;
the brown of the young is faded to a dull lead grey. Scuta, 156 ; scutella, 55.
Dimensions: head, $ inch; trunk, I foot 8f inches; tail, 3| inches = 2 feet I inch.
Circumference of the neck i|, of the trunk 2^, of the root of the tail i|
incli. The locality from whence this specimen was obtained is not known ;
Bengal is given by M. Schlegel.
THE MALA VAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 203
The vertical in extent nearly equals each of the short occipitals.
The eye is rather large, prominent, surrounded by a single elon-
gated, arched preorbital and two postorbitals, of which the
inferior is the larger, bordering the fifth and sixth upper labials.
Of the latter there are eight on each side : the fourth borders the
eye below ; the two posterior are broken up in small pieces. Of
the eleven or twelve pairs of lower labials, the four nearest the
angle of the mouth are the smallest. The chin is covered by
three pairs of oval shields, of which the anterior is the largest,
and by some minute scales. The mouth is small, the teeth minute,
uniform, except the last upper maxillary tooth, which is the longest,
with a furrow on the convex margin. The back is slightly angular
in the centre, much depressed ; the sides bulging ; the abdomen
narrow. The anterior part of the trunk is covered with twenty-
nine, the posterior with nineteen series of small, smooth, imbricate
scales, all rhombic with rounded points. The tail is tapering and
compressed.
HOMALOPSIS ENHYDRIS, Schneider.
SYN. Russell, i. pi. xxx. Mutta Pam, Ally Pam.
Hydrus enhydris, Schneider.
Enhydris cserulea, Latreille.
Hydrus atrocseruleus, Shaw.
Coluber pythonissa, Daudin.
Homalopsis aer,* Boie.
Hypsirhina, Wagler.
Potamophis Lushingtonii, Cantor.
Homalopsis aer, Schlegel.
Homalopsis olivaceus, Cantor.
Iridescent dark greenish or brownish olive above ; the scales
edged with black ; in some two parallel light greyish lines from
between the eyes to the tip of the tail; the lower half of the
sides pale greenish or brownish grey ; lips and throat white, edged
and dotted with black. Abdominal surface white or buff, with a
greenish or brownish line on each side, and a black central line
dividing the scuta and scutella. Iris greyish or pale olive ; pupil
circular ; tongue whitish.
Young. With lighter and more strongly iridescent colours than
the adult.
Scuta, 148 to 167; scutella, 53 to 71.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
Java, Tenasserim, Bengal, Coromandel.
* This specific name is singularly ill chosen, as the denomination Ular aycr
(water-serpent) is applied by the Malays to all fresh-water serpents. The word
aycr applied to a single species is as eligible as would be aqua, ear/, or ivasstr.
204 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
The head is small, ovate, scarcely distinct; the nostrils are
hemispherical, with a slit towards the external margin of the shield;
the single anterior frontal is small, rhomboidal, much broader than
long ; the eye is rather large, prominent, lateral and surrounded
by two rather broad postorbitals, one or two narrow preorbitals,
and beneath by the fourth upper labial ; the frenal is small,
rhombic. The external margins of the occipitals are bordered
by three elongated shields, and each temple by five similar. The
eight upper labials are larger than the ten lower. The chin is
covered by two central pairs of elongated shields, between which
and the labials is, on each side, a single very elongated shield.
The mouth is small, the teeth minute, numerous and equal, except
the last tooth of the upper jaw, which is longer than the rest and
furrowed. The trunk is very robust, broadly depressed ; the sides
obliquely compressed, and the abdomen very narrow, flattened.
The scales are broad rhomboidal with rounded points, slightly
imbricate, and disposed on the anterior part in twenty-five, in the
middle in twenty-one, and near the tail in nineteen longitudinal
series. The tail is very slender, somewhat compressed, tapering
and prehensile. The largest individual was of the following
dimensions :
Length of the head o foot i inch.
trunk i 5f inches
tail o 5f
2 feet o ,,
Circumference of the neck i|, of the trunk 2^, of the root of
the tail | inch.
Numbers of this species may be seen in rivers, as well as in
irrigated fields and estuaries, preying upon fishes, which, however,
it refuses in a state of captivity. It is of timid and peaceful habits.
A large female, after having been confined upwards of six months
in a glass vessel filled with water, brought forth eleven young ones
in the manner noted above under Acrochordus javanicus. During
the process she lay motionless on the bottom of the vessel ; the
anterior part of the abdomen was retracted towards the vertebral
column, while the muscles of the posterior part were in activity.
Shortly after the parturition she expired under a few spasmodic
movements, and also two of the young ones died in the course of
about two hours, after having, like the rest, shed the integuments.
In length they varied from 6 to 6{j- inches. The living nine
presented a singular appearance : they remained a little way below
the surface of the water, coiling themselves round the body of an
adult male, which was also kept in the vessel, occasionally lifting
their heads above the surface to breathe, at the same time resisting
the efforts of the senior to free himself. Fishes and aquatic
THE MALA YAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 205
insects were refused, in consequence of which the young ones
expired from inanition in the course of less than two months.
HOMALPOPSIS PLUMBEA, Boie.
SYN. Hypsirhina. Wagler.
Hypsirhina'Hardwickii, Gray : " Illust. Ind. Zool."
Homalopsis plumbea, Schlegel.
Iridescent dark brownish or greyish olive above, uniformly or
with small irregular black spots ; the two or three lowest series of
scales yellowish, each scale spotted or edged with brown ; lips and
throat yellow; scuta and scutella yellowish-white, the former in
some partially edged with black, the latter with a black central
zig-zag line; iris grey; pupil elliptical, vertically contracted by
the light ; tongue whitish.
Scuta, 125 to 126; scutella, 36 to 44.
HAB. Pinang.
Java.
The head is broad, ovate, depressed; the muzzle blunt, the
nostrils small, triangular, with a slit towards the lower margin of
the nasal ; the single anterior frontal broad triangular; the rest of
the crown shields are of normal form. The eye is small, placed
in a half-lateral half-vertical position, enclosed by two post-
orbitals, one elongated preorbital, and beneath by the fourth
upper labial ; the frenal is very small, tetragonal ; the upper labials
eight, rather high ; lower labials ten ; on both jaws the shields
increase in size towards the angle of the mouth. The chin is
covered with two pairs of elongated shields and a few gulars.
The mouth is small; the posterior upper maxillary tooth longer
than the rest, furrowed, and the anterior lower maxillary teeth also
exceed the following. In addition to the fixed teeth there are
several accessory series. The trunk is nearly cylindrical, slightly
depressed, covered with small rhombic scales, smooth, and not
imbricate, disposed on the anterior part in nineteen, on the
posterior part in seventeen longitudinal series. The tail is short,
conic, tapering, and slightly prehensile. Two individuals, taken
at different times from rivulets in the valley of Pinang, in habits
resembled H. rhinchops. The larger was of the following
dimensions :
Length of the head o foot i \ inch.
trunk i 5 inches.
tail o 2$
i 8J
2o6 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Circumference of the neck i, of the trunk 2f, of the root of
the tail i inch.
HOMALOPSIS LEUCOBALIA, Schlegcl, var.
Young. Above, light brownish-olive, or greenish-grey with
single irregular distant brown spots ; lips and throat whitish-yellow ;
the lowest three or four lateral series of scales, and the abdominal
surface greenish-white or pearl-coloured.
Adult. Uniformly blackish-olive above, otherwise like the
young. Iris dark brown ; pupil elliptical, vertically contracted by
the light. Tongue whitish.
Scuta, 130 to 148; scutella, 26 to 37.
HAD. -Pi nang, Malayan Peninsula.
The head is very broad, depressed, and the muzzle blunt ; the
rostral broad, hexagonal, very slightly arched beneath ; the superior
margin borders the single small elongated anterior frontal, which
is of a narrow hexagonal form, broader behind, where it is wedged
in between the two broad frontals. The nasals are rather large ;
nostrals small, crescent-shaped ; the vertical very broad, short,
hexagonal ; occipitals large, elongated with a pair of very broad
shields on each side, below which the temples are covered by
three smaller shields. The eye is very small, in a half-vertical
position, with two postorbitals, one preorbital, which extends to
the large oval nasal ; frenal none, or when present, excessively
minute. Of the five large upper labials, the anterior is the smallest
and borders the nasal ; the second the preorbital, the third the
orbit, and the lower postorbital, the fourth and fifth the temporals.
The lower rostral is very small, triangular. The seven or eight
inferior labials are much smaller than the upper. The two pairs
of mentals are very short. The mouth is small ; the teeth are very
strong, short, and of nearly equal size, except the furrowed last
upper maxillary tooth, and the anterior teeth of the lower jaw,
which are longer than the rest. The trunk is robust, back slightly
raised in the centre, the sides sloping, their lower half compressed,
the abdomen broad, arched. The scales are smooth, rhombic,
with rounded points, slightly imbricate ; those of the sides have
the points bent inwards and firmly adhering to the skin, so as to
appear hexagonal. On the anterior part of the trunk they are
disposed in twenty-seven, on the posterior in twenty-five longi-
tudinal series. The tail is short, robust, tapering, and somewhat
prehensile. In the male the sides are compressed, very high in
the middle, and the lower surface is flattened, very broad, more so
than is the posterior part of the abdomen. In the female it is
shorter, the sides less high, and the lower surface less broad.
The largest male of a considerable number was of the following
dimensions :
THE MALA VAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 207
Length of the head . . . o foot og inch.
trunk ... i 10* inches.
tail . . . o 2 f
2 feet i inch.
Circumference of the neck i|, of the trunk 2*-, of the root of
the tail, 1 1 inch. With the exception of its colours, the present
offers no difference from H. leucokalia, from the rivers of Timor.
At Pinang it is numerous not only in fresh water and estuaries,
but- in the sea at some distance from the shore, where it some-
times occurs in fishing nets. It is of sluggish, not fierce habits,
and feeds upon fishes and Crustacea, aquatic and pelagic. In a
young female the oviduct enclosed four white cylindrical eggs,
which when they were observed contained but yolk ; each measured
about an inch in length.
HOMALOPSIS HYDRINA, N.S.
Adult. Ash-coloured above, with a few scattered black spots on
the neck ; the back and tail with numerous transversal black
bands : the lips, sides, and abdomen uniformly pearl-coloured.
Iris ashy ; pupil elliptical, vertically contracted by the light ;
tongue small, whitish.
Scuta, 161; scutella, 34.
Young. Resembling the adult, but the ash colour of a much
lighter shade.
Scuta, 153 ; scutella, 35.
HAB. Sea off 'Pinang, and the Malayan Peninsula.
The head is moderately distinct, elongated, depressed, oval, with
rounded blunt muzzle ; the rostral shield moderate, hexagonal ;
its lower margin with a central minute tubercle, on each side of
which a triangular impression. The upper margin of the minute
triangular lower rostral presents a central cavity, and two lateral
elevations fitting into the margin of the upper rostral. A similar
contrivance in the pelagic serpents enables them hermetically to
close the mouth. As in H. leucobalia, the single small anterior
frontal is elongated hexagonal, broader behind, and enclosed by
the rostral, the nasals, and the frontals. Although the nasals are
placed laterally, the small arched linear nostrils open vertically,
and send a slit to the posterior margin of the shield ; the frontals
are hexagonal, smaller than the latter ; the vertical is the longest
of the crown-shields, very narrow, hexagonal, pointed at both
extremities, but broader behind; the supraorbitals are small,
narrow ; the occipitals are broken up in minor shields viz., two
postoccipitals, in size equal to the occipitals, and a minute conical
interoccipital, enclosed by the four shields, with the broader
208 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
extremity wedged in between the occipitals. Each temple is covered
with two pairs of large shields, of which the lower borders the
fifth, sixth, and seventh upper labials. The eye is very minute,
prominent, almost vertically placed, surrounded by two post-
orbitals, of which the lower is broad pentagonal, meeting beneath
the elongated single oblique preorbital. Thus none of the upper
labials border the orbit. The frenal is moderate, pentagonal. Of
the seven upper labials the anterior three pairs are much smaller
than the rest, which suddenly become very large and deep, so as
to make the margin of the lip very bulging in a downward direc-
tion. The lower ten or eleven labials are smaller than the upper,
except the sixth, which is the largest. The chin with two pairs of
shields, of which the anterior is very elongated ; the throat with
numerous minute scales ; the mouth is small, the dentitiom re-
sembles that of Homalopsis leucobalia, var. ; the trunk would be
orbicular but for the narrow flattened abdomen, the scuta of which
are angulated, forming on each side a sharp ridge ; the scales are
very small, smooth, on the neck disposed in thirty-three, suc-
cessively in thirty-seven, but near the root of the tail in twenty-
nine longitudinal series. Those of the back are rhomboidal with
rounded points ; those of the sides lanceolate with the point bent
inwards, so as to appear truncated, each scale leaving a small
square interval, in which appears the naked skin. The tail is
short, much compressed, tapering, and slightly prehensile. In the
male the sides are very high, and the lower surface very broad, as
noted under H. leucobalia, var. On the broadest part there are
as many as twenty-one longitudinal series of scales. In the female
this organ is shorter, the sides less high, and the abdomen less
broad.
Of three individuals observed, two were captured in fishing
stakes placed in the sea off the shores of Keddah, a third was
washed on shore by the waves on the coast adjoining my house at
Pinang. The largest male was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o foot o inch.
,, trunk . . . . i 4* inches,
tail . . o
Circumference of the neck, f ; of the trunk, i ; of the root of
the tail, - ; of the middle of the tail, i ; two-eighths from the
apex, | inch.
It moved actively and without difficulty on the sand, and did
not offer to bite. In one examined the stomach contained re-
mains of two small pelagic fishes. In general appearance and
colours the present is more closely allied to the pelagic serpents
than any other known species. Whether it exclusively inhabits
THE MALA VAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 209
the sea, or, like Homalopsis rhinchops, enhydrus, and leiicobalia, as
an occasional visitor, must be a matter of future investigation.
VENOMOUS SERPENTS.
FAM. VIPERIDAE, BONAPARTE.
SUB-FAM. BUNGARIN^E, BONAPARTE.
TERRESTRIAL.
Gen. ELAPS, Schneider.
Head more or less indistinct, neck not dilatable ; mouth and
eyes small, trunk elongated, throughout of nearly equal circum-
ference, very smooth ; tail short, tapering, beneath with scutella.
ELAPS MELANURUS, Shaw.
SYN. Russell, i. pi. 8 (young).
Coluber melanurus, Shaw (young).
Vipera trimaculata, Daudin (young).
Elaps trimaculatus, Merrem apud < g f? er , > (young).
Strong iridescent light bay above ; from the muzzle a longitu-
dinal black band, joining on the neck a broader transversal black
band with whitish edges ; a short oblique black line behind the
eye, and a similar from the nostril to the middle of the upper lip;
on each side of the anterior part of the back a series of distant
black dots ; a broad black transversal band with whitish edges at
the root of the tail ; a second similar at a short distance from the
apex ; lips, throat, and the anterior part of the abdomen iridescent
yellowish-white, changing to yellow or orange on the posterior
part; the tail beneath bluish-white, with large irregular black
spots. Iris black ; pupil circular ; tongue black.
Scuta, 205 to 247 ; scutella, 24 to 32.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Tenasserim, Nerva (Coromandel).
In general appearance this species nearest approaches Elaps
intestinalis, Laurenti, but the eye is comparatively larger, while
the nearly equilateral, hexagonal, vertical shield is smaller in the
present. The eye is surrounded by two postorbitals, one pre-
orbital, and beneath by the third and fourth upper labials. Of the
latter, seven pairs cover the jaws. The trunk is throughout
covered by thirteen series of smooth, subimbricate, rhombic
scales. The one described by Russell, hitherto the only describer
from nature, was a young animal. A similar, upwards of a foot
in length, was killed in Province Wellesley. But the late Mr.
VOL. II. P
210 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Griffith in one of his botanical excursions captured an individual
of the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . o foot o inch.
trunk . . . i ,, io| inches.
tail . . . o 1 1 inch.
Circumference of the trunk, i inch.
ELAPS INTESTINALIS,* Laurenti, var.
SYN. Maticora lineata, Gray : " 111. Ind. Zool."
Elaps furcatus, Schneider, var. apud Schlegel, Cantor.
Young and Adult. Head above, light chestnut ; lips and throat
yellowish-white, upper lips spotted with black ; from the hind-
head to the tip of the tail a vermilion line, on each side of which
a narrow, serrated, black line. On the nearest two longitudinal
series of scales the ground colour appears as a reddish light
grey longitudinal line, beneath bordered by an equally broad black
line, under which a narrow buff-coloured line, bordered by a black
serrated line, the teeth of which are directed downwards, wedged
in between the lateral margins of the scuta and scutella. Scuta
alternately pale citrine and iridescent black, the latter colour occu-
pying three to four scuta together, while the former rarely appears
on more than two. Tail above with two or three distinct black
transversal bands ; beneath vermilion, with a continuation of the
superior transversal bands. Iris black, pupil circular; tongue
black.
Scuta, 223 to 238 ; scutella, 24 to 26.
HAB. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
Sumatra.
Excepting the colours, this variety otherwise perfectly agrees
with E. intestinalis. The neck is covered by fifteen, the rest of
the trunk by thirteen longitudinal series of smooth, not imbricate
rhombic scales. It is of no uncommon occurrence in the hills of
Pinang, at Malacca, and at Singapore. The largest individual
was of the following dimensions :
* SYN. Seba ii. pi. i, fig. 7. Aspis intestinalis, Laurenti ; Coluber intes-
tinalis, Gmelin ; Russell, ii. pi. 19; Elaps furcatus, Schneider; Coluhr in-
testinalis, Shaw ; Vipera furcata, Daudin ; Elaps furcatus, Schneider apud
Waller, Schlegel.
HAB. Java, Mahvah (Central India).
A collection of reptiles, which Mr. J. W. Grant obtained from Saugor, Mai.
wan, contained a single specimen.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 211
Length of the head . . . o foot of inch.
,, trunk . . . i 10 inches.
tail . . , o i
Circumference of the trunk, T| inch.
ELAPS NIGROMACULATUS, Cantor.
-SYN. Calliophis gracilis, Gray : " 111. Ind. Zool." young.
" Probablement nouvelle espece d'Elaps," Schlegel :
"Essay," p. 451-
Elaps nigromaculatus, Cantor : Spicil.
Head above, yellowish-brown, each shield with a pale black
spot in the middle ; lips and throat yellowish-white, spotted with
pale black. Ground colour of the trunk and tail reddish light
grey, longitudinally divided by a central black line, with small
round, black, white-edged spots about an inch apart ; on each side
two parallel black lines, the lower of which bordering the two
lowest series of scales of the sides, which are white, edged with
black, so as to appear longitudinally intersected by two black lines.
All the lateral black and white lines are on each side intersected
by a series of large rounded (the anterior pair elongated) black
spots with white edges, placed in pairs, opposite each other, but
in quincunx order with the smaller black spots of the dorsal line.
Beneath, alternately yellowish-white or pale citrine, and iridescent
black, both colours nearly equally divided. Tail at the root and
near the apex with a broad transversal black band edged with
white, both continued on the vermilion lower surface, and there,
between them, a third similar band. Iris black, pupil round ;
tongue, bluish-grey.
Young. Marked like the adult, but the ground colour of the
back and tail inclines to light reddish-brown.
Scuta, 238 to 311 ; scutella, 21 to 28.
HAD. Pinang, Singapore.
In general appearance this species very closely resembles Elaps
intestinalis, from which it is distinguished by the following char-
acters.* The two pairs of frontal shields are remarkably dispro-
portionate, the frontals (proper) being much the larger : next to
the occipitals, they are the largest of the crown-shields. The
nearly equilateral, hexagonal vertical, and the supraorbitals are
remarkably small ; more so than in any other species of this genus.
The occipitals are very narrow elongated ; their external margin
bordered by two pairs of shields, of which the anterior, the larger,
* The (magnified ?) representation of the head of Calliophis gracilis^ fig. 2,
" 111. Ind. Zool.," is in every particular incorrect.
P 2
2 1 2 CA TALO G UE OF REPTILES INHABITING
covers the temples, and is beneath bounded by the fifth and sixth
upper labials. The eye is sunk, excessively minute, surrounded
by two small postorbitals ; beneath by the third and fourth upper
labials, and by a single narrow triangular preorbital. The latter
is placed obliquely, so that the downwards-pointed apex meets
the linear posterior part of the nasal, or, as it is considered by some,
the frenal. The nostrils are comparatively large. The upper
labials number six on each side : the two posterior are the largest..
The chin is covered by two pairs of elongated narrow shields,
externally bordered by the third and fourth, the largest of the six:
inferior labials. The gular scales are more numerous than those
of E. intcstinalis. The neck is covered by fifteen, the trunk by
thirteen longitudinal series of smooth rhombic scales with rounded
points. This species is of no uncommon occurrence in the
hills of Pinang. The largest individual was of the following,
dimensions :
Length of the head ....
trunk ,
57
tail
2 3 1 inches.
Circumference of the trunk, i inch.
ELAPS BIVIRGATUS,* Kuhl, var.
SYN. Elaps flaviceps, Cantor, Spicil.
Elaps flaviceps, apud J. Reinhardt : Beskrivelse, &c.
Head, lips, and throat vermilion ; trunk above, brilliant iridescent,
intense black, most of the scales partially edged with azure, not,
however, sufficiently to produce regular network ; the two lowest
series of scales on each side azure, forming a continued lateral
band, longitudinally divided by a white zig-zag line, produced by
the scales being partially edged with white. Beneath, vermilion ;
each scutum with two lateral, square, black spots, forming a con-
tinued black band bordering the azure. Tail above with a narrow
black dorsal line ; sides and scutella vermilion. Iris and tongue
black.
Scuta, 248 to 277 ; scutella, 38 to 45.
HAK. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
In colours the young ones resemble the adult. The neck is
covered by fifteen, the trunk by thirteen longitudinal series of
smooth rhomboidal scales. The anterior part of larynx, instead
of adhering to the upper part of the membranous sheath enclosing
* SYN. "Erpetologie de Jav." pi. xliv. ; Elaps bivir^itus, apud Schlegel.
HAK. Java, Sumatra.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 213
the tongue, presents the peculiarity of being free, and projecting in
the mouth like a small tube.
Of four individuals observed, three were from the hills of
Pinang. The largest was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head ..... o feet o inch.
trunk ..... 2 7 inches.
tail ..... o
Circumference of the trunk, i| inch.
Elaps intestinalisy var., E. nigromaculatus and bivirgatus^ var.,
appear at Pinang exclusively to inhabit the hills at a considerable
elevation, but on the Malayan Peninsula and at Singapore they
occur in the valleys. Although not numerous, they cannot be said
to be of rare occurrence. They are strictly terrestrial, and have
their hiding-places under the roots of trees and in the crevices of
rocks. They are sluggish, awkwardly dragging their long slender
"bodies, and they are generally observed lying motionless, with the
body thrown in many irregular folds, but not coiled. Although
they are diurnal, their sight, from the minuteness of the pupil,
appears to be as defective as their sense of hearing, and they may
be closely approached without apparently their being aware of
danger. If touched with a stick, they make a few strenuous
efforts to slide away, but they soon stop, and if further pursued,
they make some irregular spasmodic-like movements, but they have
not been observed to bite. An adult Elaps bivirgatus, var., was on
a single occasion seen to raise the head vertically about two inches
from the ground. In captivity they refuse food and water, and
die in a short time from inanition. Of a number examined, only
one of the latter species had in the stomach the remains of a small
serpent, the genus of which could not be determined. M. Schlegel
has observed Calamaricc in the stomach of Elaps intestinalis. In
the peculiar distribution of colours, in diminutive size, and in
habits, they resemble the genus Calamaria. It is solely the small-
ness of the mouth which renders the preceding species of Elaps
harmless to man, as from the following it will be perceived that
their venom is as virulent as that of other venomous serpents.
From the diminutive size of the venomous glands, the quantity of
fluid secreted is small : scarcely more than a drop from each. It
is a pellucid, colourless fluid, slightly reddening litmus paper.
After several unsuccessful attempts to make an adult Elaps nigro-
maculatus spontaneously bite a fowl, the jaws were forcibly closed
over a protracted fold of the skin on the inner side of the left thigh
of the bird. On account of the small gape, some difficulty was
experienced in making the jaws close over the fold of the skin, and
as it appeared doubtful if the fangs had penetrated, the serpent
2i4 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
was in a quarter of an hour compelled again to wound the fowl in
the skin below the right eye. Twenty minutes after the first wound
the fowl became purged, and manifested symptoms of pain in the
left thigh, which was continually drawn up towards the body,
although the wounds inflicted there and below the eye were, from
the smallness of the fangs, barely visible. Twenty-eight minutes
after the first wound the bird commenced drooping, occasionally
attempting to raise itself, and in ten minutes more soporism oc-
curred, interrupted by spasms of the neck, flow of saliva, and peck-
ing the earth with the beak, while the pupil was spasmodically
contracted and alternately dilated. The latter symptoms con-
tinued during thirty minutes, when death occurred in an hour after
the first wound had been inflicted. Fowls wounded by Elaps
furcatus, var., and Elaps bivirgatus, var., expired under similar
symptoms, from within an hour and twenty minutes to upwards of
three hours. The serpents, which all had forcibly to be made to
inflict the wounds, shortly afterwards expired, apparently from the-
violence to which they had been subjected.
Gen. BUNGARUS, Daudin.
Body elongated, slightly cylindrical ; tail short ; head oval, trunk
and tail with a dorsal series of large hexagonal scales ; the tail
beneath with scuta, in the middle sometimes with scutella ; behind
the fangs some simple maxillary teeth.
BUNGARUS FLAVICEPS, J. Reinhardt.
Young. Head and neck blood-red, with a pointed elongated
black mark between the occipitals, and a short black dorsal line
on the neck ; the trunk black with steel-blue reflections, at the
anterior part of each dorsal hexagonal scale a short longitudinal
white streak ; near the tail blood-red ; each scale of the two
lowest lateral series white with a black spot, placed so as to pro-
duce a continued lateral white zig-zag line ; the posterior part of
the sides blood-red. Lips and throat blood- red ; abdomen black,
posterior part as well as the tail blood-red, with a few black spots.
Iris and tongue black.
Scuta abdominalia, 209; scuta sub-caudalia, 16; scutella, 38.
HAD. Pinang.
Java.
M. J. Reinhardt has described the adult from an unique
specimen in the Royal Museum, Copenhagen. Spirits of wine
changed the brilliant blood-red to a pale yellow colour. The
diagnosis must therefore be altered accordingly. The adult
appears to differ from the young in having none of the black
marks of the head and tail and no lateral white line.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 215
A single young individual, found by Sir William Norris on the
Great Hill of Pinang, was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o foot o inch.
trunk . . . . X 4f inches.
tail . . . . o 3
i 8J-
Circumference of the neck i, of the trunk if, of the root of the
tail | inch.
The centre of the back forms a ridge, from whence the sides
slope ; the abdomen is broad, slightly arched, so that the vertical
section of the body becomes broad triangular. The neck is
covered by fifteen, the trunk by thirteen longitudinal series of
smooth, imbricate, rhomboidal scales. As observed by M. J.
Reinhardt, the correspondence of colours, and their distribution,
between this species and Elaps bivirgatus, is very striking. Besides,
the number of series of scales is another character approximating
this species to the genus Elaps.
BUNGARUS CANDIDUS, Linne*.
SYN. Seba, ii. t. Ixvi. figs. 3 and 4.
Coluber candidus, Linne.
Russell, i. pi. i. Paragoodoo.
Russell, ii. pi. xxxi. Sew Walaley.
Pseudoboa coerulea, Schneider.
Boa lineata, Shaw.
Bungarus cceruleus, Daudin.
Bungarus semifasciatus, Kuhl.
Aspidoclonion semifasciatum, Wagler.
Bungarus semifasciatus, Schlegel.
Above, black with steel-blue reflections, interrupted by numerous
narrow transversal white bands, produced by the white edges of
the scales. On each side the bands are bifurcated, and the two
or three lowest series of scales white with black spots. Lips and
throat white; abdominal surface yellowish -white. Iris black;
tongue white.
Scuta, 201 to 221; scuta sub-caudalia, 38 to 56.
HAD. Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Tenasserim, Bengal, Assam, Coromandel, Ceylon,
Malabar.
A single young individual, killed by Capt. Congaiton near
Keddah, was of the following dimensions :
216 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Length of the head o feet 1 inch.
trunk 2 3f inches
tail o 4 f
2 9l
Circumference of the neck if, of the trunk 2, of the root of the
tail i inch.
Assam produces also a constant variety (B. lividus, Cantor) of
a uniform blue-black above ; beneath, yellowish-white ; in some
the scuta blackish with white edges. In the very young the head
is white with a black line between the occipital shields. It farther
differs in having the hexagonal scales smaller, less distinct from
the rest, and the tail more robust than the normal individuals
BUNGARUS FASCIATUS, Schneider.
SYN. Scheuchzer, pi. dclv., fig. 8.
Seba, ii. pi. Iviii. fig. 2.
Russell, i. pi. iii. Bungarum Pamah.
Pseudoboa fasciata, Schneider.
Boa fasciata, Shaw.
Bungarus annularis, Daudin.
Aspidoclonion, Wagler.
Bungarus annularis, Schlegel.
Ground colour bright gamboge ; the anterior half of the head
and the cheeks black, with steel-blue reflections ; from the vertical
shield a black longitudinal band, expanding over the neck and
sides, and with the former forming a broad-arrow mark ; lips and
throat gamboge, upper lips edged with black ; the rest of the body
completely surrounded by a number of broad alternate gamboge
and shining black rings. Iris black; tongue flesh-coloured.
Scuta, 200 to 233 ; scuta abdominalia, 32 to 36.
HAD, Pinang Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Tenasserim, Bengal, Coromandel.
The neck is covered by seventeen, the trunk by fifteen longitu-
dinal series of smooth scales, which, with the exception of the
dorsal hexagonal series, are imbricate, rhombic. As noted under
Elaps bivirgatus, var., the larynx is not attached to the scabbard
of the tongue. Of three young individuals from the valley of
Pinang and Province Wcllesley, the largest was of the following
dimensions :
Length of the head o feet if inch.
trunk 3 5 inches.
,, tail o 4-J
1 I0-s
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 217
Circumference of the neck 2, of the trunk 3;, of the root of
the tail 2, of the apex if inch.
In the Malayan countries the species of Bungarus are not
numerous ; but B. candidus and faseiatus are of no uncommon
occurrence in Bengal and on the Coromandel Coast, where, how-
ever, it should be observed, a class of the natives ("serpent-
charmers ") earn a livelihood by capturing and exhibiting serpents,
but this craft is unknown among the Malays. The preceding three
species, like the rest of the venomous serpents, are very ferocious
when attacked, but unprovokedly they are not known to attack
man ; on the contrary, when met in the jungle they attempt to
escape. When trod upon or struck, their rage is instantly excited ;
in self-defence they will even turn from their retreat, and then their
habitual sluggishness is roused to furious activity. Preparing to
attack, the head is by a short curve of the neck brought closely
to the body, and drawn far backwards, when suddenly darting the
anterior part of the body obliquely upwards, they bite. The
height of the place where the wound is inflicted of course depends
on the length of the serpent, which is capable of darting nearly
the anterior half of the body. Notwithstanding the circular pupil,
they appear to shun the light, hiding the head under the folds of
the body, and they are singularly uncertain in their movements,
often suddenly jerking the head or tail without any apparent
object. Like all serpents of tropical Asia, they seldom expose
themselves to the sun; when during the day they leave their
hiding-places, they select the shade. The genus Bungarus is
terrestrial, feeding on rats, mice, serpents (Col. mucosus, Lin.), and
toads. Like other venomous serpents, when the venom has
been inflicted on their prey, they disengage it from the fangs,
sheathe and place them as horizontally as possible, in order that
they may offer no resistance to the introduction into the mouth of
the lifeless prey, which is now seized head foremost. The inno-
cuous serpents bite or strangle their prey, which when life is
extinct is either swallowed at once, or if it happens to have been
killed in a position likely to render the deglutition difficult, is often
disengaged from between the teeth and seized a second time by
the head. In captivity these serpents refuse food, but greedily
lap up and swallow water.
A fowl, four minutes after it had been bitten on the inner side of
the thigh by a Bungarus fasciatus, fell on the wounded side, and
was shortly after seized with slight purging. The eyes were
half closed, the pupils alternately dilated and contracted,
immobile. In seventeen minutes slight spasms occurred, under
which the bird expired forty-three minutes after it had been
wounded.
Another fowl, wounded in the same place as the former by the
same serpent, but after an interval of seven hours, expired under
2i8 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
similar symptoms, only more violent spasms, in the course of
twenty-eight minutes.
Venom taken from another serpent, the fangs of which had
been extracted, was inoculated by a lancet incision in the right
thigh ; four minutes after, the fowl was seized with trembling, fell,
and remained lying on the wounded side, with the eyes closed,
but it gradually recovered, and rose, apparently recovered, thirty
minutes after the inoculation of the venom.
Other fowls were killed by different serpents of this species, in
twenty to thirty- one minutes.
Fowls bitten by Bimgarus candidus expired under similar symp-
toms within thirty to forty-five minutes ; dogs from within one
hour ten minutes to two hours, under symptoms noted in Russell's
experiments (Russell, i. p. 53).
SUB-FAM. NAJIN^E, BONAPARTE.
HAMADRYAS, Cantor.
Head broad, subovate, depressed, with a pair of very large
postoccipital shields, and a short blunt muzzle ; cheeks tumid ;
eyes large, prominent, pupil circular ; nostrils wide, between two
shields ; behind the fangs a few maxillary teeth ; neck dilatable ;
trunk thick, cylindrical ; tail short, with scuta and scutella.
HAMADRYAS OPHIOPHAGUS, Cantor.
SYN. Hamadryas hamiah, Cantor.
Naja elaps, Schlegel (young).
Naja bungarus, Schlegel (young).
Naja vittata, Elliot.
Hamadryas ophiophagus, apud Elliot.
Olive green above ; the shields of the head, the scales of the
neck, posterior part of the body and of the tail edged with black ;
the trunk with a number of distant, oblique, alternate black and
white bands, converging towards the head ; the throat and anterior
part of abdomen impure gamboge, the rest of the scuta and
scutella bluish-grey marbled with black, or pale yellowish-green
with a narrow subinarginal brown line. Iris golden, spotted with
black ; tongue bluish-black.
Scuta, 215 to 256; scuta subcaudalia, 13 to 32; scutella sub-
caudalia, 63 to 96.
HAD. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Sumatra,* Bengal, Assam, f Coromandel.
* Sir Stamford Raffles' specimen in the Museum of the Zoological Society,
London.
t Specimen in the collection of II. Walker, Esq., surgeon, G. G.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 219
Of two individuals, from the summit of the Great Hill of Pinang
and from Province Wellesley, the larger was of the following
dimensions :
Length of the head o feet 3 inches.
,, trunk .... 8 i inch.
tail 2 ,, 4 inches.
10 8
Circumference of the neck 5f, of the trunk 8f, of the tail 4*
inches.
The neck is covered by twenty-one, the trunk by seventeen
longitudinal series of smooth imbricate scales : those of the two
lowest series are large rhombic, of the sides irregular rhomboidal,
appearing linear, all with rounded apex. The Malayan individuals
are of a lighter colour, more inclining to yellow, than those
observed in Bengal.
Gen. NAJA, Laurenti.
Head covered with shields ; muzzle truncated ; the anterior
part of the trunk, between the sixth and twelfth abdominal scutum,
considerably dilatable in the shape of a disk, with a large white
transparent spot above, edged with black and somewhat resem-
bling a pair of spectacles.
NAJA LUTESCENS,* Laurenti, var. (D. Daudin).
SYN. Seba, ii. t. xcvii. fig. 4.
Naja peruviana, Lacepede.
Russell, i. pi. vi. fig. 4 ; Sankoo Nagoo.
Latreille, iv. pi. 27.
Vipera naja, var. D. Daudin.
Aspis, Wagler.
Naja tripudians, var. Gray : " Illus. Ind. Zool."
Naja tripudians, Merrem, var. Schlegel.
" 'Ular mata-dri" of the Malays.
Head shining, dark brown above; on the sides and lips brownish-
white ; ground colour of the trunk buff, the anterior half of each
scale pale greyish-brown; beneath buff. Iris black, with a
* Coluber naja, Linne ; Naja lutescens, Laurenti (the Cobra di Capdlo}, has
probably the widest range of the Asiatic venomous serpents. The species, or
its varieties, inhabits the countries between the Sutlej and Cape Comorin, and
Ceylon. According to Mr. Hodgson's observations, it does not occur in the
valley of Nepal, but it ranges through Hindustan down to Cape Romania, the
southern extremity of the Malayan Peninsula, and from thence to Chusan, 30
N.E. 122 E. It is also found in the Philippines, Ternate, Borneo, Java,
Sumatra. '
220 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
yarrow light-grey margin towards the orbit; tongue light flesh-
'coloured.
Young. Much lighter brown than the adult, and strongly iri-
descent.
Scuta, 189 to 193 ; scutella, 49 to 54.
HAB. Pinang) Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
Bengal, Coromandel.
It is numerous in the Malayan hills and valleys, but apparently
of uncommon occurrence in Bengal.
Var. NIGRA.
SYN. Naja tripudians, var. nigra, Gray: " Illus. Ind.Zool."
Naja tripudians, var. Schlegel.
Upper parts intense black with strong purple or blue reflections;
temples, lips, and throat pale orange, largely spotted with black ;
the lateral part of the anterior eight or ten, and of the fourteenth,
fifteenth, and seventeenth scuta, pale orange, black in the centre,
and with a broad black margin ; the scales and interstitial skin on
each side of the anterior eighteen or twenty scuta white or buff,
appearing on the lower surface of the hood as two short parallel
bands. The rest of the abdominal surface paler black than above,
strongly iridescent, in certain lights pale silvery. Iris black, with
the orbital margin pale grey ; tongue light flesh-coloured.
Scuta, 184 to 187 ; scutella, 49 to 52.
HAB. Pinang, Singapore.
At Pinang the preceding variety prevails, at Singapore the
present. Both are local, and they appear respectively to congre-
gate on single spots of limited extent. Another black variety
{Naja atra, Cantor), which inhabits Chusan, differs from the present
in having a number of distant transversal double lines of a yellow
colour. Beneath, it is slate or pearl coloured.
The food of Naja lutescens consists of rats, small birds (it
occasionally ascends trees), lizards, and fishes, in search of which
latter it frequently takes the water, and even the sea, along the
coasts. The largest individual of the two Malayan varieties was
of the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . o feet if inch.
trunk . . . 4 i m
tail . . o 9 inches.
Circumference of the neck 2|, of the trunk 4f, of the root of the
tail 2 1 inches.
The following memorandum relative to the venom of Naja>
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 221
lutescehs, Laurenti, has kindly been communicated by J. W.
Laidlay, Esq., joint-secretary, Asiatic Society :
" The venom was carefully obtained, so as to avoid any admix-
ture of saliva, by compressing the venomous glands. It issued
from the lower aperture of the fangs in viscid drops of a syrupy
consistency, and was received as it fell from the fangs in platina
capsules. The serpents operated upon were an adult Cobra di
Capello (Naja lutescens), Laurenti, and one of its varieties (Naja
kaouthia, apud Belanger), and were supplied by the kindness of
J.'W. Grant, Esq., C.S.
" In every instance the venom readily changed the blue of litmus
to red, and restored the bright yellow to turmeric paper that had
been reddened by the application of caustic alkali; an unequi-
vocal proof of acidity. When left to spontaneous evaporation,
it dried into a varnish resembling mucilage or the glair of an egg,
cracking in all directions ; and on being heated it deposited an
abundant coagulum, apparently albuminous. In either instance
when redissolved it retained its acid property.
" What the nature of this acid may be it was impossible to deter-
mine from the small quantity operated upon ; nor am I prepared
to say that the poison itself is an acid, although if it be not so, it
is certainly associated with one. Most probably, from the rapid
and spontaneous disappearance of its properties by keeping, the
poison itself consists of some exceedingly unstable compound,
which would be wholly disorganized under any attempt at isolation
by chemical means."
SUB-FAM. VIPERIN^E, BONAPARTE.
Gen. TRIGONOCEPHALUS, Oppel.
Head broad, triangular, scaly, with a pit before the eyes ; trunk
robust, cylindrical ; tail short, tapering to a point, with scutella
beneath.
TRIGONOCEPHALUS GRAMINEUS, Shaw.
SYN. Russell, i. pi. ix. Bodroo Pam ; ii. pi. xx.
Coluber gramineus, Shaw.
Vipera viridis, Daudin.
Trimeresurus viridis, Lace'pede.
Cophias viridis, Merrem.
Coluber gramineus, apud Raffles : Tr. Linn Soc. xiii.
Bodroo Pam, Russell apud Davy : Ceylon, &c.
Bothrops, Wagler.
Trigonocephalus viridis, Schlegel.
Trigonocephalus erythrurus, Cantor (young).
" Ular daun " of the Malays.
222 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Grass-green above, lighter on the sides, frequently interrupted
by zig-zag lines, produced by the black interstitial skin ; the tail
in some bright cinnamon-red ; from the sides of the neck along
the lowest series of scales a pale yellow line. Lips, throat, and
abdominal surface greenish-yellow ; scutella in some spotted with
cinnamon-colour. Iris golden, dotted with brown, but leaving a
narrow margin bordering the elliptical black pupil, which is verti-
cally contracted by the light. Tongue pale bluish, with black apex.
Scuta, 165 to 170; scutella, 58 to 71.
HAB. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
New Holland,* Timor, Pulo Samao, Celebes, Eastern Java,
Banka, Sumatra, Tenasserim, Bengal, Chirra Piinji,
Nipal,t Coromandel, Ceylon.
Var.
SYN. Coluber gramineus, var. apud Raffles, I.e.
Differs from the preceding by its Indian or brick-red line on
each side.
HAB. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
Sumatra, Tenasserim.
In the Malayan hills and valleys the variety is by far the more
numerous ; it is indeed the most common of the venomous ser-
pents. In Bengal I never observed but a single young one (T.
crythrurus}, captured in the Sunderbuns. It is generally observed
on trees, hanging down from the branches or concealed under
the dense foliage ; it preys on small birds and tree-frogs Poly-
pedates leucomystax, Gravenhorst ; but occasionally it descends
to the ground in search of frogs and toads. The neck is covered
by twenty-seven, the trunk by twenty-three or twenty-five ovate
imbricate keeled scales. The tail is prehensile.
Of the number examined none exceeded the following
dimensions :
Length of the head . . . o feet i|- inch.
trunk . . . 2 o
tail . . . . o 5f inches,
Circumference of the neck i-|, of the trunk 2|, of the root of the
tail i inch.
Lacepede, on the authority of M. Baudin:
t Specimen in Mr. Hodgson's collection.
THE MALA VAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 223
TRIGONOCEPHALUS SUMATRANUS, Raffles,* var.
SYN." 'Ular kapak " of the Malays of the Peninsula.
Young. Grass-green above, lighter on the sides and lips ; from
the pit beneath the eye, over the cheek, a cinnamon-red line with
the upper margin buff; on each side of the back a series of distant
spots, half cinnamon, half buff-coloured, each of the two or three
scales composing the spots being of these two colours ; on the
tail the spots are confluent, forming transversal lines. Beneath
light yellowish-green. The largest individual in this garb measured
i foot 3 inches in length.
Adult. Ground colour above, light yellow or pale greenish-
yellow, largely mixed with intense dull black, so as to make the
general appearance black, through which the ground colour appears
on the head as irregular spots, and a continued line, beneath
which a black line proceeds from the eye to the occiput ; on the
trunk and tail as narrow, distant, transversal bands, continued or
broken up into spots. Labials, gulars, the lowest two or three
lateral series of scales, and scuta, gamboge with black margins ;
scutella largely spotted with black. Iris golden dotted with black,
and with a black transversal bar ; pupil elliptical, vertically con-
tracted by the light ; tongue bluish-grey.
Scuta, 141 to 147 ; scutella, 42 to 52.
HAB. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
Unfortunately, in the Malayan countries this variety is not of so
rare occurrence as the species appears to be in Sumatra. Both
are equally dreaded. The natives of Sumatra denominate it
" Puchuk," a young, green shoot of a tree, a name expressive both
of its colour and arboreal habits. The Malays of the Peninsula,
who only know the black variety, call it, from its broad cordate
head, the " hatchet-shaped " serpent ; " Kapak," or " Kapah," sig-
nifying an axe. At Pinang it generally occupies the lower parts
of the hills or the valleys, either on the ground or on trees ; but Dr.
Montgomerie in one instance observed it at on elevation of 2,200
feet. It preys upon rats, small birds, tree-frogs, and toads. The
neck is covered by twenty-seven, the trunk by twenty-three to
twenty-five longitudinal series of ovate, imbricate keeled scales.
The labials and the gular scales are sharply keeled, but the keels
of the former become obliterated with age. The tail is prehensile.
Of nine examined, the largest individual was of the following
dimensions :
* SYN. Seba, ii. t. Ixviii. fig. 4 ; Coluber sumatranus, Raffles, Ular Poo-
chook ; Cophias Wagleri, H. Boie ; Tropidolamus, Wagler ; Trigonocephalus
Wagleri, Schlegel.
HAB. Sumatra.
224 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Length of the head . . . . o foot 2 inches.
trunk . . . . i 6|
tail o 6J
2 feet 2f
Circumference of the neck 2-J, of the trunk 4^, of the root of the
tail if inch.
TRIGONOCEPHALUS PUNICEUS, Reinwardt.
SYN. Seba, ii. tab. Ixiv. fig. i.
Klein : " Tentamen," p. 10, No. 25.*
Vipera acontia, Laurenti.
Coluber acontia, Gmelin.
Vipera acontias, Daudin.
Echidna acontia, Merrem.
Trigonocephalus puniceus, Reinwardt.
Atropos, Wagler.
Trigonocephalus purpureomaculatus, Gray : "111. Tnd. Zool."
Trigonocephalus puniceus, Schlegel.
Dull reddish brown or olive tinged with purple ; in some an
indistinct black line from the eye to the sides of the neck ; the
scales dotted or finely marbled with black, their keels pale ochre ;
the posterior part of the trunk and tail with irregular dark brown
spots ; the interstitial skin reddish-brown, lighter or darker than
the scales ; lips, throat, the three or four lowest series of scales,
and beneath, pale greenish-yellow ; scuta and scutella with brown
margins, the latter largely spotted with brown. Iris greenish-
golden marbled with black ; pupil elliptical, vertically contracted
by the light ; tongue light brownish-grey.
Scuta, 162 to 171 ; scutella, 65 to 70.
HAB. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Singapore, Java.
The Malayan individuals differ slightly from the Javanese in
having very few dark spots and no reddish line above the black
one on the sides of the head. The oval gular scales have a
tubercular appearance. The integuments of the head and body
are remarkably lax, like those of Acrochordus javanicus. The
neck is covered by thirty-one, the trunk by twenty-seven longi-
tudinal series of ovate or conical scales ; they are not imbricate,
but are frequently surrounded by the naked skin. The tail is
prehensile, but less so than in the preceding species. The
Malayan individuals appear to be less numerous than the Javanese.
* As several serpents have by Klein been indicated under the name of
Acontias, the specific name of Reinwardt has been substituted.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 225
The four observed were all found on the ground in valleys. The
largest, which had been feeding on a rat, was of the following
dimensions :
Length of the head .... o feet i| inch.
trunk . . . . 2 s inches.
tail ..... o 5!
3 of
Circumference of the neck 2, of the trunk 3 J, of the root o the
tail if inch.
In general sluggish, but when roused, ferocious habits, the pre-
ceding three species resemble the genus Bungarus ; their mode of
attack is also similar : like Vipera Russellii (Shaw),* when it pre-
pares to dart they vibrate the prehensile tail and utter a faint
hissing sound. As the pupil is vertically contracted by the light,
they frequently miss their aim, and like Bungarus, Naja, Vipera
Russellii, and Hydrus, in the extreme of fury they will fix the fangs
in their own bodies. Although they are averse to motion, they
are not of quite so stationary habits as represented by M. Schlegel
(Essay, "Partie Descriptive," p. 520). In the jungle I have
noticed them moving between the branches of trees or on the
ground, either in search of prey, or after heavy rains have flooded
their hiding-places. In Bengal most terrestrial serpents keep the
latter during the hot season, but the rains send them abroad in
search of dry localities. Although the present genus has venomous
organs as highly developed as Crotalus or Vipera, the effects
produced by wounds, of two species at least, appear to be less
dangerous than might a priori be supposed. According to
Russell's experiments with the venom of Trigonocephalus gramineus,
chickens expired within eight to thirty-three minutes, pigeons in
fourteen to eighteen minutes. A pig recovered in six or seven
hours, a dog in two to three hours, after having been wounded
(Russell, i. p. 60). Mr. Hodgson has seen a man who was
wounded by this species, the only venomous known to inhabit
Nepal, fearfully suffering from pain and swelling, but he never
heard of a fatal case (" Transactions Zoological Society, London,"
vol. ii. p. 309).
A male Trigonocephalus puniceus successively wounded two
fowls, one in the chest, the other in the left thigh. In both cases
the fangs of both sides acted, but neither of the birds experienced
any other effect except a slight pain, which lasted a few minutes
after they had been wounded. It should, however, be observed
that the serpent at the time had gorged itself with food, in which
state it was observed close to the General Hospital, in the valley
* SYN. Russell, i. pi. vii. ; Katnka Rfkula Poda, ii. pi. xxxii. ; Coluber
Riissellii, Shaw ; Vipera elegans, Daudin.
VOL. II. Q
226 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
of Pinang. Another individual was subsequently caused to wound
a fowl on the inside of the thigh. The bird immediately drew up
the wounded leg, fell down, and was purged three minutes after
being wounded. In three minutes more slight spasms of the head
and neck appeared at short intervals, but they ceased in five
minutes, when the fowl made at first some unsuccessful attempts
to rise. Twenty-one minutes after having been wounded the bird
rose, shook the wings, and had perfectly recovered. The same
serpent subsequently was made to wound another fowl on the
inside of the left thigh. The bird drew up the wounded leg and
was slightly purged, but showed no other inconvenience from the
wound.
The following experiment is communicated by Dr. Montgomerie.
An adult Trigonoccphalus sumatranus, var., was made to bite a
fowl in the fleshy part of the thigh. The bird limped about for
a short time, and a minute after it was wounded commenced
purging. At the end of two minutes it fell, breathing laboriously,
and was strongly convulsed. At the end of six minutes a few
drops of water exuded from the eyes ; in fifteen seconds more it
was quite dead : six minutes and a quarter after it had been
wounded. Both fangs had acted ; the wound was livid, and
similar lines were observed in the course of the absorbents. On
another occasion, after some unsuccessful attempts to make
another individual bite a fowl, a terrier accidentally was wounded
in the fleshy part of the fore-arm. The serpent fixed the fangs for
an instant in the flesh ; the dog, pitifully screaming, jumped, and
shook it off. A ligature was immediately applied above the elbow,
and the dog secured in a cage. It continued for some time whining
from pain, probably aggravated by the tight ligature, which was
removed at the close of half an hour, and the dog let free. In a
short time it had regained the free use of the limb and was
apparently well ; but on the third day following a perfectly circular
slough, including the bitten spot, of about of an inch in diameter,
was thrown off ; the sore readily healed up, and the dog suffered
no further inconvenience.
PELAGIC.
FAM. HYDRIDE, BONAPARTE.
Gen. LATICAUDA, Laurenti.
Tail compressed, with two surfaces, gradually increasing in
height, and with three furrows (sutures) on each side.
LATICAUDA SCUTATA, Laurenti.
SYN. Coluber laticaudatus, Linne, Mus. A. fig. 1754.
Laticauda imbricata Laurenti? 1768.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 227
Le serpent large-queue, Daubenton, 1784.
Coluber laticaudatus, apud Thunberg, 1787.
Coluber laticaudatus, apud Gmelin and E. W. Gray, 1789.
La queue plate, Lacepede, 1801.
Hydrus colubrinus, Schneider, 1801.
Platurus fasciatus, Latreille, 1802.
Hydrus colubrinus, apud Shaw, 1802.
Platurus fasciatus, Daudin, 1803.
Aipysurus laevis, Lacepede, 1804 (var. ?).
Platurus semifasciatus, Reinwardt, MS.
Platurus fasciatus, apud Wagler, 1830.
Hydrophis colubrina, Temminck and Schlegel, " Fauna
Japonica," tab. x.
Hydrophis colubrina, Schlegel, 1837.
New-born. Ground colour gamboge, greenish above, with
numerous distant broad rings of a blue reflecting black colour
encircling the body ; the first and second black mark of the head
and neck are beneath joined by a short longitudinal line, com-
mencing on the lower labial shields ; another shorter black line
'borders above the gamboge upper labials ; the scales between the
rings, the scuta and scutella, with blackish margins.
Older. Of paler colours, lead-grey on the back ; the rings im-
pure, light blue on the sides and abdomen. The scales and
scuta without blackish margins. Iris black, pupil circular ; tongue
grey.
Scuta, 227 to 246; scutella, 32 to 41.
HAB. Sea of the Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
Bay of Bengal (Ramree, Pondicherry, Nicobars), Sea of
Timor, Molucca and Liewkiew Islands, Celebes, New
Guinea, Tongataboo, China Sea.
This species is readily identified by the abdominal scuta and
the scutellated very broad tail. The anterior frontals are separated
by a small elongated pentagonal or rhombic shield, bordered be-
hind by the vertical, which is proportionally the largest shield,
either equalling or exceeding each of the occipitals. The eyes are
comparatively large and prominent, surrounded by two post-
orbitals, one preorbital, and beneath by the third and fourth of
the seven large upper labials. The lower jaw is covered in front
by the rostral and the two first labials ; the succeeding seven are
elongated linear, arid placed horizontally so as to be hid by the
upper labials, when the mouth is closed. The chin is covered by
two pairs of pentagonal shields, between which and the labials
appear two or three series of elongated scales. The neck is
covered by twenty-five, the anterior part of the trunk by twenty-
three, increasing to twenty-five, and again decreasing to nineteen
longitudinal series of large smooth scales. The nosirils are
Q 2
228 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
small, opening laterally. The tail, though much compressed, pre-
sents a broad flat surface beneath, till near the apex, where it be-
comes two-edged. The largest individual examined was of the
following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o feet i inch.
trunk .... 3 2 inches.
tail ..... o 5|
3 ii 8|
Circumference of the neck if, greatest do. of the trunk 4 inches.
Gen. HYDRUS, Schneider.
Body slender in front, gradually thickening, covered with scales ;.
tail compressed, two-edged.
HYDRUS STRIATUS, Lace'pede.
SYN.* Leioselasma striata, Lacepede, 1804.
Hydrophis striata, Temminck and Schlegel : " Fauna.
Japon." pi. vii.
Hydrophis striata, Schlegel : Essay, 1837.
Hydrophis striata, Schlegel apud Cantor, " Tr. Zool. Soc.
Lon." vol. ii.
Adult 1 Crown shields light chestnut; lips and throat pale
yellow ; ground colour above, pale greenish-yellow, sides and
abdomen buff with numerous distant black transversal bands, be-
coming indistinct towards the tail and on the sides, where the scales
are partially edged or spotted with black. The interstitial skin of
the back and sides black, of the abdomen buff. Iris dark grey y
with a buff orbital margin ; pupil black, minute ; tongue buff.
Central abdominal series of larger scales, 347 + 41.
HAB. Sea of Pinang and Malayan Peninsula*
Sea of Liewkiew Islands, Timor, Sumatra, Bay of Bengal.
* DOUBTFUL SYNONYMY. Russell, ii. pi. ix, Chittul, 1801, agrees with
this species in the following characters : the eyes high, small, orbicular ; the
trunk round till near the anus, where it becomes compressed ; the scales
smooth, imbricate, orbicular on the sides ; the central abdominal series much
larger than in any of the other species (Russell). The difference of colours is
unimportant, as it is liable to variations, not only individually, but according;
to age. Besides, all the species acquire a light bluish appearance about the
period when the integuments are to be changed. Russell's description was
copied by Daudin, who merely supplied the denomination of Hydrophis cyano-
cinctus (Hy dnts F>nimansii, Boie, 1827), upon which Wagler founded his
genus En/iytlris, 1830. According to M. Schlegel, all these are synonymes of
Hydrus ni>jrocinctus, Daudin. The only means of deciding the synonymy of
this and most of-, the other species appears to be a close examination of such
original specimens, described by Russell and Shaw, which may at present exist
in the collection of the British Museum.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. >*g
The eyes are lateral, sunk, excessively small, of a diameter
equalling the large, almost vertically opening nostrils. The single
preorbital shield is beneath wedged in between the second and
third upper labial. The latter, as well as the fourth and fifth,
border the orbit beneath. Of the two postorbitals the lower is
wedged in between the fifth upper labial and the large shield rest-
ing upon the sixth upper labial. Above the latter and the seventh
the cheeks are covered by three very large shields. The seven
upper labials are large and very high. Of the nine inferior labials
the two anterior are the largest, and placed vertically ; the succeed-
ing seven are smaller, and placed nearly horizontally, so as to
become partially hid when the jaws are closed. The chin is
covered by the first pair of labials and two pairs of elongated
mentals, between which and the inferior labials intervene on each
side the second labial, three very large shields and three smaller.
The neck is covered by thirty-seven, the anterior part of the trunk
by thirty-three, and the thickest by forty longitudinal series of
rhombic scales. In the individuals examined by M. Schlegel, all
of less length than my own, the series varied from thirty-one,
twenty-nine, to twenty-seven. The scales are rhombic with rounded
apex, each scale with a small central tubercle, or an elevated
(keeled) line, which, however, with age becomes indistinct or
obliterated. The central larger abdominal scales are hexagonal,
with or without a small tubercle on each side. The anus is covered
by three or four excessively large scales. The larger individual of
two was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o feet i-*- inch.
trunk . . . . 5 6f inches.
tail o 4f
6 o!- inch.
'Circumference of the neck 3, greatest do. of the trunk 4 inches.
HYDRUS NIGROCINCTUS, Daudin.
SYN.* Russell, ii. pi. vi. Kerril Pattee, 1801.
Hydrophis nigrocinctus, Daudin, 1803.
Hydrophis melanurus, Wagler, 1828.
Polyodontes annulatus, Lesson, 1833.
Hydrophis nigrocincta, Schlegel, 1837.
Hydrophis nigrocincta, Schlegel apud Cantor, I.e.
New-born. Ground colour buff or bluish-white ; upper lips and
muzzle black, and a transversal band across the hind-head, from
whence proceeds a triangular or cross mark towards the vertex ;
* DOUBTFUL SYN. Russell, ii. pi. xiii. Kaddell Nagam, 1801 (Enhydns
lisy Merrem, 1820) ; Hydrus spiralis^ Shaw, 1802.
2 3 o CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
gular and inferior labial shields edged and spotted with black ;
trunk and tail with numerous black transversal bands, either
encircling the body or interrupted on the abdominal ridge, where
appear a few indistinct black spots ; apex of the tail black. Entire
length, 8| inches.
Older. Greyish-green olive above, yellowish on the sides, buff
beneath ; the bands less intense black, often placed obliquely so
as to join each other on the back. Iris grey ; pupil circular, black ;
tongue buff. Central abdominal series of larger scales, 281 + 41 ;
284 + 43; 289 + 39.
HAB. Sea of Malay an Peninsula , Pinang, Singapore.
Estuaries of the Ganges, Bay of Bengal.
This species greatly resembles H. striatus, from which it differs
in the more compressed general form ; the eye, though small, is of
a larger diameter than the nostril, and it is surrounded by a single
postorbital shield, which beneath is wedged in between the fourth
and fifth upper labial, and the preorbital between the second and
third. The orbit is bordered beneath almost entirely by the
fourth upper labial. The sixth upper labial is the largest, in some
individuals covering the cheek and bordering above the occipital.
Of the seven or eight inferior labials, the four anterior are very
large ; above the third there is one or two small triangular shields ;
the other three or four posterior labials are very small, elongated.
There is no horizontal series of labials as in H. striatus, and the
two elongated pairs of mentals immediately border the labials.
The neck is covered by thirty-three, the thickest part of the trunk
by fifty-three longitudinal series of scales. Those examined by
M. Schlegel, the length of which exceeds those come under my
own observation, had twenty-seven, twenty-nine, to thirty-one series
of scales. Those of the anterior part of the back are rhomboidal,
those of the posterior part rhombic with rounded apex, and slightly
imbricate ; those of the sides hexagonal , all have either a sharply
raised keel or a central tubercle, both of which frequently become
obliterated. The central series of abdominal scales are a little
larger than the rest, frequently divided in two hexagonal, and
with a small tubercle on each side, which often becomes indistinct
or obliterated. The anus is covered by three or four very large, or
by a series of small scales. The largest of six individuals was of
the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o feet o inch.
trunk . . . . 2 of
,, tail . . . . o ,, 2 inches.
2 , 3
Circumference of the neck , greatest do. of the trunk 2 inches.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 231
Var.?
Crown shields olive green with a blackish band from the eyes
over the anterior part of the upper lip ; the posterior part and the
lower lip pale yellow ; ground colour of the trunk greenish lead-
grey above, pale yellow on the sides, beneath buff, with numerous
black transversal bands. Iris amber-coloured, with the orbital
margin dark grey. Central abdominal series of scales, 235 + 38.
. It differs from the preceding in the following particulars : The
head is proportionally shorter, broader, triangular, the muzzle
more pointed, and the upper surface from the vertical shield very
declivous. The eyes are much larger than the nostrils, with a
single pre- and post-orbital, but bordered beneath by the third and
fourth upper labial. The latter, six in number, present nothing
abnormal. The lower labials are also six, proportionally larger
than in the preceding. The mouth is smaller. The make of the
trunk is more robust ; the neck is covered by fifteen, the thickest
part of the body by twenty-one longitudinal series of proportionally
much broader hexagonal scales, tuberculated on the anterior part
of the trunk, on the rest keeled, forming series of sharp, continued
ridges. The central abdominal series is at first somewhat larger
than the rest, angular, with a small more or less distinct tubercle on
each side. A single individual, captured in a fishing stake off
Pinang, was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o foot o inch.
,, trunk . . . . i 6f inches.
tail . . . . o 2i
Circumference of the neck if, greatest do. of the trunk 2\ inches.
HYDRUS GRACILIS, Shaw.
SYN.* Russell, i. pi. xliv. Tatta Pam, 1796 (very young).
Hydrus fasciatus, apud Shaw (Russell, i. xliv., excluding
the other syn.), 1802.
Angvis mamillaris, Daudin, 1803.
Hydrus, apud Wagler, 1830.
Russell, ii. pi. vii. Shootur Sun, 1801.
Hydrus chloris, Daudin, 1803.
Hydrophis, apud Wagler, 1830.
Russell, ii. pi. viii. Kalla Shootur Sun, 1801.
Hydrophis obscurus, Daudin, 1803.
Hydrophis, apud Wagler, 1830.
* DOUBTFUL SYN. Angvis laticauda, Linne, Mus. A. F. 1754 ; Vosmaer,
Monogr., fig. 2, 1774; Hydrus fasciatus, Schneider, 1 80 1.
232 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Hydrusfasciatus, apudGuerin: "Iconog. Rept."pl. xxv. i,
1829.
Pelamis chloris, Merrem apud Horsfield : "Life of
Raffles," 1830.
Microcephalus gracilis, Lesson, 1833.
Hydrophis gracilis, Schlegel (syn. Angvis xiphura, Her-
mann, Typhlops, Merr. Tent. p. 158), 1837.
Hydrophis gracilis, Schlegel apud Cantor, I.e., pi. Ivi.
(young).
New-born Head shining, intense black ; ground colour of the
trunk and tail bright gamboge, on the back and sides interrupted
by numerous black rings, which above are widened into lozenge
shape, narrowed on the sides. Throat and anterior half of abdo-
men intense black, continued as a more or less distinct line to the
black apex of the tail. On the sides the yellow ground colour
appears in the shape of oval spots, gradually increasing in depth
towards the tail. Entire length, i foot 3 inches.
Adult ? Head and back uniformly dark olive or brown,
becoming greyish on the posterior half, and very indistinct or
obliterated on the sides. In some a pale yellow spot on each
side of the hind-head, and a third on the frontal shields. The
lateral oval spots pale sulphur-coloured on the anterior half, pale
greenish-yellow on the posterior. The black of the lower surface
very pale but distinct. Iris black ; tongue buff.
Central abdominal series of larger scales, 454 + 60.
HAB. Sea of Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
Bay of Bengal, Malabar, Sumatra, Borneo.
In form and number the shields of the head resemble those of
Hydrus nigrodnctus, so as to afford no distinguishing character.
Yet it may be readily distinguished from that and other species by
the excessive slenderness of the anterior, cylindrical part of the
trunk, which from thence becomes much compressed, gradually
increasing in bulk and vertical diameter till towards the tail, where
the diameter again decreases. The scales of the cylindrical
anterior part of the trunk are rhomboidal with rounded points and
slightly imbricate ; the rest are hexagonal. The central abdominal
series continued beneath the tail consists of hexagonal scales, a
little larger than the rest, and frequently longitudinally divided.
In the very young all the scales are smooth ; with age the central
abdominal ones acquire a small tubercle on each side, and those
of the compressed sides and of the back each a central tubercle.
In the largest individuals the central abdominal scales have three
longitudinally placed minute tubercles on each side, and the rest
of the hexagonal scales three or four similar central tubercles. In
the new-born the neck is covered by thirty-two, the bulkiest part
THE MALA VAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 233
of the body by forty-nine longitudinal series ; these parts are
covered by twenty-six and forty-four series in the largest individual,
which is of the following dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o feet o inch.
trunk . 3 3$ inches.
tail o 4
Circumference of the neck if, of greatest do. of the trunk 3}
inches.
HYDRUS SCHISTOSUS, Daudin.
SYN.* Russell, ii. pi. x. Hooglf Pattee, 1801.
Russell ii. pi. xi. Valakadyen, 1801.
Hydrophis schistosus, Daudin, 1803.
Hydrus Valakadyen, H. Boie, 1827.
Disteira Russelli, Fitzinger, 1827.
Hydrophis, apud Wagler, 1830.
Leioselasma schistosa, Fitzinger, 1827.
Hydrus, apud Wagler, 1830.
Hydrophis schistosa, Schlegel, 1837.
Hydrophis schistosa, Schlegel, apud Cantor, I.e.
New-born. Head above, blackish or dark brown ; back and
sides with numerous transversal blackish bands, broad above,
narrow on the sides ; lips, throat, sides, and abdomen buff ; tail
blackish, with a few transversal buff bands above. Entire length,
i of inches.
Adult ? Head above and back either uniformly pale greenish-
grey, or with darker transversal bands, becoming more or less
indistinct on the sides; lips, throat, sides brownish-white or buff;
tail uniformly blackish, or greyish olive-green. Iris pale amber
or greenish-yellow, with a grey orbital margin ; pupil black ;
tongue buff.
Central abdominal series : 239 + 47; 242 + 42; 312 + 58.
HAB. Sea of Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
Bay of Bengal, Malabar, Sumatra.
The head is elongated conical, the muzzle sloping, and the
rostral shield beneath terminating in a vertically projecting point,
which fits into a corresponding cavity in the lower jaw. The
anterior elongated triangular frontal shields are next to the
occipitals the largest ; the large oval nostrils send a slit towards
the external margin of the shield. The eyes are lateral, moderate ,
* DOUJTTFUL SYN. Hydrus major, Shaw, 1802 ; Disteira doliata t
Lacepede, 1804.
234 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
surrounded by a preorbital, a postorbital, frequently cut in two
smaller, and beneath by the fourth upper labial shield. Behind the
latter the lip is covered by three or four horizontally placed small
shields, above which appear three large vertically placed shields,
of which the last borders the sides of the occipital pair. The
lower rostral is remarkably elongated, linear, and hid in a furrow
between the first pair of inferior labials. Of the latter the anterior
five on each side are much elongated, followed by five or six
smaller. The chin is covered with numerous minute scales, and,
like the rest of the body, with very lax skin. In the young ones
the neck is covered by forty-seven, the bulkiest part of the body
by fifty-seven longitudinal series of smooth, somewhat tubercular
scales. Older individuals have these parts covered by forty-eight
and sixty series of hexagonal scales, either with a short keel
dividing the anterior half, or a central tubercle. The central
slightly raised abdominal series commences very far back, from
one to three inches behind the chin. The anterior scales are
wedge-shaped hexagonal, the posterior are broader but slightly
larger than the rest, with a small elongated tubercle on each side.
The largest individual of a great number was of the following
dimensions :
Length of the head . . . . o feet i inch.
trunk . . . . 3 i
tail o 4.4 inches.
3 7
Circumference of the neck 2f, greatest do. of the trunk 5 inches.
HYDRUS PELAMIDOIDES, Schlegel.
SYN.* Pelamis carinata, Cuvier, MS.
Hydrophis (Disteira doliata, Lacep.), Wagler, 1830.
Lapemis Hardwickii, Gray : " 111. Ind. Zool.," 1832.
Hydrophis pelamidoides, Schlegel, 1837.
Hydrophis pelamidoides, Temminck and Schlegel: "Fauna
Japon.," tab. ix.
Hydrophis pelamidoides, Schlegel apud Cantor, I.e.
Young. Sulphur-coloured, paler on the sides and abdomen ;
the head largely spotted with blackish, through which the ground
colour appears in the form of a rectangle, the two sides of which
pass from the hind-head to the orbit, the anterior across the
frontals, the posterior over the hind-head ; two yellow spots
between the nostrils ; lips yellow, cheeks and throat blackish ; on
the back a number of transversal blackish bands to the middle of
* DOUBTFUL SYN. Russell, ii. pi. xii. Shiddil, 1801 ; Hydrus curtus,
Shaw, 1802.
THE MALA YAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 235
the sides, broader than the intervening yellow lines ; tail black.
Entire length, io|- inches.
Adult? Head uniformly reddish-brown above ; ground colour
greenish-yellow, lighter on the sides and beneath, with broad
lozenge-shaped transversal bands of a blackish olive, continued on
the anterior half of the tail ; posterior half blackish. Iris dark
olive ; pupil black ; tongue buff.
HAB. Sea of Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
Bay of Bengal, Sea of Celebes, Molucca Islands, China
Sea.
The head is much depressed, not broader than the neck ; the
muzzle broad, rounded ; the rostral shield is large, rectangular
pentagonal, broader that high, the lower margin with a central
point and a notch on each side. The eyes are moderate, lateral,
not prominent, surrounded by a preorbital, a postorbital, and
beneath by the third and fourth upper labials. The frenal shield,
observed by M. Schlegel, was not present in four individuals
examined in the Straits of Malacca ; its existence therefore appears
not to be constant ; in all Hydri the shields of the head are liable
to considerable individual variations of form. Of the eight upper
labials the posterior three are very small, which is also the case
with the posterior five of the nine inferior labials. The two pairs
of elongated mentals are outside bordered by the three first
inferior labials ; inside, by several small scales. In the young the
neck is covered by thirty-seven, the thickest part of the trunk by
forty longitudinal series of hexagonal, smooth, comparatively small
scales. In the older individual these parts are covered by thirty-two
and thirty-seven large hexagonal scales, each with a central
tubercle. The lower series of the sides are slightly larger than
the rest, and vertically elongated, so as to require a rectangular
appearance. The central abdominal series is much smaller than
the rest. Each scale is either rhombic, and, as represented in the
excellent plates of " Fauna Japonica," hemmed in between four"*"
of the two lowest lateral series, or they are absent, and their place
is occupied by a pair of the former, which are soldered together.
In the young individuals the central series frequently consists of
alternate broad triangular and very minute rectangular scales,
both kinds smaller than the rest. The largest individual of four
was of the following dimensions :
Length of the head ..... o foot i inch.
trunk ..... i 8 inches.
',', tail
* A somewhat similar disposition is observed in the central dorsal series of
the however differently shaped scales of Xenodermus javanicus, Reinhardt.
236 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Circumference of the neck 2^, greatest circumference of the trunk
4 inches.
HYDRUS BICOLOR, Schneider.
SYN. Seba, ii. tab. Ixxvii. fig. i.
Angvis platura,* Linne, 1766.
Vosmaer : " Monogr." fig. i, 1774.
Angvis platuros. apud Gmelin, 1788.
Russell,' i. pi. xli. Nalla Wahlagillee Pam. 1799.
Lace'pede, v. tab. xv. fig. 2, 1801.
Hydrus bicolor, Schneider, 1801.
Hydrophis platurus, Latreille, 1802.
Hydrus bicolor, apud Shaw, 1803.
Pelamis bicolor, Daudin, 1802.
Pelamys (Angvis platura, Lin.), Wagler, 1830.
Pelamis bicolor, apud Horsfield : ** Life of Raffles," 1830.
Pelamis bicolor, apud Oken, 1836.
Hydrophis pelamis, Schlegel, 1837.
Hydrophis pelamis, Temminck and Schlegel : " Fauna
Japonica," p. 60.
Head and back black (inky), forming a straight line on the
sides till towards the posterior part, where it becomes largely
undulating, so as to appear as broad bands ; lips, throat, and
sides sulphur-coloured, turning into yellowish-white or buff on the
abdomen t and tail ; posterior parts of the sides with some more
or less distinct rounded black spots ; tail largely banded or
spotted with black. Iris pale yellow with a broad black orbital
margin ; pupil black ; tongue buff.
HAB. Sea of Malayan Peninsula.
Bay of Bengal, Malabar, Sea of Sumatra, Java, Celebes,
Molucca Islands, China Sea (to 27 N. lat.), Otaheite,
Bay of Port Jackson (33 55' S. lat., 151 25' E. long.).
The head is very elongated, depressed ; viewed from above, it
presents a striking resemblance to Herpetodryas oxycephalus,
Reinwardt. The eye is larger than in any other species of
Hydrus, surrounded by two, three, or even four postorbitals, one
large preorbital, and beneath, by the fourth upper labial shield.
A frenal shield has been observed in some individuals, but it was
absent in that examined in the Straits of Malacca, nor does it
exist in the specimens in the Museum of the Asiatic Society.
* In consequence of the specific name of Linnc having been applied by
Latreille to a genus (Platurus), that of Schneider, the next different in succes-
sion, has been substituted.
t In the individual figured by Russell the bright yellow colour formed a
narrow lateral line, below which the sides and abdomen were of a dusky
greenish-yellow.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 237
The neck is covered by forty-four, the thickest part of the trunk
by fifty-two longitudinal series of small scales. Those of the
upper parts are smooth, hexagonal ; those of the sides approach
the orbicular form, and have in the centre one, two, or three
longitudinally placed minute tubercles. Similar tubercles are
observed on each side of the scales, forming the central abdominal
series, which is composed either of entire hexagonal scales, a little
larger than the rest, or they are longitudinally divided into pairs
of smaller pentagonal scales, which have the appearance of being
divided by an abdominal suture. A single individual, taken in a
fishing stake oft' the coast of Province Wellesley, was of the
following dimensions :
Length of the head o feet i -*- inch.
trunk 2 if
tail o 3^- inches.
2
>l / s
Circumference of the neck 2^, greatest circumference of the
trunk 3 1 inches.
The preceding, comprising all the hitherto known species of
Pelagic serpents, were observed chiefly at Pinang among the
abundant supply of fishes daily carried to the markets. Of their
general habits some account appears in the " Transactions of the
Zoological Society, London," vol. ii. p. 303. One of them, Hydrus
schistosus, is incredibly numerous in the Bay of Bengal, at Pinang
and Singapore, far more so than any known terrestrial serpent.
The fishing-nets are hardly ever worked but one or more are
among the contents. The other six species are of rare occurrence
at Pinang and Singapore, as will be perceived from the dispro-
portionally small number of each examined during four years
viz., of Laticauda scutata, 3; Hydrus striatus, 2; nigrocinctus, 6 ;
gracilis, 7 ; pelamidoides, 4 ; pelamis, i. Of these, Laticauda scutata
is excessively numerous in Timor, Hydrus pdamis in New Guinea,
the Molucca Islands, and Otaheite, where the natives use it
as an article of food. The remaining species, as far as is known,
have been observed nowhere in such overwhelming numbers.
Large individuals of every species are very seldom seen ; it is the
young individuals which frequent the coasts, and it appears to be
questionable if even the largest observed are animals arrived at
their full size. The large individuals are very ferocious, the young
ones are less so. Fortunately for the fishermen, the light blinds
these serpents, which when out of their proper element become
very sluggish and soon expire. This accounts for the safety of
the class of men whose daily calling brings them in immediate
contact with animals the wound of which is fatal. The fisher-
238 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
men in the Straits of Malacca are aware of their danger, and
therefore take care to avoid or destroy these reptiles while land-
ing the fishes. The Malays denominate them Ular laut i.e.,
serpents of the sea, among which, however, the innocuous Acro-
chordus granulatus, Schneider, is also comprised as an inhabitant
of the coasts.
BATRACHIA.
FAM. C^CILID^E, BONAPARTE.
Gen. ICHTHYOPHIS, Fitzinger^ 1826 (EPICRIUM, Wagler, 1828).
Head depressed, elongated ; muzzle obtuse ; maxillary and
palatine teeth slender, pointed, and couched backwards ; tongue
entire, with velvety surface ; eyes distinct, below and a little in
front of which a fosset with a minutely tentaculated border ; body
subfusiform with numerous close circular folds.
ICHTHYOPHIS GLUTINOSUS, Linne, var. ?
Of a uniform sooty brown, paler on the lower surface. Circular
folds two hundred and fifty-four, of which eight are caudal.
HAB. Singapore.
The transversal diameter, taken at the occiput, is nearly equal
to that of the root of the tail, and but little less than the uniform
diameter of the trunk, which is between the twenty-fourth and
twenty-fifth part of the entire length. Compared with a speci-
men of Ichthyophis glutinosus, Linne, the present is of a more
robust make, the head is shorter, the muzzle blunter, and the
transversal distance between the nostrils greater. The apex of
the tongue and the arches formed by the teeth are broader, more
rounded. The palatal and upper maxillary teeth are blunter and
appear less recurved. Those of the lower jaw, the largest, present
an appearance as if each was composed of two distinct parts : a
lower, which is vertical, broadly triangular, the posterior margin of
which supports the upper part, which is curved backwards and
with rounded apex. The circular folds of the skin are fewer,
more distant, and, with the exception of the three or four anterior
ones, complete. They are disposed in a manner similar to that
of Ichthyophis glutinosus. The crowded imbricate scales appear
to be of a somewhat rectangular form, less rounded than in
/. glutinosus ; in both their surface presents a minute network. The
fosset of the upper lip is situated in the centre of a small tubercle.
The circumference of the fosset is provided with a very short,
minute, membranous tube, which, however, after the animal for
some years has been preserved in spirits of wine, can scarcely any
longer be distinguished.
THE MALA YAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 239
Length of the head og inch.
,, trunk 10 J inches.
tail oj inch.
10 J inches.
Circumference of the neck i, of the trunk if, of the root of the
tail inch.
A single individual was observed by Dr. Montgomerie at Singa-
pore in 1843, in whose garden it was turned up with the earth,
from about two feet below the surface, and from whom I received
the specimen shortly after it had been killed. Although, as stated,
it differs in colours and in other characters from the description
given by MM. Dumeril and Bibron of Ichthyophis glutinosus
(Epicrium glutinosum, Wagler apud D. and B.), as well as from a
specimen lof- inches in length from Assam, the data appear to
me insufficient with certainty to determine whether the present is
a distinct species or a variety of Ichthyophis glutinosus^ Linne*.
FAM. RANID^E, BONAPARTE.
Gen. RANA, Linne.
Skin smooth, hinder extremities very long, formed for leaping ;
toes palmated ; teeth in the upper jaw and in the palate.
RANA LESCHENAULTI, Dum. and Bibr.
A line of minute conical tubercles along the sides of the body and
across the throat. Above, uniformly chocolate-coloured ; beneath
and on the inner side of the extremities white, more or less ver-
miculated with pale brown. Iris narrow golden, rhomboidal, the
two lower sides not joining each other, but leaving a small open
space between them. Web of the toes orange with purple spots.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Pondicherry, Bengal.
The marbled appearance of the upper parts, described by MM.
Dumeril and Bibron, does not exist during life, but is acquired
when the frog is immersed in alcohol. The species is apparently
not numerous. Of two the larger was of the following dimen-
sions :
Length of the head o J inch.
trunk. ...... i
anterior extremity . . i
posterior 3 inches.
Rana bengahnsis. Gray, " Illustr. Ind. Zool.," is perhaps intended
to represent this species.
2 4 o CA TA 1. ) F REPTILES IXHABITIXG
RAN \ Tir.Kix.v, Paudin.
SYX. Rana tigrina, Paudin : " 1 list. Nat. Gren." Src., p. 64, pi. xx.
Rana mugions, Daudin, I.e. pi. xxiii.
Rana mugiens. Latreille : "Hist. Kept. F." ii. p. 153,
La grenouille taureau, Cuvicr, R. A., 1. lid.
Rana tigrina, Merrem.
Rana limnocharis, Boie, MS.
Rana cancrivora. Boie. MS.
:-a cuncri\ v nhorst.
Rana picta, Gravenhorst.
Rana brama, Lesson.
Rana rugulosa, Wicgmann.
Rana vittigcra, Wiegmann.
Rana cancrivora, Tschudi.
Rana tigrina, apud Dumeril and Bibron.
" Kodok, Katak, Laiicha " of the Malays.
Body and limbs above, golden greyish-olive or brown ; in some
with large rounded black spots, and with a yellow line from the
muzzle down the back, and a similar broad band from the si
the muzzle to the loins. Beneath and on the inner side of the
limbs, white or yellow, with or without black spots. Iris bur-
nished golden, the lower half sometimes black j pupil elliptical,
rhombic.
HAH. Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
Coromandel, Bengal, Assam, Tenasserim, Java, Sumatra,
Timor, Philippines, Canton Province.
The species is excessively numerous in valleys and hills after
falls of rain, but adult individuals are of comparative'
occurrence. At night the deep short baying sound denotes its
presence. The largest individual measured
Length of the head ....... i* inch.
,, trunk ....... 3^ inches.
anterior extremities . . 2^
posterior ..... 7J
Gen. M;v \i OPRRYS, AW//.
Head very large, broader than the trunk, depressed ; rostral
angle and upper eyelid elongated to a point. Tympanic mem-
brane hidden. Nostrils lateral, below the rostral angle. Mouth
enormous ; tongue circular, slightly notched behind. Posterior
extremity with a short interdigital membrane.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 241
MEGALOPHRYS MONTANA, Wagler, var.
Above, pale greyish-brown, with a small black triangular tubercle
on each shoulder, and a similar in the centre of the sacrum. From
the sides of the muzzle a black band edged with white, continued
round the orbit and then downwards, obliquely over the dark
brown cheeks. Outside of the limbs indistinctly marked with
black. On the elbows, knees and heels a large round black spot.
Posterior margin of the limbs rose-coloured. Fingers and toes
yellowish-white with transverse black bands. Palms and soles
black. Throat and chest sooty with a large white blotch on each
side of the latter. Abdomen and inner side of the limbs sooty,
vermiculated and spotted with white. Iris rich golden brown,
with minute black network. Pupil vertically rhomboidal.
HAB. Pinang.
Wagler's short description of M. montana is drawn up from a
preserved specimen, which apparently is also the case with that
communicated in " Erptologie Ge'ne'rale." From the latter the
present animal differs both in colours and in the following par-
ticulars. The muzzle forms a pointed lobe resembling the upper
eyelids, but smaller. The nostrils are transversely oval, protected
by a membranous valve fixed to their lower margin. The upper
eyelids are perfectly smooth. The nearly vertical cheeks are above
bordered by an angular ridge terminating near the shoulder ;
behind by a short curved ridge, which at the angle of the mouth
forms a small pointed lobe. The back is smooth without trans-
versal folds, but bordered on each side by a sharp whitish ridge
commencing at the upper eyelid, converging towards the cloacal
orifice. On the shoulder, near the triangular tubercle, the ridge is
enclosed between two short black lines.
Two males were at different times captured on the Pentland
Hills, at an elevation of about 1,800 feet. One was found in a
dark room, where it was observed remaining motionless during
several successive days. Its forms and colours caused it at first
to be mistaken for a withered leaf. The second was taken on a
tree. The iris is vertically contracted by exposure to the light.
The male has no vocal sacs. The larger was of the following
dimensions :
Length of the head oj inch.
., trunk. ...... i|
,, anterior extremities . . 2 inches.
posterior 3f
VOL. II.
242 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
FAM. HYLID^E.
Gen. LIMNODYTES,* Dum'cril and Bibron.
Tongue long, narrowed in front, widened, forked, free behind ;
teeth on the vomer forming two groups, between the internal
openings of the nostrils ; tympanum distinct ; Eustachian tubes
middling ; four fingers free ; toes completely or partially webbed ;
subdigital disks slightly dilated ; process of the first os cuneiforme
blunt, very minute ; males with vocal sacs ; sacral transversal pro-
cesses not dilated.
LIMNODYTES ERYTHR^US, Schlegel.
SYN. Hyla erythrsea, Schlegel.
Hylarana erythrsea Tschudi.
Limnodytes erythrseus, Dumeril and Bibron.
Back and sides brown or reddish-olive ; a longitudinal silvery-
white band from the eye to the loin ; a second similar from the
nostrils, parallel with the former. Beneath, silvery-white. The
inner side of the extremities spotted and lineated with brown. Iris
golden brown ; pupil vertically rhomboidal.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
Java, Arracan.
Of three individuals observed, the largest was of the following
dimensions :
Length of the head o| inch.
trunk ...... i
,, anterior extremities . . i- ,,
posterior 4g- inches.
Gen. POLYPEDATES, Tschudi apud Dumeril and Bibron.
Terminal joints of the fingers and toes widened into a large disk ;
fingers slightly webbed at their base ; Eustachian tubes large ; in
other particulars resembling Limnodytes.
POLYPEDATES LEUCOMYSTAX, Gravenhorst.
SYN. Hyla maculata, Gray: "Illust. Ind. Zool."
Hyla leucomystax, Gravenhorst.
Polypedates leucomystax, Tschudi apud Dum. and Bibr.
Upper parts changeable; buff, ashy-grey, chocolate-brown,
tinged with rose or lilac, minutely or largely spotted with black.
* This denomination has with propriety been substituted for the inadmissible
Jfyla-Rana, Tschudi.
THE MALA VAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 243
Upper lips white. A blackish band occupying the sides of the
head, from the muzzle to tympanum. Beneath, whitish or grey,
uniformly or minutely dotted with black. Posterior surface of
the thighs blackish or vermiculated with white. Iris silvery or
buff ; pupil horizontally rhomboidal.
HAD. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.
Malabar and Coromandel Coast, Bengal.
This species has the power of changing its colours as above
described. Although it inhabits Singapore and the sultry plains
of Bengal, it appears not to occur in the valleys at Pinang, but to
affect the hills at an elevation of more than 2,000 feet, with a mean
annual temperature of about 71.
Length of the head of inch.
trunk i
anterior extremities . . i~
posterior 4| inches.
FAM. BUFONID^E, FITZINGER.
Gen. BUFO, Laurenti.
Body inflated ; skin warty ; parotids porous ; toes united by a
rudimentary membrane ; no teeth.
BUFO MELANOSTICTUS, Schneider.
SYN. Bufo scaber, Daudin.
Bufo bengalensis, Daudin.
Bufo scaber, Latreille.
Bufo scaber, Daudin : " Hist. Rep."
Bufo bengalensis, Daudin : " Hist. Rept."
Le Crapaud de Bengale, Lesson.
Bufo dubia, Shaw apud Gray : " Illustr. Ind. Zool."
Bufo carinatus. Gray : " Illustr. Ind. Zool."
Bufo melanostictus, apud Gravenhorst.
Bufo scaber, Tschudi.
" Kakoiig," " Katak piiru," of the Malays of the Peninsula.
Above, earthy brown, grey or buff, in some marbled with black ;
lips, parotids, crests of the head, points of the tubercles, and last
joints of fingers and toes, sooty or black. Beneath, buff, in some
vermiculated with black. Iris golden brown ; pupil transversely
rhombic.
HAD. Malayan Peninsula and Islands.
Java, Tenasserim, Bengal, Coromandel.
R 2
244 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
In the Malayan countries this species swarms in valleys and
hills. It has in a slight degree the power of changing its colours,
and it utters a chirping, plaintive sound. The largest individuals
examined measured
Length of the head i inch.
,, trunk 3 inches.
,, anterior extremities . . 2
,, posterior extremities. . 4f
Gen. HYL^EDACTYLUS, Tschudi.
Tongue an oval disk, thick, free only at the lateral margins.
Palatal teeth. Eustachian tubes very minute. No parotids.
Four free fingers with the terminal joint widened, truncated.
Five toes united at the base by a very small membrane, the
terminal joint not widened ; sole with two soft tubercles between
tarsus and metatarsus. Sacral transversal processes forming tri-
angular palettes.
HYL^EDACTYLUS BIVITTATUS, N.S.
Upper parts and outside of extremities brownish-olive with
distant small black spots. Head from the muzzle to the middle
of the orbit whitish. A broad whitish band edged with black
from the posterior angle of the eye, along each side to the loins.
A shorter, oblique, similar band from the posterior angle of the
eye. Beneath whitish, vermiculated with brown. The throat of
the males black. Iris golden brown ; pupil transversally rhombic.
HAB. Malayan Peninsula.
From H. baleatns, Tschudi, the present species differs both in
colours and in the following particulars : The profile from the nose
to the coccyx forms a considerable arch, the highest part of which
is the centre of the back. The male is provided with a vocal sac,
the large openings of which are situated on each side of the tongue,
and their presence is easily detected by the laxity of the (black)
skin of the throat, which forms a broad transversal fold. Between
the small openings of the Eustachian tubes the palate presents a
considerable transversal fold of the skin, the free margin of which
is fringed, which gives it the appearance of a row of teeth. A
similar fold has been observed by MM. Dumeril and Bibron in the
genera Plectropus, Dum. and Bibr., and in Upcrodon, Dum. and
Bibr. In front of this fold is another smaller, between the orbital
protuberances. Behind each of the large internal openings of the
nostrils is an arched bony ridge, which in H. balcatus supports a
few teeth. In the only individual of the present species examined
the free margin of the ridge is cutting, but without teeth. Over
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 245
the symphysis of the lower jaw there is a small pointed process,
fitting into a corresponding cavity in the margin of the upper jaw.
In this species, no less than in Uperodon marmoratum, Dum. and
Bibr., nearly the whole of the thigh is hidden by the skin of the
body, so that the posterior extremities are free but from a little
above the knees. This character does not appear to exist in
Hyladactylus baleatus, as it is not mentioned in the description of
that species by MM. Dumifril and Bibron. On the anterior part
of the back appear some indistinct rounded elevations ; the rest
of the upper parts is smooth. The skin of the throat and abdo-
men presents numerous transversal wrinkles, and is covered with
minute tubercles. The toes are more slender than the fingers,
and their last joint, although flattened, is not so broad as that of
the fingers, which is of a somewhat triangular form, truncated in
front. In H. baleatus the fingers are longer than the toes. In the
present species, however, the longest finger, the third, is nearly
one-fourth shorter than the fourth toe.
The only individual which I had an opportunity of examining,
after its death, was a male taken in a field near Malacca. It was
of the following dimensions :
Length of the head of inch.
trunk 2 inches.
In a straight line from the muzzle to
coccyx, following the arch of the back 3 i
Length of the anterior extremities . . i^ inch.
posterior extremites, fol-
lowing the posterior margin . . . 2 1 inches.
I have to acknowledge my sense of obligation to the Hon.
Sir William Norris, late Recorder of H.M. Court of Judicature
in the Straits of Malacca ; to W. T. Lewis, Esq., Asst. Res. Coun-
cillor, Prince of Wales Island ; to W. Montgomerie, Esq., M.D.,
late Senior Surgeon, Straits of Malacca ; and to Capt. Congalton,
H.C., steamer Hooghly, for their assistance, to me so much more
acceptable as the limited leisure left me by the superintendence
of six hospitals in Prince of Wales Island, and a seventh in Pro-
vince Wellesley, was latterly curtailed by additional extra profes-
sional duties imposed upon me by the present local head authority
in the Straits.
FORT WILLIAM, June ist, 1847.
246 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
LATITUDINAL DISTRIBUTION OF REPTILES
Inhabiting the Malayan Peninsida and Islands and other localities.
[S#. prefixed to localities signifies that they are inhabited by species of
which varieties occur in Malayan countries.]
CHELONIA.
1. Geoemyda spinosa, Gray. Pinang, Sumatra.
2. Emys crassicollis, Bell, MS. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula,
Sumatra, Java.
3. Emys platynota, Gray. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula, Sumatra.
4. Emys trivittata, Dum. and Bibr. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula,
Bengal, Assam.
5. Cistudo amboinensis (Daud.). Singapore, Malayan Penin-
sula, Java, Amboina, Philippines, Tenasserim Provinces.
6. Tetraonyx affinis, Cantor. Pinang.
7. Gymnopus gangeticus (Cuvier). Pinang, Malayan Peninsula,
rivers and Bay of Bengal.
8. Gymnopus cartilagineus (Boddaert). Pinang, Malayan Penin-
sula, Java, Dukhun, " India," " China."
9. Gymnopus indicus (Gray). Pinang, Malayan Peninsula,
rivers of India, Philippines.
10. Chelonia virgata, Schweigger. Malayan seas, Tenerirfe, Rio
Janeiro, Cape of Good Hope, New York, Indian Ocean,
Red Sea.
11. Chelonia imbricata (Linne). Malayan seas, Atlantic and
Indian Ocean.
12. Chelonia olivacea, Eschscholtz. Malayan seas, Bay of Bengal,
China Sea.
SAURIA.
1. Crocodilus vulgaris, Cuvier. Var. B. Dum. and Bibr. Ma-
layan Peninsula and Islands, Java, Sumatra, Tenasserim,
Bengal, Coromandel, Malabar.
2. Crocodilus porosus, Schneider. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan
Peninsula, Seychelle Islands, Timor, Java, Sumatra, Tenas-
serim, Bengal.
3. Platydactylus lugubris, Dum. and Bibr. Pinang, Otaheite.
4. Platydactylus gecko (Linne). Malayan Peninsula, Philippines,
Java, Tenasserim, Burmah, Bengal, Coromandel.
5. Platydactylus stentor, Cantor. Pinang.
6. Platydactylus monarchus, Schlegel. Pinang, Singapore, Ma-
layan Peninsula, Philippines, Amboina, Borneo.
THE MALA VAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 247
7. Ptychozoon homalocephalum (Creveld). . Pinang, Singapore,
Ramree Island (Arracan).
8. Hemidactylus Peronii, Dum. and Bibr. Pinang, Isle of France.
9. Hemidactylus Coctrei, Dum. and Bibr. Pinang, Bengal,
Bombay.
10. Hemidactylus frenatus, Schlegel, MS. Pinang, Singapore,
Malayan Peninsula, Amboina, Timor, Java, Marian Isles,
Ceylon, Bengal, Assam, South Africa, Madagascar.
11. Hemidactylus platyurus (Schneider). Pinang, Philippines,
Borneo, Java, Bengal, Assam.
12. Gymnodactylus pulchellus (Gray). Pinang, Singapore.
13. Varanus nebulosus, Dum. and Bibr. Pinang, Java, Siam,
Bengal.
14. Varanus flavescens (Gray). Pinang, Bengal, Nipal.
15. Varanus salvator (Laurenti). Pinang, Malayan Peninsula,
Philippines, Moluccas, Amboina, Java, Bengal, Assam.
1 6. Bronchocela cris'tatella (Kuhl). Pinang, Singapore, Malayan
Peninsula, Amboina, Island of Burn, Java, Sumatra.
17. Lophyrus armatus (Gray). Pinang, Singapore, Cochin China.
1 8. Dilophyrus grandis, Gray. Pinang, Rangoon.
19. Draco volans (Linne). Pinang. Singapore, Malayan Penin-
sula, Philippines, Borneo, Java.
20. Draco maculatus (Gray). Pinang, Tenasserim.
21. Leiolepis Bellii (Gray). Pinang, Malayan Peninsula, Cochin
China.
22. Eumeces punctatus (Linne), var. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan
Peninsula ; sp. Coromandel, Malabar, Bengal.
23. Euprepis rufescens (Shaw).
VS K Sum.' and g 1
Var. F. Dum. and Bibr. j
Sp. Sandwich Islands, Philippines, Timor, Celebes, Borneo,
Java, Coromandel, Bengal.
24. Euprepis Ernestii, Dum. and Bibr. Pinang, Malayan Penm-
sula, Java.
25. Lygosoma chalcides (Linne). Pinang, Singapore, Java.
OPHIDIA.
INNOCUOUS.
1. Philidion lineatum (Boie). Pinang, Singapore, Java.
2. Typhlops nigro-albus, Dum. and Bibr. Pinang, Singapore,
Sumatra.
3. Typhlops braminus (Daudin). Pinang, Singapore, Malayan
Peninsula, Canton Province, Philippines, Guam (Marian
Isles), Java, Tenasserim, Bengal, Assam, Coromandel,
Ceylon, Malabar.
248 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
4. Cylindrophis rufus (Laurenti). Singapore, Java, Tranquebar,
Bengal?
5. Xenopeltis unicolor, Reinwardt. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan
Peninsula, Celebes, Java, Sumatra.
6. Python reticulatus (Schneider). Malayan Peninsula and
Islands, Chusan ? Amboina, Java, Banka, Sumatra,
Bengal?
7. Acrochordus javanicus, Hornstedt. Pinang, Singapore,
Java.
8. Acrochordus granulatus (Schneider). Rivers and sea of the
Malayan Peninsula and Islands, Bay of Manilla, New
Guinea, Timor, Java, Sumatra, Coromandel.
9. Calamaria lumbricoidea, Schlegel, var. Pinang, Singapore ;
sp. Celebes, Java.
10. Calamaria Linnei, Boie, var. Schlegel. Pinang, Java.
11. Calamaria longiceps, Cantor. Pinang.
12. Calamaria sagittaria, Cantor. Malayan Peninsula, Bengal,.
Assam.
13. Coronella baliodeira, Schlegel. Pinang, Java.
14. Xenodon purpurascens, Schlegel. Pinang, Java, Tenas-
serim.
Var. Chirra Punji, Assam, Darjeeling, Midnapore (Ben-
gal)-.
15. Lycodon aulicus (Linne). Pinang, Bengal, Coromandel.
Var. A. Pinang, Bengal.
Var. B. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula, Java, Tenasserim.
Var. C. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula, Pulo Samao,
Timor.
Var. D. Malayan Peninsula, Bengal.
1 6. Lycodon platurinus (Shaw). Pinang, Java, Bengal ?
17. Lycodon effrsenis, Cantor. Pinang.
1 8. Coluber fasciolatus, Shaw. Malayan Peninsula, Coromandel.
19. Coluber radiatus, Schlegel. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan
Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, Cochin China, Tenasserim,
Assam.
20. Coluber korros, Reinwart. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Pe-
ninsula, Java, Sumatra, Arracan, Tenasserim.
21. Coluber hexagonotus, Cantor. Pinang.
22. Dipsas dendrophila, Reinwardt. Pinang^ Singapore, Malayan
Peninsula, Celebes, Java.
23. Dipsas multimaculata, Schlegel. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula,
Celebes, Java, Tenasserim, Bengal.
24. Dipsas cynodon, Cuvier. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula, Java,
Tenasserim.
25. Dipsas boa, Boie. Pinang, Java.
26. Herpetodryas oxycephalus (Reinwardt). Pinang, Celebes,
Java.
THE MALA YAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 249
27. Dryinus prasinus (Reinvvardt). Malayan Peninsula and
Islands, Celebes, Java, Cochin China, Siam, Burmah,
Tenasserim, Arracan, Bengal, Assam.
Var. A. Same localities. v
Var. B. Pinang.
Var. C. Pinang.
28. Leptophis pictus (Gmelin), Malayan Peninsula and Islands,
Manilla, New Ireland, Waigiou, Amboina, New Guinea,
Pulo, Samao, Java, Sumatra, Cochin China, Tenasserim,
Burmah, Bengal, Assam, Coromandel.
Var. A. Malayan Peninsula, Bengal, Assam, Ceylon.
29. Leptophis caudalineatus, Cantor. Pinang, Singapore.
30. Leptophis ornatus (Shaw). Sp. Bengal, Ceylon.
Var. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, Ten-
asserim, Arracan.
31. Tropidonotus umbratus (Daudin). Sp. Bengal, Assam, Coro-
mandel, Ceylon.
Var. Malayan Peninsula and Islands, Java, Bengal.
32. Tropidonotus stolatus (Linne'). Pinang, Malayan Peninsula,
Philippines, Tenasserim, Bengal, Assam, Nipal, Coroman-
del, Ceylon, Bombay.
33. Tropidonotus schistosus (Daudin). Malayan Peninsula, Phi-
lippines, Tenasserim, Bengal, Madagascar.
Var. Same localities.
34. Tropidonotus cerasogaster (Cantor). Malayan Peninsula,
Bengal, Assam.
35. Tropidonotus junceus, Cantor. Pinang.
36. Homalopsis rhinchops (Schneider). Malayan Peninsula and
Islands, New Guinea, Amboina, Timor, Sarapua, Java,
Sumatra, Tenasserim, Bengal, Coromandel.
37. Homalopsis buccata (Linne). Pinang, Malayan Peninsula,
Java.
38. Homalopsis Sieboldi, Schlegel. Malayan Peninsula, Bengal.
39. Homalopsis enhydris (Schneider). Malayan Peninsula and
Islands, Java, Tenasserim, Bengal, Coromandel.
40. Homalopsis plumbea, Boie. Pinang, Java.
41. Homalopsis leucobalia, Schlegel, var. Pinang, Malayan Pen-
insula; sp. Timor.
42. Homalopsis hydrina, Cantor. Sea off Pinang and the Ma-
layan Peninsula.
VENOMOUS.
43. I. Elaps melanurus (Shaw). Malayan Peninsula, Tenasserim,
Nerva (Coromandel).
44. II. Elaps intestinalis (Laurenti), var. Pinang, Singapore, Ma-
layan Peninsula ; sp. Java, Mahvah (Central India).
45. III. Elaps nigromaculatus, Cantor. Pinang, Singapore.
250 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
46. IV. Elaps bivirgatus, Kuhl, var. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula;
sp. Java, Sumatra.
47. V. Bungarus flaviceps, J. Reinhardt. Pinang, Java.
48. VI. Bungarus candidus (Linne). Malayan Peninsula, Java,
Tenasserim, Bengal, Assam, Coromandel, Ceylon, Mala-
bar.
49. VII. Bungarus fasciatus (Schneider). Pinang, Malayan Pen-
insula, Java, Tenasserim, Bengal, Coromandel.
50. VIII. Hamadryas ophiophagus, Cantor. Pinang, Singapore,
Malayan Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, Bengal, Assam, Coro-
mandel.
51. IX. Naja lutescens, Laurenti. Sp. countries between the
Sutlej and Cape Comorin, Ceylon, Hindoostan to Cape
Romania, Sumatra, Java, Ternate, Borneo, Philippines,
Chusan.
Var. D (Daudin). Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Penin-
sula, Bengal, Coromandel.
Var. nigra. Pinang, Singapore.
52. X. Trigonocephalus gramineus (Shaw). Pinang, Singapore,
Malayan Peninsula, New Holland, Timor, Pulo Samao,
Celebes, Eastern Java, Banka, Sumatra, Tenasserim, Bengal,
Chirra Punji, Nipal, Coromandel, Ceylon.
Var. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula, Sumatra,
Tenasserim.
53. XI. Trigonocephalus sumatranus (Raffles), var. Pinang, Sin-
gapore, Malayan Peninsula ; sp. Sumatra.
54. XII. Trigonocephalus puniceus, Reinwardt. Pinang, Sin-
gapore, Malayan Peninsula, Java.
55. XIII. Laticauda scutata, Laurenti. Sea off the Malayan Pen-
insula and islands, Bay of Bengal, sea off Timor, Celebes,
Molucca, and Liewkiew Islands, New Guinea, Tongataboo,
China Sea.
56. XIV. Hydrus striatus (Lac^pede). Sea of Pinang, Malayan
Peninsula, sea off Liewkiew Islands, Timor, Sumatra, Bay
of Bengal.
57. XV. Hydrus nigrocinctus (Daudin). Sea off Pinang, Singa-
pore, Malayan Peninsula, Bay of Bengal, estuaries of the
Ganges.
Var. ? Sea off Pinang.
58. XVI. Hydrus gracilis, Shaw. Sea off Malayan Peninsula and
islands, Bay of Bengal, Malabar, Sumatra, Borneo.
59. XVII. Hydrus schistosus (Daudin). Sea off Malayan Penin-
sula and islands, Bay of Bengal, Malabar, Sumatra.
60. XVIII. Hydrus pelamidoides (Schlegel). Sea off Malayan
Peninsula and islands, Bay of Bengal, sea off Celebes, Mo-
lucca Islands, China Sea.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 251
61. XIX. Hydrus bicolor (Schneider). Sea off Malayan Penin-
sula, Bay of Bengal, sea off Sumatra, Java, Celebes, Moluc-
cas, China Sea (to 27 N.L.), Otaheite, Bay of Port Jackson
(3355'S.L., 151 25' E.L.).
BATRACHIA.
1. Ichthyophis glutinosus (Linnd), van? Singapore; sp. Java,
Ceylon, Assam.
2. Rana Leschenaulti, Dum. and Bibr. Malayan Peninsula, Ben-
gal, Pondicherry.
3. Rana tigrina, Daudin. Malayan Peninsula and islands, Coro-
mandel, Bengal, Assam, Tenasserim, Java, Sumatra,
Timor, Philippines, Canton Province.
4. Megalophrys montana, Wagler, var. Pinang ; sp. Java.
5. Limnodytes erythrseus (Schlegel). Malayan Peninsula, Java,
Tenasserim, Arracan.
6. Polypedates leucomystax (Gravenhorst). Pinang, Singapore,
Malayan Peninsula, Bengal, Coromandel, Malabar.
7. Bufo melanostictus. Schneider. Malayan Peninsula and
islands, Java, Tenasserim, Bengal, Coromandel.
8. Hylsedactylus bivittatus, Cantor. Malayan Peninsula.
ALTITUDINAL DISTRIBUTION OF REPTILES
INHABITING THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS, AND OTHER
LOCALITIES.
[The extra-Malayan localities have necessarily been confined to
such of which the elevation has been specified by authors ; the
Malayan are given from personal observation.]
PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND (PULO PINANG), 5 25' N.L.
1 00 19' E. Valley. Mean annual temperature, 80 '03 Fahr.
Average monthly range of the thermometer, 11; greatest daily
range, 13. Annual quantity of rain, 65-5 inches (145 days).
Hills. Granite. Highest elevation (Western Hill) 2,500 feet.
Mean annual temperature 71. Average monthly range of the
thermometer 10; greatest daily range 9. Annual quantity of
rain n6'6 inches (174 days). Vegetation, even for a tropical, dis-
tinguished by luxuriance, beauty and variety. Characteristic
features, Filices. (Alsophila contaminans, Wai. ; Schizoea dicho-
toma ; Neuroplatyceros (Acrostichum) biforme, Desvontaine.
Polypodium Horsfieldii, Bennett.)
Pandariaceae. (Freycirietia.)
252 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Taccacece. (Tacca cristata, Jack.)
Palmaceae. (Areca catechu, Willd. ; Arenga saccharifera, Labill. ;
Nipa fruticans ; Euoplus tigillaria, Jack; " Pinang Lawyer,"*
Calamus.)
Scitamineoe. (Hedychium sumatranum, Jack ; Amomum biflo-
rum, Jack.)
Orchidacese.
Taxacece. (Dacrydium ; Podocarpus.)
Gnetaceae. (Gnetum gnemon ; Gnetum brunonianum.)
Artocarpese. (Phytocrene palmata, Wai. ; Phytocrene brac-
teata,f Wai.)
Nepenthacese. (Nepenthes distillatoria ; Nepenthes ampullaria,
Jack.)
Gesneraceae. (Didymocarpus crinitus, Jack.)
Euphorbiacese.
Corylaceae. (Quercus racemosa, Jack ; Lithocarpus javensis,
Blume.)
Begoniacece. (Begonia orbiculata, Jack.)
Sterculiacese. (Sterculia coccinea, Roxburgh ; Durio Zibethi-
nus, Lin.)
Dipteracese. (Dipterocarpus.)
Aurantiacese. (Murraya paniculata, Loar.)
Anacardiacese. (Stagmaria verniciflua, Jack.)
Connaracese. (Eurycoma longifolia, Jack.)
Garciniese.
Melastomacese. (Melastoma bracteata, Jack ; M. exigua, Jack ;
M. glauca, Jack ; Sonerila moluccana, Rob.)
Myrtacese.
SINGAPORE ISLAND, i 24' N.L. ; 104 E. Mean annual tem-
perature 80. Greatest daily range of thermometer 10; annual
number of rainy days 185. Surface gently undulating. Sand-
stone hills, indicating remote convulsions; highest hill (Bukit
Timah) 530 feet, granite. In the valleys occur vegetable and
animal forms which at Pinang have been observed at or near the
summit of the hills, but not in the plains. Thus, at Singapore
occur Alsophila, Schizsea, Tacca cristata, Gnetum, Nepenthes,
Begonia, Eurycoma, and others, which at Pinang appear to affect
a much greater elevation. Instances of reptiles in common to the
plains of Singapore and the hills of Pinang r,re : Ptychozoon ho-
malocephalum, Gymnodactylus pulchellus, Lygosoma chalcides,
Pilidion lineatum, Typhlops nigro-albus, Calamaria lumbricoidea,
var. Leptophis caudalineatus, Elaps intestinalis, E. nigromaculatus.
MALAYAN PENINSULA. Geographically, not politically, from
* An tin described dwarf palm, hitherto supposed to be confined to the hills
of Pinnng. Sir William Norris found it on Mount Ophir in 1847.
t This species appears to be confined to the lower parts of the hills and
valleys.
THE MALA VAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 253
12 N.L. between 98 and 104 E. computed to about 80,000
square miles, or about 4,000 square miles less than Great Britain.
Zoological information has hitherto been confined almost exclu-
sively to the plains of the western part. The productions of the
chain of mountains dividing the peninsula, and terminating in
Cape Romania in i 17' N.L. (Point Biirus in i 15' N.L.) are
almost entirely unknown. The late Mr. Griffith, on a visit in the
early part of 1842 to Mount Ophir (Giinong Ledang, in about
2 30' N. L. on the eastern boundary of the district of Malacca,
granite, and computed about 4,000 feet), made the interesting dis-
covery, that from 1,500 feet and upwards the vegetation changes
completely, and in many respects assumes a Polynesian or Aus-
tralian character. Early in 1847 Lieutenant-Colonel James Low
visited Keddah Peak (Giinong Jerai), opposite to the town of
Keddah, in about 6 5' N.L., which he observes is not granite
but stratified, abounding in minerals. According to observation
of the boiling point of water, the summit, a small platform on the
edge of the strata, is 5,705^- feet above the sea. Towards the
summit the vegetation becomes very stunted, and partakes of
Australian character.* Colonel Low further observes that during
the ascent he did not see a single animal, but found footprints of
a rhinoceros, smaller than usual, he supposes up to the very
summit. To a casual visitor of the Malayan hill forest during
the day, the paucity of animals is a striking feature. The noon-
day light, subdued by the dense foliage of the towering stems, gives
to the scene a sombre character, heightened by the unseen deni-
zens. Their presence is manifested in the shrill vibrations of
Cicada3 (one of which on the Pinang hills is noted for its resem-
blance to the cavalry trumpet), the call of the Tupai, the dismal tap
of the gigantic woodpecker, the creaking flight of a Buceros, or the
retreat of a frightened Semnopithecs.
CHELONIA.
Geoemyda spinosa, Gray. Pinang.
Emys crassicollis, Bell, MS. Ponds and rivulets Malayan Pen-
insula, Pinang.
Emys platynota, Gray. Malayan Peninsula, Pinang.
Emys trivittata, Dum. and Bibr. Ponds and rivers Malayan
Peninsula, Pinang, Bengal.
Cistudo amboinensis (Daud.). Ponds and rivers Malayan Pen-
insula, Pinang, Bengal.
Tetraonyx affinis, Cantor. Sea off Pinang.
* A collection of plants from the summit of the mountain, with which Colonel
Low favoured me, were examined by Capt. Munroe, H.M. 391)1 Regiment, the
only botanist at present in Calcutta, previously to their being despatched to the
Royal Gardens, Kew.
2$i CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Gymnopus gangeticus (Cuvier). Rivers and sea-coast Malayan
Peninsula, Bengal.
Gymnopus cartilagineus (Boddaert). Ponds and rivers Malayan
Peninsula, Pinang, Java, Dukhun : "India," "China."
Gymnopus indicus (Gray). Rivers, estuaries and sea-coast
Malayan Peninsula, Pinang, India, Philippine Islands.
Chelonia virgata, Schw. J
Chelonia imbricata (Lin.) >Sea.
Chelonia olivacea, Eschscholtz. J
SAURIA.
Crocodilus vulgaris, Cuv., var. B, Dum. and Bibr. Rivers,
estuaries and sea-coast Malayan Peninsula and Islands, Java,
Sumatra, Tenasserim, Bengal, Coromandel, Malabar.
Crocodilus porosus, Schneider. Rivers, estuaries and sea-coast
Malayan Peninsula and Islands, Java, Sumatra, Tenasserim, Ben-
gal, Coromandel, Malabar, Seychelle Islands, Timor.
Platydactylus lugubris, Dum. and Bibr. Pinang.
Platydactylus gecko (Linne"). Malayan Peninsula, Bengal.
Platydactylus stentor, Cantor. Pinang.
Platydactylus monarchus, Schlegel. Pinang, Malayan Penin-
sula, Singapore.
Ptychozoon homalocephalum (Creveld). Pinang, Singapore.
Hemidactylus Peronii, Dum. and Bibr. Pinang.
Hemidactylus Coctsei, Dum. and Bibr. Pinang, Bengal.
Hemidactylus frenatus, Schlegel, MS. Pinang, Singapore,
Malayan Peninsula, Bengal.
Hemidactylus platyurus (Schneider). Pinang, Bengal.
Gymnodactylus pulchellus (Gray). Pinang, Singapore.
Varanus nebulosus, Dum. and Bibr. Pinang, Bengal.
Varanus flavescens (Gray). Pinang, Bengal.
Varanus salvator (Laurenti). Pinang, Malayan Peninsula, B<
Bronchocela cristatella (Kuhl). Pinang, Malayan Peninsula,
Singapore.
Lophyrus armatus (Gray). Pinang, Singapore.
Dilophyrus grandis, Gray. Pinang.
Draco volans, Linne. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Draco maculatus (Gray). Pinang.
Leiolepis Bellii (Gray). Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Eumeces punctatus (Lin.) var. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula,
Singapore.
Euprepis rufescens (Shaw).
v: E: ST a a "
Var. F. Dum. and Bibr. J g a P re -
Euprepis Ernestii, Dum. and Bibr. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Lygosoma chalcides (Linne). Pinang, Singapore.
THE MALAYA 355
.11P1A.
1 \ NOCUOUS.
Pilidion lineatum (l.oic\ Piiur
Typhlops nigro*albus, \\\\\\. and p.iiu-. I'm..
T\phlops iM.uninus (Paudin). Pinang, Malayan IViur.
Singapore. luMii;al. Assam.
Cvlmdrophis rufus (1 .ainvnti). Singa; >.:.-.
Xenopeltis unicolor, Reimvardt. Pinang, Singapoir.
Peninsula,
Python irticnlatns (SdiiUMdi-r). Pinani;, Mai. |
Singapore, Pcni;al ?
Acrochordus javanicus, Ilornsti'dt. Pinang, Singapore, Java.
Acrochordus :;ranulatus ^Sclnu-uU-n. EUVttB -nitl sra.>a'.l
of Malayan Peninsula and islands, New Ciiiiiu-a, Timor, Java,
Sumatra, Coromandol, liay of Manilla.
Calamaria luinl>ricoidra, S. hlr:',cl, var. Pinang, Singapot
Calamaria Liunei, l>oic, var. Schickel. 1'inaii;.',, Java.
Calamaiia Inui-jcrps, Cantor. Pin.iu:',
Calamaria sa:;ittana, Tantor. Mala\an Peninsula, Bengal.
Coroiu-lia baliodcira, Schlegel. Pinang.
Xenodon purpurascens, Schlegel. Pinang, \.\\-\-
Lycodon anlicus (I.inne). 1'iuan:;, Malayan Peninsula, Bengal.
Var. A. I'm, in;;, Mm-al.
Var. U. Pinang, Malayan IVmiiMila.
Var. C. Pinang, Malayan iVmiiMil.i.
Var. 1). Malayan Pcniir.nl. i, llengal.
Lycodon platininn ; (Shaw). I'm
Lycodon cllncnis, Cantor. Pinang.
Coluber fasciolatus, Shaw. Malayan Peninsula, Coromandel.
Coluber radialus, Schlej-cl. Pinan:-,, Sin^apiMv, Mal.i\an I'cn
in:, ula.
Coluber korros, Reimvardt. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Pen-
insula.
Coluber hexagonotus, Cantor. Pinang.
Dipsas dendrophila, Keinwanlt. i Malayan Peninsula,
Singapore, Java.
Dipsas multimaculata, Schickel. I'inang, Malayan I'cnur.ul.t.
Dipsas cynodon, Cuvicr. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Dipsas boa, IJoic. Pinang, Java.
Herpetodryas oxyc p| ,,v.iidi). I
pnsinu (Reinwardt), Malayan PeniniulttodiiUnds,
Var. A. Malayan Pcnin.-.ula and i .land ,.
Var. B. Pinang.
Var. C. Pinang.
256 CATALOGUE OF REPTILES INHABITING
Leptophis pictus (Gmelin). Malayan Peninsula and islands,
Bengal.
Var. A. Malayan Peninsula and islands, Bengal.
Leptophis caudalineatus, Cantor. Pinang, Singapore.
Leptophis ornatus (Shaw), var. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Tropidonotus umbratus (Daud.), var. Malayan Peninsula and
islands, Java, Bengal.
Tropidonotus stolatus (Linne). Pinang, Malayan Peninsula,
Bengal, Nipal, Coromandel, Bombay.
Tropidonotus schistosus (Daud.). Malayan Peninsula, Bengal.
Var. Malayan Peninsula, Bengal.
Tropidonotus cerasogaster (Cantor). Malayan Peninsula,
Bengal.
Tropidonotus junceus, Cantor. Pinang.
Homalopsis. All the Malayan species inhabit fresh water, rivers,
estuaries, or the sea-coast, as noted under each.
VENOMOUS.
Elaps melanurus (Shaw). Malayan Peninsula, Tenasserim,
Nerva.
Elaps intestinalis (Laurenti), var. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan
Peninsula.
Sp. Java, Malwah (Central India).
Elaps nigromaculatus, Cantor. Pinang, Singapore.
Elaps bivirnatus, Kuhl, var. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.
Bungarus flaviceps, J. Reinwardt. Pinang.
Bungarus candidus (Linne). Malayan Peninsula, Bengal, Coro-
mandel, Malabar.
Bungarus fasciatus (Schneider). Pinang, Malayan Peninsula,
Bengal, Coromandel.
Hamadryas ophiophagus, Cantor. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan
Peninsula, Bengal.
Naja lutescens, Laurenti.
Var. D (Daud.). Pinang, Malayan Peninsula, Singapore,
Bengal, Coromandel.
Var. nigra. Pinang, Singapore.
Trigonocephalus gramineus (Shaw). Pinang, Malayan Penin-
sula, Chirra Punji, Singapore, Bengal, Nipal.
Var. Pinang, Malayan Peninsula, Singapore.
Trigonocephalus sumatranus (Raffles), var. Pinang, Singapore,
Malayan Peninsula.
Sp. Sumatra.
Trigonocephalus puniceus, Reinwardt. Pinang, Singapore,
Malayan Peninsula.
Laticauda Hydrus. All species inhabit the sea or estuaries.
THE MALAYAN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS. 257
B ATRAC HI A.
Ichthyophis glutinosus (Linne), var. ? Singapore.
Rana Leschenaulti, Dum. and Bibr. Malayan Peninsula, Ben-
gal, Pondicherry.
Rana tigrina, Daudin. Malayan Peninsula and Islands, Bengal.
Megalophrys montana, Wagler, var. Pinang : sp. Java.
Limnodytes erythraeus (Schlegel). Malayan Peninsula.
Polypedates leucomystax (Gravenhorst). Pinang, Malayan
Peninsula, Singapore, Bengal.
Bufo melanostictus, Schneider. Malayan Peninsula and islands,
Bengal.
Hylaedactylus bivittatus, Cantor. Malayan Peninsula.
XXXVIII.
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE BOTANICAL COL-
LECTION, BROUGHT FROM THE EAST-
WARD, IN 1841, BY DR. CANTOR.
By the late W. GRIFFITH, Esq., F.L.S., Memb. Imp. Acad. Natur.
Curios., Royal Ratisb. Botan. Soc., Corr. Memb. Hort. Soc. t
Royal Acad. Turin, Assist. Surgeon, Madras Establishment.
["Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal," vol. xxiii. pp. 623-650.]
[NOTE. The following paper has been printed for several years, and was
intended to form part of an interesting communication by Dr. Cantor on the
Natural History of Chusan, which was to lead off vol. xxi. of the "Asiatic
Researches." This publication having been, for the present at all events, dis-
continued, Dr. Griffith's valuable Memoir on Chusan Botany has been reprinted.
ED.],
THIS collection consists of plants from the Straits of Malacca,
from Lantao, Chusan, and a few from Pekin, the bulk of the
Chinese plants being from Chusan. The Straits specimens were,
I believe, given to Dr. Cantor by the Rev. Mr. White, Chaplain
of Singapore.
The following lists exhibit the genera and the number of species
procured from the above-mentioned localities, the names of a few
species being added :
VOL. II. S
258 BOTANICAL COLLECTION BROUGHT
STRAITS OF MALACCA.
ACOTYLEDONES.
No. of
Species.
Lycopodineae . . . Lycopodium 3
Lygodium
Gleichenia
Polypodium
Filices { Aspidium
Asplenium
Blechnum
VPteris i
Total . . 13
DICOTYLEDONES.
INCOMPLETE.
Taxineae ? . . . . Dacrydium ? i
Urticeae .... Ficus i
Amaranthaceae . . Amaranthus i
Nepenthaceae . . . Nepenthes 2
Asarinae .... Thottea grandiflora o
Loranthaceae . . . Loranthus retusus i
Total . . 6
POLYPETALJE.
( Excoecaria i
Euphorbiaceae . . < Phyllanthus i
( Rottlera i
Bixaceae .... Bixa i
Dilleniaceae . . . Tetracera i
Sapindacese . . . Nephelium lappaceum i
Meliacese .... Aglaia odorata
Rutaceae .... Evodia triphylla
Ternstroemiacese ? . Ixonanthes reticulata
Terebinthaceae . . Boueia microphylla
rParitium
Malvaceae . . . . < Urena
(Sida
Tiliaceae .... Grewia
Dipterocarpeae
Connaraceae . . . Connarus i
( r ( Mezoneuron i
Legumi-J l ' \Bauhinia 4
nosae \ Papiliona-
V ceae . Crotalaria i
FROM THE EASTWARD BY DR. CANTOR. 259
Cyperace*
Species.
Rosaceae .... Rubus .......... i
Memecyle* . . .{*'. \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ I
Melastomacese ............... 3
/ Myrtus tomentosa ...... i
Myrtacese . . . < M^kuca leucadendron .' '.'.'. i
V^Tristania Whitiana ...... i
Lythrariesc . . . Lagerstroemia floribunda .... i
Total . . 37
MONOPETAL^:.
CompositDe .... Conyza ? ......... r
/'Nauclea .......... 2
-r, , . ) Mussaenda ......... i
Rubiace^ . . . .1 IxQra ........... f
\ Epithinia malayana ...... i
Myrsine* ----
Styraceae .... Symplocos ......... i
/ Clerodendrum ........ 4
V^benacece . . Jg*^ .;;..".;.. J
,Vitex .......... i
Total . . 17
LANTAO, CANTON.
ACOTYLEDONES.
Algse . . . ;
Lycopodinse . . . Lycopodium cernuum
/Lygodium
Gleichenia
Niphobolus
Filices ..... / Cheilanthes . . ....... 2
Adiantum ......... i
Pteris .......... 2
^Cyathea? ......... i
Total
ii
MONOCOTYLEDONES.
S 2
260 BOTANICAL COLLECTION BROUGHT
No. of
b pecies
/Setaria
Imperata
Graminece . . . . 4 Andropogon 2-
Anthistiria
\Bambusa
Smilacinece .... Dianella
Orchidese .... Spiranthes
Total , . 10
DICOTYLEDONES.
POLYPETAL^;.
Sterculiaceoe . . . Helicteres i
Cucurbitacese . . . Bryonia i
Oxalidece .... Oxalis i
Rosaceae .... Rubus moluccanus i
Leguminosse . . /^igofera? 2
| Lespedeza? i
Melastomace* !' Melastoma malabathricum . . . . i
( sanguineum i
TV/T . f Myrtus tomentosa i
Myrtace* . . . { B ^ ckia frutescens T
Total . . ii
MONOPETAL/E.
Compositse . . Cirsium? i
Rubiacece . . . Nauclea Adina i
Apocynese . . . Strophanthus dichotomus .... i
Scrophularinese . Siphonostegia chinensis i
Acanthaceoe . . Acanthus ilicifolius i
Total . . 5
Among a few Indeterminatse are two species of a radicant
herbaceous genus, with opposite fleshy leaves and rubiaceous
stipuke.
CHUSAN.
Lycopodineae .
Filices
ACOTYLEDONES.
Lycopodium i
/Lygodium i
I Pleopeltis i
J Aspidium 3
(^Pteris 2
Total
8
FROM THE EASTWARD BY DR. CANTOR. 261
MONOCOTYLEDONES.
No. of
Species.
Cyperaceae . . . Cyperus i
Gramineae . . . Panicum stagninum i
Commelineae . . Commelina i
Smilacmeae . { Scilloidea* (without leaves)' ." ! 1 \
Orchideae . . . Eulophia? i
Alismacese . . . Sagittaria i
Hydrocharidese . Hydrocharis Morsus ranae?* ... i
Lemnaceae . . . Lemna i
Total . . 9
DICOTYLEDONES.
INCOMPLETE.
Taxineae .... Salisburia*
Conifer,
Amaranthaceae . . Achyranthes
( Polygonum* .
Polygoneaa . . .{ R Jf ex *
Elaeagneae .... Elaeagnus
Cupuliferae . . . Quercus*
Salicineae .... Salix babylonica
^Humulus lupulus*
i Cannabis sativa
Morus nigra
Urticece Urticea (fragments) ."
Urtica
Ficus
\Artocarpea ?(fragifera)
Euphorbiacese
Ranunculacese
Nelumboneae
Cruciferae . ,
Resedaceae .
Total
24
POLYPETAL^:.
/ Elaeococca verrucosa*
j Stillingia sebifera . .
\ Acalypha ....
(Phyllanthus . . .
( Ranunculus aquaticus ?
' \ Clematis* ....
Nelumbium . . .
Sinapis
Reseda* ....
262 BOTANICAL COLLECTION BROUGHT
No. of
Oxalidere .... Oxalis i
Hypericinese . . . Hypericum* 2
Ternstroemiacese . . Camellia* 2
Aurantiacese . . . Citrus 3
Meliacese .... Aglaia i
Ampeliddeee . . . Vitis 2
Celastrinee . . . Elseodendron i
Rhamnece .... Zyziphus i
Tamariscinese . . . Tamarix i
Sempervivce . . . Sedum i
Xanthoxylex . . . Xanthoxylum i
Sterculiacese . . . Sterculia i
Malvace, . . . .{g^; \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
Acerineae .... Acer* i
Hamamelidese . . Hamamelis sinensis i
Fragaria i
Agrimonia* i
Rubus 2'
Rosa i
Amygdalus 3;
Pyras 2
Cydonia i
Leguminosse . . Papilionacece 6
Melastomacese . Melastoma ? sine fl.fr i
Granatese . . . Punica granatum i
Myrtacese . . . Myrtus i
Araliacese . . . Hedera helix ?* i
XTmbellifene . . . { g^ ...........
Cucurbitace. . . - { S t ? n ^ mm a '(gen. nov.) ! '. \ \ I
Begoniaceae . . . Begonia i
Total . . 57
MONOPETAUE.
/Cichoracea i
Bidens i
Artemisia 2
Eclipta prostrata ? i
Composite . . . . ( Aster i
Chrysanthemum i
Pulicaria i
Gnaphalium i
VEmilia . . . . i
FROM THE EASTWARD BY DR. CANTOR. 263
No. of
Species.
Rubiace* . . . .(^ederia foetida?*
\ Gardenia
Caprifoliaceae . . . Sambucus*
Ericinece .... Rhododendron,* efl. efr
Convolvulaceae . . Convolvulus
( Nicotiana tabacum
Datura fastuosa ?
Solane*. . . .
Capsicum
\ Lycium
Scrophulanne* . .
Verbenace* . . -
Pedalinese .... Sesamum orientale ......
C Mentha ..........
Labiatae ..... < Rosmarinus officinalis* .....
( Labiata alia .........
Boraginese .... Symphytum ? ........
Oleinese ..... Olea fragrans ........
Plumbaginese . . . Plumbago* .........
Plantagineae . . . Plantago* ......... i
Total . . 35
TENGCHOU (PEKIN).
Geraniacese .... Erodium ..........
Sempervivae . . . Sedum ..........
Umbelliferge ................
Composite .... Artemisioides ........
Indeterminata eflor : Statices facie . ...
Total . . 5
TOKI (PEKIN).
MONOCOTYLEDONES.
Gramineae .... Poa vel Festuca 2
Smilacinae .... Allium 3
Irideae Pardanthus i
Total . . 6
DICOTYLEDONES.
Polygon eae .... Polygonum Fagopyrum ? . . . . i
Urticeae Cannabis sativa i
264 BOTANICAL COLLECTION BROUGHT
No. of
Species.
Tamanscinse . . . Tamanx
Silenacece .... Dianthus
Rosace* . . . . j ^ntilla
( Agnmonia
Leguminosae . . . Papilionacese
Primulacece . . . Lysimachia
Asclepiadeae . . . Cynanchum sibiricum ?
Apocynese ?
Convolvulaceoe . . Convolvulus
Total . . 14
The total number of species in a state admitting of determina-
tion is as follows :
Straits of Malacca 8 1
Canton 37
Chusan 133
Tengchou ) p ki
Toki .
Total . .276
I shall now make such remarks as I am able on the most
interesting forms of these collections.
STRAITS COLLECTION.
ASARIN^E. The specimens of Thottea consist of a flower, part
of a raceme, and a full-grown leaf. A description and drawing
of this plant, first met with by Konig in 1779, is now in the
possession of the Linnean Society.
TERNSTRCEMIACEE: ? I refer with some doubt to this family
Ixonanthes of Jack. This genus, hitherto only known from Jack's
description, has been placed doubtfully among Cedrelacece by
Dr. Lindley and M. Endlicher, with which, however, its resem-
blances appear to be rather technical. A more proper place is,
I think, to be found between Ternstroemiacese and Hypericinea,',
the major part of the affinities being with the former family.
IXONANTHES. Jack, Mai. Misc. ("Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist."
iv. p. 115.)
CHAR. GEN. Calyx 5-6-partitus. Corolla 5-6-petala, glutinosa,
convoluto-clausa. Stamina 10-20 ; filamentis capillaceis ; antheris
ovatis, bilocularibus. Annulus (crenulatus) inter stamina et pis-
tillum. Ovarium 5-loculare, loculis biovulatis. Ovula pendula
ex apice anguli interioris. Stylus capillaceus. Stigma discoideum.
FROM THE EASTWARD BY DR. CANTOR. 265
Fructus septicidim 5-valvis. Semina cum vel absque ala, sccpe
sterilia et diffurmia. Albumen carnosum. Embryo lateralis.
Radicula supera.
HABITUS. Arbores Malayanae, Folia alterna, exstipulata?
Venatione reticulata. Corymbi cymaeve axillares. Floras parvi,
inconspicui.
I. reticulata, foliis obovatis vel elliptico-obovatis integris, corym-
bis folia subcequantibus, staminibus 10, seminibus apice alatis.
. I. reticulata. Jack, Mai. Misc. (" Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist." I.e.)
HAB. Singapore, Rev. Mr. White.
DES.* Rami angulati, flexuosi. Folia obovata, vel majora
elliptico-obovata, obtusissima, late emarginata coriacea ; venae se-
condariae arcuatim nexae, interveniae reticulatae. Pedunculi
axillares, solitarii, folia subsequantia vel excedentia, dichotomi.
Pedicelli plerumqtie ternati. Flores cujusve cymae sub-y, materie
resinosa glutinosa aspersa, parvi. Sepala ovata-oblonga vel
rotundata. Petala paullo majora, convoluta, apice quasi perforata.
Stamina 10, in annulo glanduloso crenulato ovarii basin arete
cingente inserta. Filamenta capillacea, petalis 4-plo longiora,
per os angustum corolloe longe exserta. Antherae oblongae, basi
affixae ; connectivo lato ; loculis angustis. Ovarium globoso-
conicum. Stylus capillaceus, filamentis longior. Stigma dis-
coideum.
I. dodecandra (n. sp. ?) foliis obovata-lanceolatis crenato-serratis,
corymbis felia superantibus, staminibus 13-16, seminibus perfectis
paucis hilo processigeris, sterilibus difformibus processubus hili
saepius tricruribus.
HAB. Woods about Pringitt, and near Rhim, Malacca.
DES.f Arbor majuscula. Folia alterna, exstipulata, breve pe-
tiolata, obovata-lanceolata, obtusa, emarginata, coriacea, crenato-
serrata (saepius distanter), subtus reticulata, sicca castaneo-brunea ;
magnitudine varia, majora nempe 6-uncias longa, 2-lata, rninora
long. Three-uncialia, lat. i-uncialia. Corymbi axillares, folia exce-
dentes, multiflora, e cymis dichotomis sub-6-floris conflati.
Bractese caducae. Flores parvi, inconspicui, viridescentes,
glutinosi. Calyx ultra medium 5 partitus, (potius 5-sepalus,
pedicellis apice incrassatis) ; laciniae corollam fere aequantes.
oblongae, acutae. Corolla convoluto-clausa, apice quasi perforata,
Petala rotundato-oblonga, concava, venosa. Annulus brevis,
carnosus, crenulatus, inter stamina et pistillum. Stamina 13-16.
Filamenta annulo basin versus inserta, capillacea, din persistentia.
Antherae ovatae, biloculares, longitudina-liter dehiscentes, deciduae.
Pollen tri-porosum. Ovarium conicum, sub-5-gonum, 5-loculare.
Ovula 2 cuivis loculo, anatropa, pendula ex apice anguli interioris
* From a single specimen in flower.
t Chiefly from dried specimens ; of the seeds from living ones.
266 BOTANICAL COLLECTION BROUGHT
ope funiculorum longiusculorum. Raphe extrorsa. Stylus capil-
laceus, ovario 6-plo longior, stamina paullo superans, diu persistens.
Stigma capitatum, margine reflexum. Fructus anguste ovatus,
acutus, 7-8 lineas iongus, 3-4-latus ; basi calyce et corolla circurn-
datus, lineis 5 notatus, septicidim 5-valvis, valvis osseis intus
centre carinatis. Semina saepius abortientia, processu foraminis
sursum et deorsum longe producto, infero saepius bicruri; per-
fectum brunneum, oblongo-lanceolatum, compressiusculum, pro-
cessu foraminis sub 3-auriculato. Tegumentum exterius coriaceum :
interius tenuissimum, albumen arete vestiens. Raphe semi-
completa. Chalaza subdepressa. Albumen carnosum, copiosum.
Embryo ad latus exterius albuminis. Radicula longa, gracilis,
longitudine cotyledonum foliacearum. Plumula inconspicua.
This species appears to be allied to T. icosandra. Jack, from
which it chiefly seems to differ in the number of the stamina.
ANACARDIE^:. Compilers appear to have overlooked
Buchanan's * remarks on the opposite-leaved mangoes, the
original species only being referred to by Steudelf and Endlicher.|
Yet besides the two species founded by Buchanan (loc. cit),
I believe without sufficient grounds, on the Manga sylvestris
prima et altera of Rumph. Buchanan's description of the
Burmese Mariam is so different from that of Roxburgh, as to lead
to the suspicion that under the name Mangifera oppositifolia,
two species will be found.
Up to this time I have met with three species, of which the
following are the distinguishing marks, independently of differences
that may exist in their hermaphrodite flowers and fruit.
BOUEIA,|| Meisner.^" Cambessedea, Wight and Arnott.**
* "Mem. Wern. Soc." 5. p. 326. f "Nomenclat. Bot." ed. 2cla.
J " Gen. PI." p. 1133, No. 5918.
Rumph, under the head Manga sylvestris, does not mention the oppo-
sition of the leaves, and though his figure, t. 27, might pass for Mangifera
oppositifolia, yet the leaves are by no means represented as being generally
opposite, and the aspect of the flowers again is rather that of a genuine
Mango.
|| This genus was first proposed, and its differences from Mangifera given,
by Messrs. Wight and Arnott under the name Cambessedea, for which, from
its being pre-occupied, Meisner has substituted Boueia. But no sign or mark
is appended to indicate who were the original proposers of the genus, with
whom the merit must in most cases necessarily rest. It is one thing to glance
over a complete catalogue of names and ascertain which is pre-occupied,
another to detect and define a new group. Botanists have admitted certain
conventional signs, which have been generally adopted, and would do well to
admit signs of a most conspicuous character by which the compiler may be
known from the designer ; the botanist who names after examination and com-
parison, from him who names without having done either. Or as su:
in the excellent rules for reforming Zoologic Nomenclature, p. 8, par. 4, now
that communication is so rapid, it might be courteously left to the framer of the
genus to correct the error.
U "Endl. Gen. PI." i. cit. ** " Trod. Fl. Ten. Ind. Or." p. 170, in annot.
FROM THE EASTWARD BY DR. CANTON
B. burmannica, foliis oblongo-lanceolatis, paniculis laxifloris
foliis brevioribus parce puberulis, petalis saepissime 4 linear!-
oblongis calycem subduplo excedentibus.
Matigifera oppositifolia.* Roxb. "Hort. Bengh." p. 18. " Fl.
Indie." i. p. 640. ed. Carey.
Manga sylvestris, Rum ph. " Hb. Amb." i. t. 27 ?
HAB. Commonly cultivated by the Burmese, by whom it is
called Mariam, or Mai-een.
Arbor parva, ramulis compressis angulatis. Folia anguste ob-
longo-lanceolata, obtuse acuminata vel cuspidata, coriacea, longi-
tudine 5-uncialia, latitudine ij-unciala. Stamina saepissime 4.
Drupa magnitudine ovi gallinulae.
Buchanan describes the inflorescence of his plant as " spica
simplicissima foliis multo longior," and the fruit as " drupa figura
et sapore Mangiferae indicae." But he appears only to have been
acquainted with Roxburgh's plant through the Hortus Benghalensis,
a catalogue containing no characters or discriminative marks.
B. macrophylla (n. sp.), foliis oblongo-lanceolatis, paniculis
amplis thyrsoideis pubescentibus foliis brevioribus, petalis saepis-
sime 3 calyce subtriplo longioribus.
HAB. Malacca. Roomaniya Baitool of the Malays.
Arbor magna, corona densa. Ramuli tetragoni. Folia valde
coriacea, obtuse et brevi cuspidata, long. 6-8 uncialia, latit.
2-2 1 uncialia. Panicula dense thyrsoidea. Stamina saepissime 3.
B. microphylla (n. sp.), foliis lanceolatis, paniculis parvis
thyrsoideis foliis brevioribus, petalis 4, oblongo-rotundatis calyce
duplo longioribus.
HAB. Malacca. Roomaniya Paigo of the Malays.
Arbor, ramulis compressis. Folia longe et obtuse cuspidata,
valde coriacea, longit. 2-3^- uncialia, latit. i-ii uncialia. Paniculoe
parvae, foliis aliquoties breviores. Flores minus elongati, minuti.
Drupa magnitudine ovi gallinulae.
The habit of these two species is different from that of the
Burmese one, the leaves more coriaceous, and the secondary veins
more distinct.
The fruit of both is eaten by the Malays. They have the
characteristic acidity, but make excellent pickles.
The genus presents a remarkable analogy with Oleinae.
MEMECYLE^E. Pternandra, Jack (Ewyckia, Blume), though
referred by Dr. Lindley to Melastomaceae, appears to me to
belong to Memecyleae. The genus is remarkable for its placenta-
tion, which is the only instance I am acquainted with of the
co-existence of thoroughly parietal placentation with perfect dis-
* The opposition of the leaves being characteristic of the genus, it becomes
necessary to change Roxburgh's name.
268 BOTANICAL COLLECTION BROUGHT
sepiments, independently of any apparent production inwards of
any parts of the placental surface. Hypothetically this is explain-
able by assuming the ovula to be confined to that part of the
carpellary leaf with which almost invariably they have no manner
of connection. In other words, they may be declared to arise
from the back of the carpel leaf, or from the midrib, and the space
on either side between it and the inflected margins.*
Appearances, derived from the examination of Pternandra
coerulescens, are not perhaps altogether unfavourable to the sup-
position that there is a disturbance in the direction of the carpel
leaves analogous to that which affects some, perhaps most,
Boragineoe, by which the true apex of each carpellum is brought
close to the base, and in which, as appears to me, suggested by
the situation of the raphe, the placenta has a disposition to be
dorsal ; so that if a polysporous placenta be found to exist in a
carpellum so constituted, it may, I am inclined to conjecture, be
as dorsal as it is in Pternandra.
From the evidence afforded by this genus, it would appear that
an " ovarium inferum " may have part of its cavities, or even of
its placentae, actually superior ; that is, above the line drawn when
the term " ovarium inferum " is made use of, which term, never-
theless, is perhaps quite as admissible in many instances as that
of ovarium adhserens.
MYRTACETE. I refer without doubt to Tristania, one of Mr.
White's plants. It is the fourth Indian species of the genus I
have met with, the northerly limit of which, so far as yet known,
appears to be Moulmein, 17 N.L. This is a fact of some interest,
as Mr. Bennett f states that he is only acquainted with one species
found beyond the limits of N. Holland. In connection with this
I may mention Stylidium, which is perhaps the last Australian
form that disappears, an instance of the genus having been found
by Dr. Voigt, about Serampore, and by Lieut. Kittoe at Midnapore.
This genus also occurs at Mergui and Moulmein, but has not
hitherto been remarked on the Khassya Hills or in Assam.
Another Australian form, Melaleuca leucadendron, forms, from
its abundance in the low littoral tracts of Malacca, a very marked
feature of vegetation. The northerly limit of this species is
Mergui (12 N.L.), where it occurs in similar localities, but com-
paratively limited in size and numerical extent.
* Most of the instances hitherto cited as exhibiting dorsal placentation, ap-
pear to me to be untenable, and naturally explicable. But it is certain that
Monccotyledonous monstrosities do occur, in which the buds arise from the
inner surface of the leaves to the exclusion of the usually gemmiferous margins.
Of this I met with a marked instance in a Liliaceous plant in Eastern
Afghanistan.
t "PI. Jav. Rar." Pt. 1 1, p. 128.
FROM THE EASTWARD BY DR. CANTOR. 269
Three of the four species above alluded to may be thus dis-
tinguished :
Tristania burmannica, ramulis glabris, foliis alternis obovato-
lanceolatis glaberrimis, calyce extus pubescente intus cum ovario
dense albo-tomentoso, staminum phalangis 4-6-andris.
HAL. Hills about Moulmein. No. 76 of a small Burmese
Collection sent to England in 1834.
Arbusculum. Ramuli et inflorescentia griseo- puberuli. Folia
longitudine 4-uncialia, latitudine I-T ^-uncialia. Pedunculi com-
pressi. Cymce confertifloroe, foliis duplo breviores, pedicelli
plerumque terni. Florum odor pessimus. Petala Integra, cum
filamentis parce puberula.
T. merguensis, ramulis subglabris, foliis alternis spathulato-
lanceolatis basi biauriculatis, calyce et ovario puberulis, staminum
phalangibus 6-10 andris, capsula semisupera.
HAD. Sea-shore of the island Madamacan, opposite Mergui,
in flower in August No. 235, Herb. Mergui.
Arbor ramis pendentibus. Folia alterna vel subopposita, sub-
sessilia, longitudine 7-7.4 uncialia, latitudine 2-2-^-uncialia. Pedun-
culi ancipites, foliis subduplo breviores ; pedicelli minute puberuli.
Florum odor pessimus, stercoraceus. Petala alba, denticulata.
Phalanges petala excedentes. Capsula supera, semi-inclusa,
loculicidim et septifragim trivalvis, valvis extus transverse rugo-
sulis. Semina arete collateralia, plura paleacea abortiva, pauciora
apice alata, fertilia. Cotyledones contortuplicatse.
T. Whitiana, foliis alternis spathulato-obovatis parce puberulis,
ramulis calyceque extus puberulis, calyce intus et ovario tomentoso-
puberulis, staminum phalangibus 2-4 andris.
HAD. Singapore. Malayan name Plowan. Rev. Mr. White.
Folia, in apice ramorum conferta, obtuse cuspidata, longitudine
4-4?,-, latitudine ij-if uncialia; venae secondaries magis approxi-
mative et parallels. Corymbi folia excedentes, puberuli. Petala
undulata.
Of these T. burmannia is closely allied to P. obovata, Bennett,
in Horsf. " PI. Jav. Rar." p. 127. t. 27.
The fourth species was met with sparingly in fruit on Mount
Ophir ; in the form of its leaves it approaches to T. obovata, but
the fruit is rounder. The peduncles appear much less branched
than in any of the other extra-Australian species, but the degree
of adhesion between the calyx and pericarpium is the same. It
was observed with Bseckea frutescens, three species of Lepto-
spermum, and one o_ Leucopogon.*
* The Mount Ophir species of this genus, which is not uncommon at Pad dam
Bhattoo, differs from that found on the littoral tracts of Malacca in the narrow
leaves crowded on short branches, the corolla scarcely partite to the middle,
270 BOTANICAL COLLECTION BROUGHT
I know so little of the Australian species of this genus and
family that I am unable to state what value should be attached
to the placentation in these four extra-Australian species, to the
abortion and deformity of most of the seeds, the wing of the
fertile one, and the embryo. The habit and especially geographic
distribution would seem to point to some degree of separation.
It is to be remembered, however, that Mr. Bennett in the " PI.
Jav. Rar.," a work of the highest authority, does not remark on
any structural peculiarity presented by Tristania obovata, his
specimens of which, excepting the absence of ripe seeds, appear
to have been complete.
RuBiACEyE. I notice Epithinia mayana, to confirm Messrs.
Wight and Arnott's statement, that it has stipulre. The opposite
statement, in the Malayan Miscellanies, I have ascertained was
corrected* by Dr. Jack himself in a copy found thrown aside
among some loose papers in the Botanic Gardens. There are at
the Botanic Gardens some other MS. corrections which might
have been advantageously inserted in the reprint of his writings,
undertaken by Sir W. Hooker at the suggestion, I believe, of Dr.
Wallich.f
The disposition of the placentae and ovula in this genus is
curious. The former, or perhaps rather their ovuliferous portions,
are confined to the middle of the inner angle of each cell, from
which they are produced outwards into the middle. Each bears
on its apex two ovula, the upper one of which is erect, the under
pendulous ; the raphe of both being on that side of the ovulum
next the outer wall of the cell. The result, when both ovula are
matured, is, that two anatropous seeds, of which one is erect and
one pendulous, have the radicles of their embryos pointing exactly
towards one another.
CANTON COLLECTION.
This is entirely tropical, and the only peculiar forms that appear
to me to exist in it are Nauclea Aclina, Strophanthus dichotomus,
and Siphonostegia sinensis. For Ba3ckia frutescens is found on
Mount Ophir, with some other Australasian or Polynesian forms,
and Myrtus tomentosa is to be found in abundance in the Straits
the large hypogynous scales which nearly enclose the ovarium, and the smooth
filiform style. For this the name L. ophirensis may be proposed.
Indeed it was improbable that an exclusively littoral plant should make its
appearance suddenly on an isolated mountain, at an elevation of 2,000 feet any
where, much more soon Mount Ophir, the productions of which from Paddam
Bhatto upwards are very dissimilar from general Malacca vegetation, approach-
ing much more to that characteristic of Polynesia and Australia.
* Instead of "Stipules none," it is, " stipules short, interpetiolar."
f Are there any other MSS. of Jack in existence? I find references in Dr.
Wallich's handwriting to a MS. description of Hoya grandiflora, in an imperfect
copy of Carey's edition of Roxburgh's " Flora Indica."
FROM THE EASTWARD BY DR. CANTOR. 271
of Malacca. But Siphonostegia, the specimens of which present
additional calycine lobes, is the only local or characteristic form,
for Nauclea is not only a common Indian genus, but there is, I
believe, a Khasiya form that approaches N. Adina itself, and
Strophanthus exists on the N.E. frontier of Bengal, and about
Malacca, where it is represented by a very fine species with large
horn-like follicles. All the remaining genera, and probably almost
all the species, may be met with either on the Tenasserim Coast
or on the eastern frontier of Bengal.
CHUSAN COLLECTION.
The list of this collection given at the commencement is not
limited to plants actually existing in the collection, but includes a
few others, either contained in Dr. Cantor's sketches, or in his
conspectus of his collections.* I have attached an asterisk to
those forms which seem to me to be extra-tropical, from which
it would appear that the great bulk (about five-sixths) is decidedly
tropical.
This collection presents an unusual mixture of form, much of
which is perhaps attributable to the effects of cultivation. Almost
all the genera are to be met with in " India Orientalis," but I
imagine scarcely any other like locality could present such a mix-
ture as that of Commelina, Hydrocharis, Salisburia, Achyranthes,
Pinus, Aglaia, Humulus lupulus, Psederia, Juglans, Zingiber,
Agrimonia, Nelumbium, Rhododendron, and a Palm.
The most marked northern forms appear to me to be Hydro-
charis, Salisburia, Pinus, Quercus, Humulus lupulus, Agrimonia,
Rhododendron, Solanum dulcamara ?
Clematis, Rumex, Camellia, Hedera, Sambucus, and Plantago
all admit of some degree of explanation, inasmuch as these
genera may be found at similar levels, but in considerably lower
latitudes, in certain parts of the Eastern frontier of Bengal ; and
some species of Juniperus under cultivation seem to defy a great
amount of heat.
Other similarities to the Flora of our eastern frontier, Assam for
instance, are indicated by the affinity of the Quercus to one from
the Khasiya Hills, on which it is, so far as I know, the only
European form of that genus ; by one of the Polygoneae which
also occurs in the same direction, and which is remarkable for its
armed habit, perfoliate leaves, and bright azure berries, and by
the genus Actinostemma.
The only parts of this collection which I feel myself at all com-
petent to illustrate are Hamamelidese and Cucurbitacese.
* " Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist." No. V.
272 BOTANICAL COLLECTION BROUGHT
HAMAMELIDE^E. The species is Hamamelis sinensis, R. Br. ;
the specimens are in fruit, and look at first sight not unlike some
Grewias.
The Asiatic plants of this family are Bucklandia populnea,
two species of Hamamelis, one of Fothergilla? found by Dr.
Falconer, and I believe M. Jacquemont, in Cashmir, and one of
Corylopsis.*
* CORYLOPSIS.
Zuccar. in Sieb. " Fl. Japon." fasc. 1. p. 45, t. 19, 20; Endl. "Gen.
Plant." p. 804, No. 4,589.
CHAR. GEN. Calyx semi-infernus, 4-5 dentatus vel partitus. Petala 4-5,
spathulata vel obovata. Stamina fertilia 5, sepalis opposita ; antherarum
loculi secus centrum longituclinaliter dehiscentes, valvis extrorsum flexis per-
sistentibus ; sterilia 5, vel plura (sub- 1 5) irregularia. Ovarium semi-inferum.
Ovula solitaria. Semina ex-alata.
HABITUS. Frutices Japanioe et Himalayanre, habitu Coryli. Gemmarum
squamre imbricate. Stipuke scariosoe, caduccc, gemmarum squamas extimas
formantes. Folia cordata, mucronato-serrata, pennivenia. Spicse precise, ter-
minales et axillares, basi squarnis gemmarum involucrantibus, interdum sub-
petaloideis stipatoe, pendulce, sericeopilosse ; fructus indurate.
OKS. Hamamelis, genus propinquum, differt habitu, et petalis elongatis
sestivatione spiraliter involutis.
C. himalayana (n. sp.), spicis multifloris, calyce cyathiformi 5-dentato villoso,
petalis obovatis quam genitalia longioribus, staminibus fertilibus subinsequalibus
pistillo longioribus, sterilibus sub- 1 5, IO majoribus ante petala, 5 minoribus
ante stamina.
Var. ? A. Folia subtus ad venas tantum piloso-tomentosa.
HAB. Bootan mountains ; banks of the river and sides of woods at Tassang-
see, alt. 5,387 feet ; on broken ground about Tongsa, alt. 6,527 feet ; and near
Pangee Minzee Peeza, alt. 7,500 feet.
Var. ? B. Folia subtus tomentoso-pilosa.
HAB. Khasiya Hills ; Moflung, alt. 5,500 feet, on the broken rocky ground
covered with bushes, between the bungalow and the river.
DES. Frutex arbusculoideus, 6-8 pedalis. Ramuli flexuosi, brunneo-rubri.
Gemmre florifercc alternce, ex axillis foliorum lapsorum, demum penduhe,
superiores praecociores ; squamcc plures, imbricate, ovate, scariosre, extima;
brunnescentes intus sericeae, intimce lutescentes utrinque sericere, in bracteas
sericeo-hirsutas sensim minorifactoe. Folia alterna ; petioli sub-semunciales,
albido-pubescentes ; lamina cordato-roundata, breviter cuspidata, mucronato-
serrata, coriacea, subtus pubescens, basi sub 9-venia, junior plicata secus venas;
vense secondarise marginem versus oblique cerrentes, inferiores latere exteriori
3~5-ties ramosoe, intermediae dichotomce versus apicem, summx simplices ;
intervenia venulis transversis et anastomosantibus reticulatse. Spicx penduhx:,
longit. i-i^-unciales, multifloroc, sericeo-hirsutse. Flores majusculi, lutci,
suaviter odori, hermaphroditti.
Calyx breve obconicus 4-5 fidus, laciniis ovatis submembranceis. Petala 5,
perigyna, lacinis calycinis alterna, lutea, obovata, breve unguiculata, irregu-
laria, majoribus patentibus conduplicato-plicatis, margine involutis ; cestivatio
aperta.
Stamina fertilia 4-5, sepalis opposita, fauci calycis inserta ; filamenta robusta,
breviuscula, fere cylindrica ; anthercc biloculares, longitudinaliter dehiscentes,
valvis coriaceis, extrorsum flexis, dorso mutuo applicitis, persistentibus. Pollen
globosum, plicis 3 medio l-porosis. Stamina sterilia plura, irregularia, subbi-
seriata ; extoriora scepius dentiformia, interdum subulata, nlamentorum basibus
FROM THE EASTWARD BY DR. CANTOR. 273
Sedgwickia, which I some time ago, from examination of fruit-
bearing specimens, referred to Hamamelideae, turns out to
species of Liquidambar* (Altingia of Noronha), on which genus
Blume constructed his family Balsamifluae. For this oversight and
empty compliment Dr. Wallich is responsible, as he had Blume's
" Flora Java?" (in which folio work the family is defined and the
genus figured) before him during the printing of my MSS.
The family Balsamiiluce (Balsamaceae, Lindl.) appears to be
generally considered allied to Plataneae, Salicinere, and some of
their neighbours. And although the structure of Bucklandia was
not detailed before 1836 it still appears to me odd that no indica-
tion of the similarity of Liquidambar with Fothergilla had been
noticed.
From the great variety in structure presented by Hamamelideae,
in which family, limited as it is in genera and species, plants occur
varying in habit, with hermaphrodite or polygamous flowers, with
petals or without petals, with a quaternary or quinary number of
parts, with definite or indefinite stamina, with simple or valvular
dehiscence of anthers, I am inclined to believe that Balsamifluoe
will be found to be a temporary, or at least a subordinate, group.
Its present claims to distinction seem to me limited to the male
inflorescence and flowers, which are, so far as I can judge from
dried specimens of the Assam species, deficient in any envelope
analogous to a perianth or even partial bracte. Its habit presents
nothing peculiar ; it is not more characteristic of the " Amental "
order than that of Fothergilla or Corylopsis. Its anthers present
no very great peculiarity, particularly if compared with those of
Fothergilla, while its female flowers are in many essential points
closely allied to those of Bucklandia, in which (and I take this to
be of considerable importance) female capitula also occur, and the
ovula are considerably increased in number.
spepius opposita ; interiora scepissime per paria petalis opposita, majora, atro-
viridia, apicibus subglanduliformibus saepe recurvis. Ovarium semi-inferum,
sericeo-pilosum, biloculare. Styli 2, subulati, staminibus subduplo breviores,
apicibus recurvis subdilatatis intus stigmatosis. Ovula inloculis solitaria, pen-
dula, anatropa ; tegumenta bina ; foramen magnum, extus spectans.
Spicoe fructus pendulae, induratae, bracteis orbatce. Capsulce scriebus circiter
4 spiraliter dispositoe (dimidium inferius calyce tubo indurato corticatum),
biloculares, bivalves, valvis demum septicidim bipartitis, stylisque semi-partis
recurvis apiculatis ; endocarpium atrum. Semina non visa.
My specimens of the Khasiya plant are in fruit. I have not therefore been
able to compare the flowers. The leaves vary much in size, those on the mere
leaf-bearing branches being as large as those of the Minza Peeza specimens.
These again differ from the other Bootan ones in the spikes being less precious,
in the length of the styles, and in the longer and pale ferruginous hairyness of
the spikes.
This is the fourth species of this genus, two having been denned and one
indicated in the " Flora Japonica " (loc. cit.) ; of the three Japanese species,
only one, C. Cesakii. Zucc. has been hitherto met with in the wild state.
* " Fl. Jav." p. 1. t. 1. 2.
VOL. II. T
274 BOTANICAL COLLECTION BROUGHT
The affinities of Hamamelidece appear to be sufficiently complex,
the first step to the simplification, the determination of the true
nature of the female perianthium not being settled.* In addition
to those already indicated, a relationship with certain Laurineoe
may be suggested.
CUCURBITACE/E, Zanonin?e. Of the two plants of this family
among the Chusan Plants, one belongs to a genus hitherto, I
believe, undescribed.
ACTINOSTEMMA.
CHAR. GEN. Flores monoici ; masc. rotati. Sepala 5, acumi-
nata. Petala 5, acuminatissima. Stamina 5, soluta, antheris
unilocularibus. Fsem. ; Sepala et petala niaris. Ovarium i-
loculare; ovula 2-4 parietalia apicem versus loculi. Stylus r.
Stigmata 2, reniformia. Capsula echinata, semisupera, annulata,
ad annulum demum circumscissa. Semina pendula, margine
exarata.
HABITUS. Herba scandens, tenera. Folia subhastata, dentata.
Cirrhi laterales. Flore sinconspicui, viridescentes masculi
paniculati, foeminei racemosi, pedicellis medium supra articulatis.
Circumscissio capsulse per annulum cicatricis perianthii.
A. Tenerum.
HAB. In hedges, Sadiya, Upper Assam, also on the Khasiya
Hills. Chusan, Dr. Cantor.
DES. Planta scandens, herbacea. Caules angulati, sulcati,
parce puberuli. Folia longiuscule petiolata, juniora cordato-
hastata, matura fere hastata, acuminata, grosse dentata, dentibus
mucrone terminatis (basilaribus i vel 2 glanduliferis), subtus ad
venas puberula. Cirrhi srepe apice dichotomi. Inflorescentia
axillaris, puberula. Paniculae masculre foliis srepius longiores.
Bracteae mmutse, subulatae. Flores caduci, inodori, evolutione
centrifugi. Calyx profunde 5-partitus, laciniis lineari-lanceolatis,
acuminatis, extus puberulis, basi obsolete saccatis. Petala alter-
nantia, fundo calycis inserta, breviter unguiculata, e basi lanceolata
acuminatissima, univenia, eestivatione subimbricata, margine, uti
sepala, glanduloso-denticulata. Stamina imo fundo calycis inserta,
sepalis opposita, omnino soluta ; filamenta filiformia, breviuscula ;
antheroe extrorsrc, sub-ovatze, uniloculares, longitudinaliter de-
hiscentes, connective glanduloso-papilloso. Pollen lanceolatum,
* I have not been able to ascertain from dried specimens the nature of the
envelope of the pistilluin of Liquidambar. Judging from the Assam specimens,
and the resemblance to the same part of Bucklandia, it is fairly assumable to
be calyx. lUume. however, who has described and figured the genus in detail,
represents the envelope as derived from scales, united among each other.
FROM THE EASTWARD BY DR. CANTOR. 275
tri-plicatum, immcrsum globosum, granulosum. Rudimentum
Pistilli nullum.
Racemi fteminei pauciflori, flore unico saepius tantum evoluto.
Pedicelli prope florem articulati. Calycis tubus subjjlobosus,
verrucosus. Stamina castrata vel deficientia. Ovarium J inferum
(parte libera conica verrucosula), i-loculare; placentae puncti-
formes, parietales apicem loculi versus. Ovula 2-4, srcpius 4,
2 nempe utroque latere, pendula, anatropa ; tegumenta bina dis-
tincta. Stylus brevis, crassus, parce puberulus. Stigmata hippo-
crepiformia. Fructus siccus, pendulus (pedicello petiolo breviore,
infra articulum gracili, supra incrassato), ovatus, apice stigmatis
reliquiis notatus, medium versus annulo exsculptus, aculeis
viridibus pnvsertim infra annulum echinatus, apice subglaber,
tactu Isevi ad annulum circumscissus. Semina* 2, vel soepius 4,
pendula, atro-brunnea, tactu saponacea, compressa, superficie
rugosa, margine profunde exarata et varie denticulata. Embryonis
cotyledones ovales, carnosae ; radicula, supera, breviuscula, conica ;
plurnula conspicua.
This plant has to a considerable degree the habit of Feuillea
tamnifolia (Humb. et. Kunth. " Nov. Gen. et Sp.," p. 175, t. 140),
which appears to be a plant sui generis ; it also appears to have
considerable affinities with Sicyos, with which it agrees in habit.
I am, besides this plant, in possession of the two under-
mentioned genera of the same sub-family.f
* The seeds in the Chusau specimen are plano-convex, and scarcely grooved
along the edges.
t GOMPHOGYNE. Flores monoici?; masc. rotati. Sepala 5. Petala 5,
lanceolata. Stamina 5, soluta, antheris unilocularibus. Faem. (tubus clavatus).
Petala acuminatissima. Ovarium inferium, i-loculare; ovula 3, pendula ex
apice loculi. Fructus capsularis, apice truncato dehiscens. Semina 2, rugosa,
inargine incrassato.
HABITUS. Herba scandens, carnosa, habitu Cissi, foliis pedatis. Fl. masculi
longe paniculati, fteminei racemosi, racemis paucifloris nutantibus. Petala fl.
masculi denticulato-fimbriata, pagina panillosa. Filamenta ima basi coalita.
Pedicelli floruin fccmineorum articulati. Perianthium reflexum. Fructus
venosus, interveniis reticulatis. Semina utrinque rapheos completce rugoso-
marginata.
OBS. Genus affine Zanonicc situ stylorum, forma et dehiscentia capsuloe ;
Actinosternmati calyce pentasepalo, petalis faeminei floris acuminatis, et ovarii
unilocularis placentis punctiformibus.
G. cissiformis.
HAB. Budrinath, Himalayan Range. Mr. Edgeworth.
DES. " Scandens, glaberrima. Folia longe petiolata, pedata, foliolis sep-
tenis, lanceolatis, inciso-serratis, dentibus mucronulatis. Cirrhi oppositifolii,
saipius simplices. Fl. <J. racemosi, in apice ramorum soepius defoliatorum sicut
paniculam longissimam formantes, breviter pedicellati, pentameri. Sepala et
petala pubescentia, viridescentia. Stamina 5, libera. Fl. 9 fasciculati, longe
pedunculati. Calycis licinice 5, subulatce persistentes. Petala 5, ovata, acuta.
Styli 3, apice bifidi. Fructus subtrigono-campaniformis, apice truncatus et
planus, cornutus stylis persistentibus, apice dehiscens, l-locularis, ex abortu
T 2
276 BOTANICAL COLLECTION BROUGHT
The prominent points of the major part of this sub-family (Zano-
ninse) seem to me the membranous, scarcely marcescent, often
elongated floral envelopes, the one-celled anthers with ordinary
seminis unius dispermus. Semina crassa, oblonga, nigra, margine intrassato
rugosa, amarissima." Edgeworth MSS.
ENKYLIA. Floras dioici?; masc. rotati. Sepala 5- Petala 5, acuminatis-
sima, restivatione involuta. (a) Stamina 5 ; filamentis complete monadelphis,
antheris unilocularibus. Frem. Perianthium maris. Ovarium inferum, bi-
triloculare ; ovula in loculis solitaria. Style 2-3, basi coaliti, apice bifidi.
Fructus globosus, medium supra annulatus, trilocularis. Semina solitaria,
verrucosa-muriculata.
HABITUS. Herbse scandentes habitu Cissi, pilis articulati mollibus pilosce.
Cirrhi lateralis. Folia pedata, foliolis quinis, mucronato-crenatis serratisve.
Flores paniculati, minuti Baccce pisiformes.
OBS. Genus Actinostemmati affinis, discrepans habitu, filamentis monadel-
phis, forma stigmatum, et structura fructus. An Cyclantheroe affinis ?
1. E. digyna, foliolis subtus glabris, paniculis molliter et parce pubescentibus,
petalis fl. faem. oblongo-lanceolatis acuminatis, stylis 2 basi coalitis, fructibus
pubescentibus.
HAB. Khalamkhet, Jingsha, at the foot of the Mishmee Hills ; and towards
Deelong, on the Mishmee Hills, alt. 2-3,000 feet.
DES. Herba tenera, scandens, molliter pubescens. Petioli subunciales.
Foliola subtus glaucescentia, lanceolata, acuminata, crenato-serrata vel dentata
cum mucrone, supra ad venas parce puberula, subtus glabra. Cirrhi laterales.
Paniculse flor. masculorum spithamece, molliter pubescentes, ramis ascendenti-
patentibus. Bracteos subulate. Flores racemoso-fasciculati minutissimi : pedi-
cellis subtus florem articulatis. Parianthium rotatum. Sepala parce piloso.
Petala lineari-lanceolata, subulato-acuminata. Columna staminum brevis, vix
exserta. Antherre subreniformes, longitudinaliter dehiscentes. Paniculce fl.
fsem. breviores. Pedicelli calycesque pubescentes. Petala oblongo-lanceolata,
acuminata, undulata. Stamina o. Ovarium superum, biloculare, pubescens ;
ovula solitaria, pendula, raphe extrorsa ? Styli 2, basi coaliti, bifidi. Stig-
mata simplicia. Fructus (immaturus) pubescens.
2. E. trigyna, foliolis utrinque pubescentibus, paniculis (fructus) dense pubes-
centi-hirtis, petalis (fl. frem.) e basi lanceolata subulato-acuminatissimis, stylis
3 basi discretis, fructibus glabris.
Zanonia cissoides, wall ?
HAB. Below Dewangiri, towards Dairang, Bootan Mountains, alt. 1-500
feet. In very shady moist woods, Myrung, Khasiya Hills, alt. 5,000 feet.
DES. Habitus prsecedentis. Caules et petioli dense pubescenti-hirti.
Foliola lanceolata, ecuminata, crenato-serrata, supra parce pubescentia, subtus
ad venas densius. Cirrhi laterales. Paniculce fructus digitum vix excedentes,
denae pubescenti-hirtce, ramis patentibus. Pedicelli subtus flores articulati,
dense pubescenti-hirti. Ovarium glabrum. Styli 3, subulati, bifidi. Stigmata
simplicia. Baccce pisi forma et magnitudine, apice stylorum reliquiis distan-
tibus notatre, medium supra annulatce, atrce triloculares ; epicarpium subchart-
aceum. Semina solitaria, cuneata, brunnea, muriculata, margine exarata.
Embryo conformis, plumula conspicua.
OBS. I have male specimens of a plant of this genus from Darpeling, which
differ materially from those of E. digyna, and which I think belong to a third
(a) This aestivation, it is proper to remark, occurs in, at least, one genuine
Cucurbi.tacea. See Trichosanthes tuberosa, Bot. Mag. t. 2,703.
FROM THE EASTWARD BY DR. CANTOR. 277
filaments, connectiva and loculi, the generally capsular, annulated,
one-celled fruit with simple parietal placentation, and the pen-
dulous* etunicate seeds. There does not appear to be any pecu-
liarity in the situation of the cirrhi, the particular nature of which
is besides unknown. f
It passes I imagine into typical Cucurbitaceae through Zanonia,
in which the placentae are so produced inwards as to meet in the
axis, and still more through Telfaria (Hook.), in which there
appears to be a tendency to the triadelphous stamina, and which
is represented as having horizontal and tunicated seeds.
It affords strong evidence against the hypothesis of the struc-
ture of Cucurbitaceous fruit advanced some time ago by Dr.
Wight, and which goes so far as to reverse what has hitherto been
found to be the constant disposition of the vegetable leaf. For
the gradation is complete (through Zanonia) J between the entirely
species. The two, now attempted to be established, require to be examined in
the living state.
In my Mallaca collection occur specimens of a remarkable plant, which
appears to me to belong to this sub-family, although its habit is widely different,
being rather that of Menispermeae.
Calyx minutus irregularis, sub 5-partitus. Petala 5 acuminibus subulatis
incurvis. Stamina 5, soluta. Antheroa lineares, uniloculares. Rudimentum
Pistilli.
Frutex cirrhosus, femigineo-pubescens. Folia oblongo-ovata, integra, Mcni-
spermoidea vel Phytocrenoidea. Cirrhi latarales. Paniculne amplae, folia exce-
dentes. P'lores minuti ; perianthium utrumque extus ferruyineo-hirtum.
Affinis Natsiato (Ham.) ; affinior Cucurbitaceis, Zanoninis. An Enkylae sp.?
* Feuillea is described (Endl. "Gen." p. 934) as having the ovula erect,
\vhich probably is an error.
t Compare with this Arnott's character of this sub-family, " Lond. Jour.
Bot," 3, p. 272.
The structure of the ovarium and fruit of Zanonia still appears to be un-
Icnown. While the ovula are distinctly parietal, the placentae are produced
inwards so as to meet in the axis, resembling in a remarkable degree, the very
young state of the placentation of Coccinia.
The fruit may be thus described. Capsula (clavata) unilocularis, infra
apicem annulata, apice piano valvis tribus demum inflexis dehiscens ; placentea
3 (trigonae), magnae, usque ad axin products. Semina cujusque placentae (fol.
corpellarium duorum) bina, pendula, etunicata, marginato-alata.
Dr. Arnott, I believe, considers the wing of the seed to be of secondary im-
portance. But the common form of the margin of Cucurbitaceous seeds would
seem either to indicate the occurrence of no wing, or if any, of two. In either
case Zanonia appears remarkable.
I subjoin a character of the genus :
ZANONIA, Linn. Floris dioici ; Masc. sepala 3, petala 5, stamina 5, soluta,
antheris unilocularibus. Faem. Perianthium maris. Ovarium (inferum) unilo-
culare, ob placentis intus productis pseudo-triloculare. Ovula 6, pendula.
Styli 3, bipartiti. Fructus capsularis, vertice piano valvis tribus dehiscens ;
placentae trigonae, maximae, in axi concurrentes. Semina marginato-alata.
HABITUS. Planteae indicae, scandentes, carnosae, glabrae. Folia indivisa,
vel trisecta ( Arn). Flores parvi, paniculati, viridescentes. Antherarum dehis-
centia transversa. Fractus clavatus, subtrigonus, apicem infra annulatus.
OBS. Genus ab aliis subfamiliae distinctum, Alsomitra excepta? sepalorum
278 THE FLAT-HORNED TA URINE CATTLE
and simply parietal placentation of Actinostemma, and the more
complicated, but still parietal, placentation of typical Cucurbi-
tacere.
I regret that it has not been in my power to give an accurate
catalogue of the species contained in the Chinese collections. It
cannot be too often insisted on, that the usual necessary means of
botanical determination, and which are characteristic of scientific
institutions, do not exist in India, not even in the Public Botanic
Gardens. The only way, therefore, by which I could hope to
attach any interest to this paper was by confining myself to the
genera contained in it, which appeared to me either new to science,
or imperfectly known.
XXXIX.
ON THE FLAT-HORNED TAURINE CATTLE
OF SOUTH-EAST ASIA.
["Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal," vol. xxix. pp. 282-304.]
By ED. BLYTH, Esq.
THE species of Bovine animals (so far as known), whether recent
or fossil, resolve into three primary groups : viz.,
I. Bisontine. II. Taurine. III. Bubaline. Two of these
groups being again divisible as follow :
I. Bisontine (adapted for a frigid climate). Subdivided into
i. Ovibos (the " Musk Ox " of the Arctic "barren grounds " of
America; but which formerly, during the glacial epoch, was far
more extensively diffused, remains of this animal having been met
with in the British Islands*). 2. Bootherium ; extinct (founded
aliquorum cohesione, placentis intus productis, ovulorum numero, et seminibus
marginato-alatis. Z. Vightiana. Am. veiisimiliter genere excludenda.
* As also of the Caribou, or present barren-ground race or variety of the
Reindeer ; though I am far from being satisfied that this barren-ground race
differs in any respect from the wild Reindeer of Lapland, or of the " tundras"
of Arctic Siberia ; while I much suspect that the large race or variety of Rein-
deer which is ridden by the Tungusi and other Siberian tribes (and to the
backs of which the bales of goods are annually transferred, in Mantchuria, from
those of two-humped camels), to be similarly identical with the Woodland
Caribou of North America. The subject of the races of Reindeer will be
more fully treated of in the sequel.
As the above is passing through the press, I learn, from Lord Wrottesley's
Address to the British Association at Oxford (June 2;th, 1860), that Dr. II.
Falconer, "aided by Col. Wood, of Glamorganshire, has recently extracted
OF SO UTH-EAST ASIA. 279
on two specific races, one of which is the Ovibos Pallantis of De
Blainville, and the other is the Bos bombifrons of Marian).
3. Bison (the well-known broad-fronted and shaggy Bisons of
Europe and N. America, and formerly of N. Asia). 4. Poephagus
(the Yak of high Central Asia). To this Bisontine division pertain
the only indigenous bovine quadrupeds of America.
II. Taurine (with the exception of the humped cattle suited
to a temperate climate and restricted to mountainous countries
within or near the tropics). Subdivided into i. Zebus (the
Zebu or humped cattle of the hotter regions of Asia and
Africa). 2. Taurus (the humpless cattle with cylindrical horns).
3. Gavoeus (the humpless cattle with flattened horns, peculiar to
S.E. Asia).
III. Bubaline (the flat- horned, thinly clad, and thick -hided
wallowing* cattle of Asia and Africa). Comprising only
i. Bubalus (the Buffaloes, including the Anoa of Celebes).
According to the views so very ably expounded by Mr. C.
Darwin, all the species of one genus have a common origin in the
depths of time, and we may ascend in the generalization to any
extent, needing only unlimited lapse of time for the ever accumu-
lating development of small variations in any particular direction,
under the unconscious guidance of the law of Natural Selection.
Species, as he maintains, are only strongly marked varieties, and
varieties he designates as incipient species ; and most assuredly
the dividing line between what are variously accepted as species
or as varieties cannot oftentimes be traced; nevertheless, it is
admitted by Mr. Darwin that the mass of what are generally con-
sidered as species have acquired a high degree of persistency, and
arguments pro and con are abundantly supplied by the Bovines, as
by endless other groups ; on the one hand, we have the multi-
tudinous races of cylindrical-horned domestic cattle, whether
humped or humpless, which surely no naturalist would go the
length of supposing to be so many separate and distinct creations ;
and. on the other hand, we have the phenomenon of three wild
species, or most strongly characterized races (more strongly
characterized apart than are any of the domestic races of humped
or humpless Taurines respectively), yet exhibiting many pecu-
liarities in common, inhabiting to a great extent the very same
region, but maintaining their distinctive characters wherever
found, and never (so far as known) hybridizing one with another,
from a single cave in the Gower peninsula of South Wales, a vast quantity of
the antlers of a Reindeer (perhaps of two species of Reindeer), both allied to
the living one. These fossils are most of them shed horns ; and there have
been already no fewer than i, 100 of them dug out of the mud filling one cave."
Athenaum, June 30, 1860, p. 890.
It is remarkable that Ursus arctos of the major continent should, in
Americaj be restricted in its range to the Arctic barren-grounds.
* The true bisons wallow during the summer.
-So THE FLAT-HORNED TA URINE CATTLE
though at least two of them have interbred in a state of domesti-
cation (and one of them even in the wild state) with the ordinary
tame humped cattle of the tropical regions of the major continent.*
All three are domesticable, as will be shown; and as regards the
reputed indomitable nature of one of them, the gigantic Gaour
(G. gaurus), we have only to reflect on the fact, how very readily
the tamest and one of the most thoroughly and completely
domesticated of all tame creatures, the humped Ox (Bos or Zebus
gibbosus) relapses into a condition of feral wildness, unsurpassed
even by the Gaour itself, and assuredly beyond that of the
renowned Chillingham cattle of Northumberland, if not also of
the feral humpless cattle of S. America and elsewhere. f
The humped cattle are unknown in an aboriginally wild state ;
and I am strongly of opinion that they will prove to be of African
rather than of Asiatic origin, however ancient their introduction
into India ; for no fossil or semi-fossil remains of this very distinct
type have as yet been discovered in any part of Asia, where the
only established fossil Taurine is the Bos namadicus of the
Nerbudda deposits, which is barely (if at all satisfactorily) dis-
tinguishable from the European B. primogenius (or true Urus of
Caesar). | It need hardly be remarked that the humped type of
* The Bos sylhetanus, F. Cuv. , is founded upon a hybrid Gayal (G. front-
alis) of this kind ; and the B. leucoprymnos, Quoy and Gaymard, upon a
hybrid Banteng (G. sondaicus). Sir T. Stamford Raffles remarks, in his
"History of Java," that "the degenerate domestic cows [of that island,
humped] are sometimes driven into the forest to couple with the wild Ban-
teng, for the sake of improving the breed." Baron Cuvier supposed that the
true gayal was a hybrid between the humped cattle and the buffalo ; but he
seems to have known only the hybrid animal from the description and figures
sent by M. Duvaucel and published by his brother in the " Mamm. Lithog."
t How readily European cattle resume the wild habit, is shown by the
following passage in Mr. S. Sydney's excellent work, " The Three Colonies of
Australia" (1852), p. 314. " The cattle in bush re-acquire in many respects
the habits of their wild progenitors ; such is the habit of camping, and such,
too, the manner in which, like the wild [feral] cattle of Chillingham Park in
Noithumberland, they march in single file to water, the bulls leading ; so, too,
when threatened, they take advantage of the inequalities of the ground and
steal off in their hollows unperceived, the bulls, if attacked by dogs, bringing
up the rear."
In the Swan River colony, both horses and horned cattle have gone com-
pletely wild, and buffaloes in the vicinity of Port Essington. Vide Leichardt,
in " Journ. Roy. Geogr. Soc." xvi. 237.
(What are the wild cattle of Albania noticed by Count Karact in "Journ.
Roy. Geogr. Soc. " xii. 57 ? Also, what were those hunted by the ancient
monarchs of Assyria, as represented in the Nineveh sculptures? What, indeed,
were the Uri Sylvestres which haunted the great forests that surrounded Lon-
don in the time of Fitzstephen i.e., about 1150 A.D.? The late Jonathan
Couch remarked, in his " Cornish Fauna " (1838), that " The ancient breed
in the west of England was called "black cattle," from the very dark appear-
ance of its coat, almost like velvet, circumstances in which it seems to have
differed from the races of the north of England, which were white.")
I refer more especially to the later or post-pliocene (pleistocene, or even
OF SOUTH-EAST ASIA. 281
domestic cattle is generally diffused over the hotter parts of Africa,
from east to west or ocean to ocean, and on the eastern side as
recent) type, the remains of which are found in almost modern lacustrine depo-
sits, where likewise occur those of Bison ciu<'p.vu> <>f the existing type, .
tinguished from the wide-horned priscus type. This later form of primogenius
(which is that originally so named by Bojanus) absolutely resembles the most
finely developed examples of certain (unimproved) domestic races of large and
very long-horned cattle, except that the size is fully one-third larger, as
remarked by Professor Nilsson. In like manner, Mr. Hodgson notices, of the
Indian buffalo, that "The wild animals are fully a third larger than the
largest tame breeds [in India], and measure from snout to vent 104 feet and 6
to 64 feet high at the shoulder." ("J. A. S.," xvi. 710). The older type of
primogenius occurs in the pliocene drift, together with bison piiscus; and (so
far as I have seen) the size of the skull is smaller than in the other, but the
horns are still larger, and curve round more towards eacli other at the tips ;
moreover (if I mistake not), they are both thicker and longer in the bull than
in the cow, whereas in the more modern type (as in domestic cylindrical-horned,
cattle, whether humped or humpless) they are thicker but shorter in the bull,
longer and more slender in the ox and cow. With the exception of the Indian
buffalo to some extent, I know of no other true bovine in which the horns are
not both thicker and longer in the bull. In the old type of primogenius, the
horn-cores are sometimes enormous. I have measured a pair which were 3
feet long and 19 inches round at base. Another of the same linear dimensions,
but 18 inches in circumference at base, is noticed in the " Ann. Ma<, r . N. 1 1.,"
vol. ii. (1838), p. 163. I have drawings of a fine frontlet of perhaps a cow of
this race, which was found in the gravel when digging the foundations of the
Houses of Parliament. Of the later race, compare the noble Swedish bull-
skull figured in " Ann. Mag.N. H.," second series, iv. 257, 259, with the superb
Scottish cow-skull in the British Museum, figured in Prof. Owen's "British
Fossil Mammals and Birds," 498, 507. The latter measures just 2\ feet from
vertex to tips of intermaxillaries. Compare also Prof. Owen's figure of bison
priscus with Prof. Nilsson's figure of the modern type of European bison from
the Swedish peat (p. 490 and p. 415 of the same vols. respectively). Whether
the latter has occurred in the British Islands I am unaware, but suspect that
it does not, or at least that it has not been recognized hitherto.
Perhaps the latest (though vague) notice of the urus as an existing animal
occurs in Bell's "Travels in Tartary," vol. i., ch. iii., p. 223: "Journey from.
Tomsky to Elimsky, in the country of the Tsuliam Tartars/' It seems to me
to refer more probably to the wild taurine urus than to the bison ; but in either
case the notice is sufficiently remarkable. "On the hills and in the woods
near this place are many sorts of wild beasts, particularly the urus or uhr-ox,
one of the fiercest animals the world produces. Their force is such, that neither
the wolf, bear, nor tiger dares to engage with them. In the same woods,"
Bell continues, "is found another species of oxen, called bubul by the Tartars.
It is not so large as the urus ; its body and limbs are very handsome ; it has a
high shoulder and flowing with long hair growing from the rump to its ex-
tremity, like that of a horse. Those which I saw were tame and as tractable
as other cattle." Certainly a remarkable notice of the yak, both wild and
tame (as it would seem), in a region where that animal is at present unknown.
The word bubul has probably its connection with bubulus.
The difference in the development of the wild and tame buffalo of India is
equally observable where the two frequent the same pastures and commonly
interbreed ; and I believe the main reason of it to be, that the tame calves are
deprived of their due supply of milk. The importance of an ample supply of
nourishment in early life, as bearing on the future development of any animal,
cannot be. over-estimated. A friend remarked to me that he had no idea of
what a fine buffalo was till he saw those of Burma. They are there, he states,
FLAT-HORNED T A URINE CATTLE
:.'! throughout Madagascar; the same being
He type known in Arabia,* though, curiously, in
lly Arabian island of Socotra, the cattle are of the
limnpl'-:,:; KuropeaM or N. Asiatic type.f Both humped and
hum pi CSS cattle are represented in the old Egyptian paintings;
and the Immplc- t.r in S. Africa, in the remarkable indi-
genous ('.o l;ir as known) Caflre cattle, and I have seen fossil
remains of tin- same cylindrical horned humpless type from the
liaiil.:, of a tributary of the Gariep river. J In Madagascar, also,
much laryer than in iVir'-al, with splendid liorns, and altogether a vastly
:,ii|i'-iii>r ;iiiiin:il. Tin: I'-u i mese never milk them, having the same strange
prejudice Against niilk \vliid: the Chinese have, though otherwise both people
rly Omnivorous, There is a Corresponding difference of development
in tin- wild :ind tame races of yak, and of reindeer in Lapland, doubtless ior
.>ii.
* Tin- linn ' T Arabia generally are " of a very small and poor race,
:md are never, but with the greatest reluctance, killed for food." (Wallin, in
"fourn, Kv. Geogr. Soc.," vol. xxiv. 148). Chesney remarks of tliem, that
"bull. :md COWS take the next place to the buffalo, and, like those of India,
i :\ hump, Mini are ' small si/.e ; some bullocks purchased at Suwei-
ed eaeh only about 22,\ pounds ol meat. Again, in his Appendix
(\i>l. i. 179), he enumerates among the domestic animals of Arabia and Meso-
potamia, " both th<- common bud and c:o\v, and the hull and cow with hunch."
Jn tin- province <>f Ki-rman, in I'er.sia, Mr. Keitli C. Abbot remarks that "the
this par! ol the country are ol a small humped kind, and are commonly
'! 1'nrlhen ; people also ride on them, seated on a soft pad, and
M ropa i . passed through the nostril, by which they are guided." (" Journ. Roy.
( iCOgr. Soi-.," vol. x\v. 43.)
f /'/,/'. \\V11 '.ted in " |ourn. Roy. Geogr. Soc.," vol. v. 200. On the con-
lines of Indi. i, this Kuiopean and also Tartar type of humpless cattle comes
round evidently from the eastward into P. ut an. .Hut the Chinese taurines (so
I can ham) are mostly hybrid, being variously intermediate to the
humped and humpless species, except, however, towards the north ; and huge
'.did Tartar cattle are p vond the great wall of China,
of the e, \\ith va.l troops of horses, &C., being the property of the
emperor. ( / V,.v Timkow.ki and others.) According to Major R. C. Tytler,
:i white bleed of luimple-s (?) cattle is reared and highly prized by the natives
<>l I laCCft, who never unn them out to pasture. It has "little or no symptoms
of a hump." " Ann. M. N. II.," second series, xiv. (1854), 177.
Proc, cieol. Soc.," i S.jo, p. 152. C'aptain Speke observed some
vei v tine humpless cattle on the N. W. shore of the Tanganyika lake, near the
oipi.itor. "Very 1. n^e cattle, bearing horns of stupendous si/e. They ;ire of
a uniform red colour. like our Devonshire breed, but attain a much
;in, on the shore of his grand Victoria
lake, he remarks that " The cows, unlike the Tanganyika ones, are
small and .short-horned, and are of a variety of colours. They carry a hump,
like the Uiahmini bull, but give very little milk.'' / Y..v Ulackwood'
No, il\\viii. ^()c;> S. A little further
nd, in the I'.ari country, on the shores of the \\'hite Nile, between 4
Ferdinand \Yerne tells us " We remark, as usual among
'.[-coloured cows, many quite white, and tew black or dapple. The
bulls h.n-e the cr. , ; i and thick humps; the cows, on the contrary,
; it Fnnnerich on the Rhine [?i
:n, and set otT with llaky hair,
CCt, by which means the head,
OF SO UTH-EAST AS LI. 283
where the tame cattle are all of the humped kind, a humpless
wild race, not yet scientifically described, was long ago in<!
by Flacourt, and since by the missionary Ellis ; stated to resemble
European cattle except in having longer limbs.* But to return
to the humped cattle. These are now the ordinary Taurines of
tropical and subtropical Asia, and, according to Kit-mpfcr, extend
on to Japan. Though unknown in an aboriginally wild state, the
species has relapsed into wildness in various parts of India, as
especially in Oudh and Rohilkund, in Shdhabdd, in Mysore, and
even in Ceylon ; a fact the more interesting, as proving (what had
been doubted) that these humped cattle can maintain themselves,
and the lively eye acquire a brisk and intelligent expression." (Werne's " Nar-
rative of Expedition to Discover the Sources of the White Nile, in the Years
1840, 1841," O'Reilly's translation, ii. 94.) It is not likely that the cows
referred to should be entirely humpless, and the large lustrous eye is every-
where one of the many characteristics of the humped species, as is the lanceo-
late form of ear (which, I suppose, is referred to), as contrasted with the broad
round ears of the humpless kind ; and in hybrids of different degrees of admix-
ture the proportion is more readily seen in the shape of the ear than in aught
else. Moreover, it seems that, as in India, white or greyish-white humped
cattle predominate, but the black tail-tuft is constant, except in the rare case of
an albino. Between 6 and 7 N. lat., among the Kek or Kiak nation, we
learn from the same authority that " The cattle are generally of a light
colour, of moderate size, and have long beautifully twisted horns, some of
which are turned backwards (as also in India). The bulls have large speckled
humps, such as are seen in the hieroglyphics ; the cows, on the contrary, only
a little elevation on the shoulders." {Ibid. i. 175.) As with the humped cow
elsewhere ; and when Col. Sykes mentions that this species of cattle, " when
early trained to labour or to carriage, is nearly destitute of the hump " (" Proc.
Zool. Soc." 1831, p. 105), he refers to cows and oxen only, for the labouring
bull has always a well-developed hump, especially if well fed, and this has
much to do with the filling out of the hump in oxen and cows ; the fundamental
structure is there invariably, and capable of development. The huge-horned
Bornouese and Galla races of cattle are of the humped species, unlike the fine
Tanganyika race " with stupendous horns." Indeed, cattle exceedingly like
the African Galla race of Bruce and Salt are by no means very rare in India.
It is remarkable that the singular strepsicerine or Cretan breed of sheep
exists in the country drained by the White Nile, modified, however, in its
fleece by the locality. Thus, Werne tells us (ii. 18), that " I purchased for
a couple of miserable beads a little sheep, covered partly with wool and partly
with hair, as the sheep here generally are, with a long mane under the throat,
and horns twisted back. Selim Capitan says that a similar species (race) is
found in Crete." Elsewhere (p. 97), he remarks " Rams with horns twisted
back and manes " the latter of course under the throat, as mentioned in the
preceding notice.
* " Horned cattle are numerous, both tame and wild ; many of the latter
resemble in shape and size the cattle of Europe." (Ellis's " History of Mada-
gascar.") These wild animals abound in the province of Mena-be which occupies
much of the western portion of the island. In Mr. J. A. Lloyd's " Memoir on
Madagascar," published in the 2Oth vol. of the "Royal Geographical Society's
Journal," we read (p. 63) that "the northern part of Mena-be contains great
numbers of wild cattle ; Radama and his officers, in one of their warlike expe-
ditions amongst the Sakalami, passing througli this country, killed upwards of
340 [wild ?] oxen in one day for the use of his army, and two days afterwards
431 more were killed by the soldiers."
284 THE FLAT-HORNED T A URINE CATTLE
unaided by man, in regions inhabited by the tiger. The origin
and history of the wild herds of the Shahabad jungles, which still
exist, are given by Dr. F. Buchanan Hamilton,* who remarks
that " In the woods of Jagadispur and Damraong are some wild
cattle of the common breed ; they resemble entirely in form and
in variety of colours | those bred about the villages of this
district, but are more active and very shy. The Raja of Bhojpur,
and his kinsman Sahebzadeh Singha [as of late Kumar Singha,
the notable rebel], carefully preserve them from injury ; and say,
that, owing to the encroachments of agriculture, the number is
rapidly diminishing. Many of their neighbours, however, alleged
that the devastation committed by these sacred herds was very
ruinous, and every year occasioned more and more land to be
deserted. The origin of these herds is well known. When the
Ujayani Rajputs incurred the displeasure of Kasim Ali, and for
some years were compelled to abandon their habitations, some
cattle were left in the woods without keepers; and on their
owner's return had acquired the wild habits, which their offspring
retain. Several calves had been caught ; but it has been found
impossible to rear them, their shyness and regret for the loss of
liberty having always proved fatal. This shows what difficulties
mankind must have encountered in first taming this most useful
animal," &c. &c. The extreme wildness of the feral cattle of
Oudh is noticed by Capt. (now Col. Sir T. Proby) Cautley, in
" J. A. S.," ix. 623. " In the districts of Akhurpur and Doolpur,
in the province of Oudh," he remarks, " large herds of black oxen
are, or were, to be found in the wild uncultivated tracts, a fact to
which I can bear testimony from my own personal observation,
having, in 1820, come in contact with a very large herd of these
beasts, of which we were only fortunate enough to kill one ; their
excessive shyness and wildness preventing us from a near approach
at any second opportunity." Another writer notices herds of
these feral humped cattle on the road from Agra to Bareilly ; and,
from all recent accounts, they seem to be on the increase rather
than on the decrease. J
* Montgomery Martin's compilation from the Buchanan Hamilton MSS.,
vo/. i. 504.
"r Major W. S. Sherwill, who has often shot over the now famous "Jugdes-
pur jungle," by permission of the late Kumar (or Kooer) Singha, who allowed
him to shoot what he pleased so long as he spared the wild cattle, informs me
that, while of course respecting the Raja's injunction, he was curious about
these cattle, and had opportunities of watching them somewhat closely. Ail
he saw were rather of small size and of an earthy-brown colour, with shortish
horns, and he thinks without the nil-gai markings on the feet (which are often
seen in domestic humped cattle). Whether the Oudh herds tend to uniformity
of colouring I am unaware. The feral herds of humpless cattle in S. America
are, I believe, of various colours, like their domestic Spanish progenitors.
J In an article " On the Future of Oudh" (published in the Morning Chronicle
for May 17, 1859), it is remarked that " The forests, and notably among them,
OF SO UTII-EAST ASIA 285
With this fact, therefore, to bear in mind, the excessive shy-
ness and wildness of the feral herds known to be descended
from domestic humped cattle, and also the fact (which 1
others know from experience) of the extreme difficulty there is in
subduing the wild propensities of the common Bengal Jungle-fowl
(Callus ferrugineus v. bankivus), from which wild species all the
races of domestic poultry are as clearly derived as are those of
tame ducks from the mallard, we are quite justified, I think, in
that of the Tarai, towards Nipal, serve as a shelter for innumerable wild cattle,
which are admirably suited for artillery bullocks and other laborious purposes,
besides affording excellent firewood and pasture for cattle, and also hunting-
ground for the sportsman. In these forests and in the extensive jungles, are to
be found the hides and horns of thousands of wild cattle, rotting, as it were, for
want of hands to turn them to account, and which alone would prove a most
remunerative branch of commerce, to judge from the success which the very
few who have attempted to realize this branch of commerce, have met with.
From the same source, tallow might be obtained in abundance, were there only
a few speculators to inaugurate the trade, and to direct it into the natuial
channels for its development. "
The making over of a considerable portion of the Tarai region to a Hindu
Prince (Jung Bahadur), will of course tend to a further preservation of these
feral cattle. Another and more remarkable locality where many beasts of the
sort (and of various colours) are little molested, is the churr or alluvial island
known as the Siddi churr, lying S.E. of Noacolly in the eastern Sundarbans.
On this churr there is no high tree-jungle, and scarcely brushwood enough to
afford cover for tigers, which do not occur on the island.
It is probable that such feral herds occur also in Africa. Thus, in some
"Notes on an Expedition down the Western Coast of Africa to 'the Bijuga
Islands,' and the recently discovered river Kiddafing," by Col. L. Smyth
O'Connor, C.B., F.R.G.S., communicated by the Colonial office to the Royal
Geographical Society, and published in its Journal for 1859, p. 384, it appears
that in the island of Ovanga " the finest oxen are wild in innumerable herds."
In general, however, the notices of wild cattle in Africa refer either to I.
Bubaline species ; 2. Gnus (Catoblepas), or "wilde beests" of the Dutch colo-
nists ; 3. Species of the Hartebeest group, as especially acronotus bubalis
in N. Africa ; 4. Even the leucoryx and kindred antelopes. As an illustration
of this vague application of names, Capt. Lyon mentions a chain of mountains
to the south of Fezzan, named Wadan, " on account of the immense number of
buffaloes to be found there, and which are of three species viz., the Wadan
[ovis tragelaphus !], an animal of the size of an ass, having very large (or, as is
elsewhere stated, very long, heavy) horns, and large bunches of hair hanging
from the shoulder, to the length 18 inches or 2 feet ; they have very large
heads, and are very fierce. The bogua-el-weish [acronotus bubalis ?], which is
a kind of buffalo, slow in its motion, having very large horns and being of
the size of an ordinary cow ; and the white buffalo [oryx leucoryx !], of a
lighter and more active make, very shy and swift, and not easily procured.
The calving-time of these animals is in April or May." ("Travels in N.
Africa," pp. 76, 271.) Dr. Barth notices the ovis tragelaphus by the name
Wadan. "Wild oxen" of some sort are stated to inhabit the country border-
ing on the river Koanza. ("Journ. Roy. Geog. Soc.,"xxiv. 272.) Capt.
Burton, also, in his recently published work, " The Lake Regions of Central
Africa," notices that " The park-lands of Duthumi, the jungles and forests of
Ugogi and Mgunda Mk'hali, the barrens of Usukuma, and the tangled thickets
of Ujiji, are full of noble game lions and leopards, elephants and rhinoceroses,
wild cattle (buffaloes?), giraffes, gnus, zebras, quaggas, and ostriches." Gnus,
at least, being here discriminated.
286 THE FLAT-HORNED TA URINE CATTLE
withholding assent to the current opinion that the Gaour (Bos
gaurus), or any kindred species, is incapable of domestication.
From accounts of the savage nature of the wild Yak, the same
might have been inferred of that species, which we know to be
extensively domesticated ; or, if we were only acquainted with
the wild reindeer as it exists in Arctic America, the varied
applicability of the domestic herds of the corresponding regions
of the major continent would scarcely have been predicated.
So with the African elephant in modern times, as compared with
the Asiatic elephant ! * Civilized man, as a rule, exterminates
but does not domesticate has not hitherto done so, at least,
whatever efforts may of late have been made (with but moderate
result hitherto) by the Acclimation and different Zoological
Societies. A cultivated country, however, is ill adapted for such
experiments. Wild animals are rather to be won over, by degrees,
in their indigenous haunts, where their habits of life are little
changed by domestication, and their food continues to be that to
which the race is accustomed : their subjugation being accord-
ingly effected by human tenants of the same haunts, who can
hardly have emerged from savagery, but are practically familiar
with the habits of the creatures they seek to subdue. It is thus
that the three species of known wild Asiatic Tutirines with
flattened horns have (each of them) been domesticated, to a
greater or less extent, in their own wildernesses. A few calves
may have originally been caught and tamed, and some stock
established; but how entire herds of full-grown wild animals
may be won over and gradually domesticated, is thus told by Mr.
McRae in "Lin. Tr." vii., 303 et seq., the Gayal or Mit'hun
(Gaveus frontalis) being the species referred to.
" The Kukis have a very simple method of training the wild
Gayals. It is as follows : On discovering a herd of wild Gayals
in the jungles, they prepare a number of balls, of the size of a
man's head, composed of a particular kind of earth, salt, and
cotton ; they then drive their tame Gayals towards the wild ones,
when the two soon meet and assimilate into one herd, the males
* In a letter just received from Sir J. Emerson Tennent, I Icrtrn that the
elephant of Ceylon is considered to be identical with that of Sumatra (!),
which is adjudged to be a peculiar species (intermediate to the existing African
and Indian elephants) by Prof. Schlegel and the late Prof. Temminck, as also
by the late Prince of Canino. At all events the Sumatran elephant is described
by three or four authors, to whom I have had access, to bear generally fine
tusks (i.e. , the males), whereas a fine tusker is exceptional in the instance of
the elephant of Ceylon. Sir J. E. Tennent's elaborate and most interesting
series of chapters on the great proboscidian discloses certain facts, on the family
resemblances of particular herds of elephants, which will not fail to interest the
disciples of Mr. C. Darwin. How about the elephants of the Malayan Penin-
sula, if not also of the Indo-Chinese countries, as far at least as Cochin-China?
I am trying to obtain grinders i.e., molar teeth, in the hope of coming soon to
some understanding in the matter.
OF SO UTH-EAST ASIA. 287
of the one attaching themselves to the females of the other, and
vice versfi. The Kukis now scatter their balls over such parts
of the jungle as they think the herd most likely to pass, and
watch its motions. The Gayals, on meeting these balls as they go
along, are attracted by their appearance and smell, and begin to
lick them with their tongues ; and relishing the taste of the salt
and the particular earth composing them, they never quit the
place until all the balls are destroyed. The Kukis having observed
the Gayals to have once tasted their balls, prepare what they con-
sider a sufficient supply of them to answer the intended purpose,
and as the Gayals lick them up they throw down more ; and to
prevent their being so readily destroyed, they mix the cotton with
the earth and salt. This process generally goes on for three
changes of the moon, or for a month and a half; during which time
the tame and wild Gayals are always together, licking the decoy
balls ; and the Kuki, after the first day or two of their being so,
makes his appearance at such a distance as not to alarm the wild
ones. By degrees he approaches nearer and nearer, until at
length the sight of him has become so familiar that he can advance
to stroke his tame Gaydls on the back and neck without frightening
away the wild ones. He next extends his hand to them, and
caresses them also, at the same time giving them plenty of his
decoy balls to lick ; and thus, in the short space of time mentioned,
he is able to drive them along with his tame ones to his parrah or
village, without the least exertion of force or compulsion ; and so
attached do the Gayals become to the parrah, that when the
Kukis migrate from one place to another they always find it
necessary to set fire to the huts they are about to abandon lest the
Gayals should return to them from the new grounds were they left
standing. Experience has taught the Kuki the necessity of thus
destroying his huts."
In at least some of the hill-ranges bordering the Brdhmaputra
Valley on its left, where Gayals are extensively domesticated by
the mountaineers, they have been so far influenced as to vary con-
siderably in colour, whatever may be the cause of such variation.
Thus, amongst the Meris, Lieut. Dalton tells us that "The
Mit'hun (or Gayal) is the only species of horned cattle possessed
by the Meris. It is rather a clumsy-looking animal in make ; but
a group of Mit'huns grazing on the steep rocky declivities they
seem to love, would be a noble study for Landseer; some are
milk-white, some nearly black, some black and white, and some
red and white."* Elsewhere, the herds of tame Gayals show
generally a few individuals a little pied or splashed with white, with
not uncommonly a white tail-tuft ; and they cannot be expected to
vary much further than this, unless subjected to new influences,
and above all to that of selection in breeding under human super-
* "J. A. S." xiv. 265.
288 THE FLAT-HORNED TAURINE CATTLE
intendence. In the Mishmi Hills wild Gayals are still numerous,*
but we know little of this species excepting on the outskirts of
its range, where its native hills impinge on British territory.!
The Rev. J. Barbe, R.C.M., who seems to have penetrated
further into the interior of the Tippera and Chatgaon (or " Chit-
tagong ") hills than any other European, even to the present time,
remarks, in an account of his tour into the latter territory in
1844-45,! tnat " tne Gayal, Bos frontalis, is found amongst the
hills, particularly to the south of Sitacra ; there are two species,
differing in size and [a] little in colour ; the large one is of a dark
brown, and the male is nearly as high as a female elephant ; the
small one is of a reddish-brown ; it is the Tenasserim " Bison,"
and the Arakanese call them by the same name as the Burmese do.
These Gayals are perfectly distinct from the Shio of the Kookies,
which are smaller, have a projecting skin to their neck, and differ
also by the form and direction of their horns." Now the Shio or
Shial of the Mughs is, for certain, the true Gayal (G. frontalis),
as indeed indicated by the " projecting skin to their neck ;" this
species having the dewlap much more developed than in trie Gaour
(G. Gaurus) and Banteng or Tsoing (G. sondaicus), which last I
believe to be M. Barbe's smaller species " of a reddish-brown/' as
I have ascertained his larger species to be the Gaour (which has
hardly even a trace of dewlap). But the Gaour, and not the
Lanteng, is the " Bison " of Anglo-Indian sportsmen on both sides
of the Bay of Bengal,|| the Banteng being currently known as the
"Wild Ox" of the Indo-Chinese countries. M. Barbe has there-
* "J. A. S." xiv. 495.
t The Gayal of Bishop Heber's Journal, which that much respected prelate
saw in Barrackpore park, was, of course, the gavoeus frontalis. But the figure
and description given are monstrous, and were obviously got up from extremely
vague recollection : the horns turn down instead of up, the space between them
is narrow instead of being very broad, the heavy dewlap is not given, nor ihe
white stockings; the tail is figured and described as " bushy," and as extending
below the hocks, and the outline of the spinal ridge is utterly unlike what it
should be. He says " It is very much larger than the largest Indian cattle
[he could not then have seen an ordnance bullock], but hardly, I think, equal
to an English bull [!] : its tail is bushy [!], and its horns form almost a mass of
white and solid bone to the centre of its forehead [!]" He could only have
viewed the animal from a distance, and have mistaken the pale colour of the
forehead for a continuation of the bases of the horns. Neither is it, as he
remarks, "a native of Tibet and Nipal," nor eveu of Butan (vide Turner's
Embassy). The second figure in the distance is meant, we can only suppose,
to represent a large humped ox ; but here, again, the animal is furnished with
a horse's tail, and is like nothing in nature ! Our utmost respect for the
reverend Bishop can scarcely pardon him such outrageous caricatures, both of
figure and description. Vide Heber's "Journal," i. 31.
t "J. A. S."xiv. 386.
Vide "As. Res." viii. 488.
II In Orissa, the gaour is known to sportsmen and others as the "gayal ;"
although the natives of the province style and pronounce it goor, the names,
of course, being branches or ramifications of the same root.
OF SO UTH-EAST ASIA. 289
fore erroneously identified his smaller kind with the T
" Bison," and is also wrong in applying the name Bos from..
either of his species, as obviously so to both of them.
Soon after the publication of the foregoing notice, I had some
conversation on the subject with M Barbe, and have fortunately
preserved a written memorandum of that conversation, intended
for publication at the time, though it has not hitherto appeared in
print. I did not then recognize the third species ; indeed, at that
time, I had much less knowledge of the Banteng than I have at
present ; but I now give the memo, as orginally written :
" M. Barbe had informed me that, besides the common Gayal
(Bos frontalis), the Kukis of the interior of the Chittagong hills
had a very different species of Bos in a state of complete domes-
tication, the exact species of which I could not satisfactorily make-
out from his description ; when, luckily, he remembered that he
possessed a horn of one of those tame animals, and, to my very
considerable surprise, it proved to be that of a Gaour, or (so-called)
' Bison' of Anglo-Indian sportsmen, an animal which is commonly
reputed to be untameable. The huge beasts are, however, stated
to be most perfectly gentle and quiet, and they habitually pass
the night and great part of the day beneath the raised habitations
of their owners ; and M. Barbe further mentions that he was
greatly astonished at the facility with which these enormous cattle
ascended and descended heights so steep and precipitous, that,
had he not witnessed the feat, he would scarcely have been
inclined to credit it." The last observation points rather to the
Gayal than to the Gaour !
As a rule, the proper habitat of the Gaour is an undulating
grassy table-land intermixed with forest ; the heavy and buffalo-
shaped Gayal being habitually much more of a climber, and also
more exclusively affecting the dense craggy forest, where it browses
in preference to grazing, the Gaour being much more of a grazer.
Having possessed both species alive, I can testify to this differ-
ence in their feeding. The Gaour appears to be diffused through-
out the Indo-Chinese countries, and all down the Malayan
peninsula to the extreme south ; but has not been observed on
any of the great islands of the archipelago. I have lately seen the
skull with horns of an old bull from the mainland near Singapore;
and in 1858 I purchased a live Gaour-calf that was brought from
Singapore to Calcutta, together with a Malayan Tapir. This
calf was in high health when I shipped him for England, and as
tame and tractable as any domestic animal, yet full of life and
frolic ; but he was suddenly taken ill when nearing the Cape, and
died on the following or next day. He was very impatient of the
sun, even at the height of the cold weather (so called) in Calcutta ;
which rendered it difficult to secure a photograph of the animal,
but a good one was taken, and copied in the Illustrated London
VOL II. U
290 THE FLAT-HORNED TAURINE CATTLE
News ; only the artist must needs improve upon nature by
lengthening the tail beyond the hocks, which detracts from the
vraisemblance of the wood-cut. The Gaour is the only species
of the group which inhabits cis-Brahmaputran India, in all suit-
able districts ; extending formerly to Ceylon, where we recognize
it as the Guavera of Knox ; and in Johnson's " Indian Field
Sports," it is familiarly referred to as " the Gour (a kind of wild
bullock)" inhabiting, in about 1796, the hill-country bordering on
the Damuda, through which the Grand Trunk Road now runs
from Raniganj to Shergatti a district from which it has been
long since extirpated, or has retired some hundreds of miles
further west. It is still numerous in various localities, and not
always particularly shy where little persecuted ; for instance, my
late friend Gapt. Grump (a distinguished sportsman, who fell
most gallantly taking possession of a gun at Laknao,) found them
so little shy towards the sources of the Nerbudda, that, on one
occasion, a couple of young bulls came trotting fearlessly out of
the forest, within easy gunshot of himself and companion on
horseback, and continued for some time to trot alongside of them
at that distance, till my friend's sporting (or destructive) pro-
pensities could brook it no longer. Others would have felt much
greater pleasure in observing the noble animals thus fearlessly
at liberty, and would have been loth to abuse their confidence.
In the catalogue of the specimens of mammalia in the India-
house museum, published by the late veteran zoologist, Dr.
Horsfield, in 1851, a Bos asseel is described as a new species,
founded on a preserved head, with the skin on, in that collection.
I have drawings of the identical specimen, which I pronounce,
with confidence (as I did formerly in "J. A. S." xi. 445), to be
that of a cow Gaour, with horns more slender and turning back
more towards the tips than usual ; but I have seen others like
them, and of all intermediate grades between them and the
ordinary type of female Gaour-horns, resembling those of the
bull but more slender, and with always a greater amount of
inclination backwards at the tips. The specimen in question is
figured by Gen. Hardwicke in the " Zoological Journal," iii.,
pi. 7, together with a frontlet of a bull Gaour, and the two being
by him also supposed to be distinct species.
Of the Banteng (G. sondaicus), or Tsoing of the Burmese (who
designate the Gaour as the Pyoung), we possess two frontlets
from Java one of them particularly fine also an imperfect
skull with horns from Pegu, and a single horn from the Arakan
side of the mountain range which separates that province from
Pegu, both presented by Col. Phayre, together with a flat
skin of a calf from Mergui, resembling in colour the Javanese calf
figured by Dr. Salomon Miiller, who has given four excellent
coloured representations of this animal, of different sexes and
OF SOUTH-EAST AS /.-I. 29 r
ages, and profusely illustrated the skulls and horns. For this
calf-skin, the Society is indebted to the late Major Berdmore.
The species was long ago indicated in Pennant's " Hindustan," as
a kind of wild ox " with white horns " inhabiting the Indo-Chinese
countries; and our Peguan specimen has remarkably albescent
horns, while the single horn from Arakan is darker, and resembles
the Javanese examples in our museum. The next and more
detailed notice which we can now refer, without hesitation, to this
species, occurs in Herbert's "Gleanings in Science," iii. 61.
It would appear that a skull and horns of this animal were pre-
sented to the Society at its meeting of February 2, 1831;*
" with a descriptive notice by Mr. Maingy ; by which it appears
that, when full grown, it is about thirteen hands high, and of a
most beautiful red colour, except under the belly, which is white.
It has no hump, like the cow of India. Altogether, it resembles
the red cow of England, but is a much handsomer animal. The
bull is a large and fine animal, and, with the exception of having
a white forehead, resembles the cow. Mr. Maingy has seen
twenty or more of these animals in a herd, but it is a very
difficult thing to get a shot at them, as they have a most acute
sense of hearing and smelling; one or two appear to act as
sentinels, while the others graze or drink. If, in snuffing the
air, they find it tainted, off they fly in a moment, with a speed
almost inconceivable, considering the form and bulk of the
animal."
In the foregoing descriptions, the invariable great white patch
on each buttock (whence the name leucoprymnos bestowed on
the hybrid by MM, Quoy and Gaymard) is unnoticed, as also
the dark colour of the old bull ; but the alleged " white forehead "
of the bull refers doubtlessly to the mass of thickened corneous
substance between the horns, which, in our larger Javanese
frontlet, is thick and solid enough to turn a musket-ball.f ( Vide
S. Miiller's figure of the mature bull.) But, in a notice of " the
Burmese wild Cow, or * Sine Bar,' which appeared in the Bengal
Sporting Magazine for 1841, p. 444, we are informed that "herds
of thirty and forty frequent the open forest jungles [of the
Tenasserim provinces]. They are noble-looking animals, with
short curved horns, that admit of a beautiful polish. The cows
* These were not in the museum when I took charge of it in 1841 ; but only
two frontlets from Java, presented by Prince William Henry of the Nether-
lands ("J. A. S." vi. 987), one of which has since been forwarded to the India-
house museum.
+ Incur smaller Javanese frontlet (figured "J. A. S." xi. 490), a portion of
this enormously thickened epidermis remains attached to the base of each horn,
which led Mr. Hodgson to remark, when looking at these specimens as they
hung up, that the horns were less approximated at base in the Peguan speci-
men. However, on close examination, the true base of the horn is seen to be
well defined, and the supposed distinction disappears.
U 2
292 THE FLAT-HORNED TAURINE CATTLE
are red and white, and the bulls of a bluish colour. They are
very timid, and not dangerous to approach. Their flesh is excel-
lent. They are the only cows indigenous to the provinces ; " yet
the preceding paragraph mentions "the Bison" or Gaotir as
"attaining a great size in the East."
Here the difference of colouring of the sexes observable in the
Banteng (analogous to what is seen in the Nil-gai and Indian
Antelope, and to a less extent in the Gayal) is noticed ; and Sir
T. Stamford Raffles mentions, that (as also in the Nil-gai) " a
remarkable change takes place in the appearance of this animal
after castration, the colour in a few months becoming invariably
red ; ''* i.e. reverting to the hue of the cow and immature bull.
The horns cannot justly be termed short in an old bull; but it is
worthy of remark that, when full grown, they are flattened only
towards the base, considerably less so than in the Gaour and Gayal,
wherefore, when but half-grown, only the cylindrical portion of
them appears, which has given rise to the reports of wild cattle
with cylindrical horns inhabiting the Indo-Chinese territories.
As shown by Prof. S. Miiller's figures, the Banteng though still
very Gayal-like in general aspect approximates more nearly in
contour to the cylindrical horned humpless cattle of Europe and
N. Asia, than is the case with its immediate congeners, the Gaour
and Gayal; and the increased amount of cylindricity of its horns
adds to the resemblance. With much of the general aspect of
the Gayal, it has longer limbs, and is less heavy and bubaline in
its proportions There is nothing exaggerated about its figure ;
the spinal ridge is not more elevated than in B. Taurus, and the
tail-tuft descends considerably below the hock-joint. Indeed,
this animal has been compared to a Devonshire ox ; but it has
nevertheless all the general features of the present group, and is
true to the particular colouring, showing the white "stockings"
(like the Gaour and the Gayal, and also not a few Indian buffaloes).
The shoulder is a little high, with some appearance of the dorsal
ridge behind the scapula, but this slopes off and gradually dis-
appears behind ; the rump also is nearly as much squared as in
European cattle ; dewlap moderate, with a. different outline from
that of the Gayal, more as in the B. Taurus ; colour of the calf
bright chestnut, with a black tail-tuft, and also a black dorsal line
commencing from where the ridge should terminate behind, f
the white stockings having much rufous intermixture at this age.
The cows are deeper-coloured, being of a rich light bay, and the
old bulls are blackish ; both, however, relieved by the white on
the legs, buttocks, lips, and hair lining the ears, which last are
scarcely so large as in the Gaour and Gayal, but of similar
* " History of Java/' i. in.
f Tliis black list is also conspicuous in the calves of both the gaour and the
gnyal, extending both over the dorsal ridge and behind it.
OF SOUTH-EAST AS J.I. 293
shape. The description here given is drawn up from Dr. S.
Miiller's elaborately careful coloured figures.
The Banteng inhabits Borneo, Java, and Bali, and I strongly
incline to the opinion thnt the Gaour, Gayal, and Banteng alike
inhabit the Malayan peninsula and Tenasserim provinces, the
<layal, probably, being confined to a certain altitude upon the
mountains. Capt. (since General) Low distinctly indicates three
species in the Malayan peninsula, besides the Buffalo, in " As.
Res.," xviii. 159. He mentions: "The bison [Gaour], which
is found of a very large size in Thedda, the head [forehead] being
of a fawn colour ; the wild ox [Gayal ?] of the size of a large
buffalo; and also a species [Banteng?] resembling in every
respect the domestic ox." There is, indeed, the skull of a bull
Banteng divested of its horns, labelled " from the Keddah coast,"
in the London United Service Museum ;* and the considerable
resemblance of this animal to the humpless domestic cattle of
Europe has been mentioned repeatedly. Thus the late Major
Berdmore, writing of it from the valley of the Sitang river,
remarks : " They are by no means so common here as they are
to the south. I have often been in the midst of very large herds
of them, and they appeared to me to be very like red domesti-
cated cows." Heifer (no great authority yet) notices three species
of wild cattle, besides the buffalo, in the Tenasserim provinces.
He tells us that : " The great Bos gaurus is rather rare, but
Bison guodos [evidently a misprint for gavseus,f i.e., Bos gavreus
of Colebrooke, or the Gayal,] very common ; besides another
small kind of cow, called by trie Burmese Fhain, of which I saw
footprints, but never the living animal." J He does not mention
the Gayal as domesticated in the provinces ; and I am not aware
that any other writer has there noticed it at all. Still, I consider
it highly probable that the Gayal, in addition to the Gaour and
Banteng for certain, extends to the more elevated regions of the
Malayan peninsula.
The Banteng is the only species of the three which has been
observed in certain of the great islands of the archipelago. The
existence of a " wild ox " in Borneo was long ago noticed by
Beckman, as cited by Pennant, who also recorded the occurrence
of such an animal in Java, and had likewise (as we have seen)
* Figured in " J. A. S.," xi. 470, figs. I, 2, and 3.
f The words may he written to look very much alike.
t "J. A. S." viii. 860.
The two species of Malayan wild cattle noticed as the sapi and the snpan-
dang, in the "Journal of the Indian Archipelago," iv. 354 (as cited in "J.
A. S.," xxi. 433), refer, as I am now satisfied, to the gaour and the wild
buffalo. Dr. Cantor describes the gaour to be "numerous in the Malayan
peninsula," where known as the sapi utan (literally " wild cow "), ' T- A. S.,"
xv. 273. But he enumerates neither the gayal nor banteng in the peninsular
fauna.
294 THE FLAT-HORNED TAURINE CATTLE
obtained intelligence of one " with white horns " in the Indo-
Chinese countries. In Java, according to Raffles, "it is found
chiefly in the forests eastward of Pasuran, and in Bali, though it
also occurs in other parts of Java." Dr. S. M tiller remarks that
the Banteng is found in Java in territories which are seldom visited
by man, as well in the forests of the plains and of the coast, as
in those of the mountains up to 4,000 ft., where it is tolerably
common. " We have likewise seen traces of it," he adds, " in
Borneo, and have even received a calf from the Dyaks about a
month old. According to Raffles, it is also found in Bali, but in
Sumatra it does not appear to exist." In the N.E. peninsula of
Borneo it would seem to be numerous. Thus, in a " Sketch of
Borneo," published in Moor's " Notes of the Indian Archi-
pelago," the writer remarks : " During the wet season the rivers
swell and overflow their adjacent shores, and run down with such
continued rapidity that the water may be tasted fresh at sea at a
distance of six or seven miles from their mouths In
the dry season the coast, from these overflowings, presents to the
eye the richest enamelled fields of full-grown grass for miles
around. It is at this season that whole herds of wild cattle range
down from the mountains of the interior to fatten on the plains,
but during the wet season they ascend to the hills." Hence we
gather that the Banteng is essentially a grazer, like the Gaour,
instead of being chiefly a browser like the Gayal, which never
descends from its mountain forests.
Another writer in the same work states that, in Bali, " the
breed of cattle is extremely fine, almost every one of these beasts
being fat, plump, and good-looking ; you seldom, if ever, see a
poor cow in Bali. It is a breed of a much larger size than the
common run of [humped] cattle in Java, and is obtained from a
cross with the wild cow [bull ?] with the same animal. They are
generally of a red colour, and all of them are white between the
hind-legs and about the rump, so that I do not remember seeing
one that was not white-breeched. The people have no land
expressly devoted to grazing, but let their cattle eat their old
stubble or fresh grass of the rice- fields after the crops have been
taken off; and while the rice is growing they let the cattle stray
into the commons or woods, and pick up what they can get by the
roadside. The rude plough is drawn by two abreast, which the
plougher drives with one hand while he guides the plough with
the other." This account pretty clearly indicates domesticated
Bantengs, intermingled in blood, perhaps more or less, with the
humped cattle, though there is nought to certify such inter-
mixture in the notice quoted, but rather that as in the case of
the Gayal both wild and tame exist and inter-breed occa-
sionally. However, we have the authority of Professor Van der
Hoe'ven that the Bos leucoprymnos of Quoy and Gamard is a
OF SO UTII-EAST AS/. 1 . 295
hybrid Banteng ; and there is a figure of a cow of this i;
race among the Hardwicke drawings in the British Musi-urn which
as also in the instance of a hybrid Gayal that i saw alive par-
took much more of the general aspect of what may be termed the
jungle parent These hybrid Bantengs are known as " Bali
cattle " at Singapore.
The Rev. F. Mason, in his " Notes on the Fauna, Flora, &c., of
the Tenasserim Provinces" (1852), remarks that "a small ox
from the Shan country is brought down sometimes in considerable
numbers, which resembles in its form the English rather than the
Indian ox, but is probably derived from the wild race. Occa-
sionally a young wild ox is domesticated, and brought under the
yoke." This notice should have been more explicit. Crawford
remarks : " The ox is found wild in the Siamese forests, and
exists very generally in the domestic state, particularly in the
Southern provinces. Those we saw about the capital were short-
limbed, compactly made, and often without horns, being never of
the white or grey colour so prevalent among the cattle of
Hindustan. They also want the hump on the shoulders which
characterizes the latter. They are used only in agricultural
labour, and the slaughter of them, publicly at least, is forbidden
even to strangers. Hence during our stay our servants were
obliged to go three or four miles out of town and to slaughter the
animals at night. The wild cattle for the protection of religion
does not extend to them are shot by professed hunters, on
account of their hides, horns, bones, and flesh, which last, con-
verted into jerked beef, forms an article of commerce with China."*
* " Mission to Siam and Cochin China," p. 430.
The people of Laos "have a great many cattle, very small, which yield
scarcely any milk, and which they never think of using. When we told them
that in our country the milk of the cow was much esteemed, and that it forim-d
a savoury food, they laughed, and only held our countrymen in contempt."
(Grandjean, in the "Chinese Repository," as quoted by Sir J. Bowring). This
prejudice ngainst the milk of the cow seems to be common to all the Indo-
Chinese nations, and prevails also in China, whilst the Mantchurian Tartars are
great consumers of milk. Even the savages of the Naga hills, bordering oa
Asam, reject milk as food, in the belief that it is of excrementitious nature.
In Earl's "Voyage to the Molucca Islands and New Guinea," p. 361, we
are informed that '' Wild cattle are numerous in Timor Laut, of a brown colour,
and size about the same as that of two-year old cattle in Holland. The natives
catch them with rattan, and also shoot them with arrows."
The Tamarao of the island of Mindoro (one of the Philippines), as I wa>
informed by Mr. Hugh Cuming, is a small bovine species, but fierce and dan-
gerous to attack, of a dark colour, with horns rising at an angle of about 45
from the forehead." The nearly similar name Tambadao is applied in Borneo
to the Banteng.
These various wild races and humpiess tame races of S. E. Asia and its archi-
pelago demand investigation; and though I have before published in the
Society's Journal several of the notices here cited, it is convenient to bring them
together, to save trouble in reference. What animal the following pas-age
refers to, in Mrs. Graham's work in Ceylon, I am unable even to cunjec;ure;
296 THE FLAT-HORNED TAURINE CATTLE
Are domesticated Bantengs here intended? The existence of
hornless individuals is not more remarkable than that of hornless
buffaloes and other domestic cattle, unless in the instance of a
race little altered from the wild type. Thus the Italian race of
buffaloes, in which hornless individuals sometimes occur (inde
figure of the skull of one in Cuvier's "Ossemens Fossiles "), is
considerably more removed from the aboriginally wild type of the
species than are the domestic buffaloes of India, among which I
am not aware that hornless individuals ever occur. But I have
read of hornless Yaks ; and instances have been known of horn-
less individuals of different species occurring even in the wild
state : a tame Sprinkbok of this description was long in the
possession of the Empress Josephine. By specially breeding from
such animals, a race of them could be readily established.
In Sumatra, as in Java, the ordinary domestic Taurine cattle
are humped, small, and of inferior quality ; but, according to Sir
T. Stamford Raffles " There is a very fine breed of cattle
peculiar to Sumatra, of which," he remarks, " I saw abundance at
Menang Kabu, when I visited the capital of that country in 1818.
They are short, compact, well-made animals, without a hump, and
almost without exception of a light fawn colour, relieved with
white. The eyes are large and fringed with long white lashes.
The legs are delicate and well shaped. Among all that I saw I
did not observe any that were not in excellent condition, in which
respect they formed a striking contrast to the cattle generally met
with in India [i.e., S.E. Asia and its archipelago. India proper is
styled "Western India" by Crawford.] They are universally
used in agriculture, and are perfectly domesticated. This breed
appears to be quite distinct from the Banteng of Java and the
more eastern islands."* What, then, is it? The remark that
these beasts are "perfectly domesticated" would hardly have
been made of any race appertaining to the humped or to the
ordinary humpless type, but seems to imply that the writer
regarded it as a peculiar species, as does also his statement of its
distinctness from the Banteng.
In the "Journal of the Indian Archipelago," ii. 831, is a notice
of the existence of wild cattle in Celebes ; but I suspect that the
and certainly do not credit the existence of such a creature. At the Governor's
house, this lady " saw, feeding by himself, an animal no less beautiful than
terrible the wild bull, whose milk-white hide is adorned with a black flowing
mane ! " The description is explicit enough, so far as it goes, but most assur-
edly no such animal is known to naturalists ; and with the example before us,
of what a wiiier of Bishop Ileber's stamp can make of the Gayal,we may cease
to wonder at any amount of vagary of the kind on the part of unscientific
observers ; though why people of education, who undertake to describe or
notice an animal, however cursorily, should make such sorry use of their eyes
is difficult to comprehend.
* " Lin. Trans, xiii. 267.
OF SO UTH-EAST ASIA. 297
small Anoa Buffalo (Bubalus depressicornis) is intended. In an
account of the province of Minahassa, it is there stated that
" Wild cows are also found here, principally in the higher parts of
the mountains ; but they bear little resemblance to the Hantcng
of Java, are below the middle size, yet possess notwithstanding an
incredible strength." Just possibly an undescribed Taurine may
be here indicated.
While illustrating the domesticability of all the flat-horned Tau-
rine cattle indigenous to S.E. Asia, it is not disputed that some
species of animals are more easily tameable than others ; for
instance, the American as compared with the European bison (by
all accounts), or even the domestic humped bull as compared with
the domestic European bull. It may be from more thorough
rather association of mankind, from its youth continuously, but it
seems from constitutional difference (still the result, perhaps,
of countless ages of such complete domestication), but the fact is
undeniable that the humped bull is far more gentle and tractable
than his European compeer, being much more completely in sub-
jection, and hardly (if at all) influenced by those paroxysms of
sexual excitement which seem to be as irrepressible as ineradicable
in the entire males of most other ruminants. It must be conceded,
however, that the European bull is rarely subjected to like con-
ditions so much inured to constant handling, and governed by
a cord passed through his septum narium. But the fact remains
(as attested by daily observation) that, under existent respective
conditions, the humped bull is as a general rule by far the
more gentle, tractable, and inoffensive animal of the two.
XL.
NOTE BY GENERAL G. B. TREMENHEERE IN
REFERENCE TO HIS PAPERS ON THE
TIN OF MERGUI.
THE Chinese, from their settlement on our boundary river, the
Pakchan, have for long periods exported tin to Pinang, Mergui
and Rangoon. In 1868, fifty tons were reported, but the quantity
was probably much more. Their surface washings for the ore
are still carried on by this industrious people. It is believed a
large quantity of tin is annually obtained, and that the working
is profitable.
In about the same locality, some years ago, an English firm of
298 NOTE BY GENERAL TREMENHEERE
Rangoon prosecuted some stream works, but they did not pay ex-
penses. There were also mining operations under skilled super-
intendence, t( which had had to be abandoned owing to the scarcity
of ore." " From the conformation of the ground good results
were expected, but the lode died away," although at first it was
extremely rich and produced solid lumps of tin ore.
There is no mention of any tin-mining in the neighbourhood
of Mergui, where more than half a ton of clean ore was procured
in 1842 from the Kahan Hill, and sent to England ; specimens of
which are still in the Museum of Economic Geology in Jermyn
Street, and in the Indian Museum. An analysis of these ores,
communicated by Dr. Forbes Watson, gave the following results :
No. i. No. 2. No 3.
Kahan tin ore. Mergui. Tenasserim.
Per cent. Per cent. Per cent.
Silica ....
Tin oxide
Iron and aluminum oxide
Calcium oxide
Magnesium, &c. .
27-55 ... 10-91
*55-i8 ... *72-2o
10-54 ... 7-52
3-82 ... 776
2-92 ... 2-33
7'99
6S'S4
1573
10-27
trace.
loo-oi ... 100-72 ... 99-53
These deposits occur on the same peninsula, and are similar to
the ores from which the Banca and " Straits " tin is obtained.
They are smelted at little cost, as charcoal to any quantity can be
made in the forests, which cover nearly the whole of the province
of Tenasserim. The climate is generally healthy; the heavy
periodical rains and perpetual verdure render the air cool and
agreeable at all seasons. The Kahan Hill, which is eleven miles
distant from Mergui by the river route, is 1,920 yards in circum-
ference. Tin ore has been dug out on both sides of the hill.
It is isolated, in an open plain, entirely free from jungle, and
within a quarter of a mile of water communication by the Tenas-
serim where the river is a mile in breadth, leading to a sheltered
roadstead off the town of Mergui, of from 9,000 to 10,000 inha-
bitants, from which steamers go periodically to Moulmein and
Rangoon. Native vessels also ply frequently to Pinang and
Singapore, and there is no scarcity of labour.
There are other small hills, like Kahan, similarly isolated in the
same plain ; but excepting Yahmon, 20 miles south-east from
Mergui, it is not known that they have yet been tested for tin
ore.
In 1870 a correspondence commenced with the Chief Commis-
sioner of British Burmah with regard to the terms upon which
the Government of India might be disposed to lease out certain.
* Metallic tin, 43*41 per cent, 56-80 per cent., 51*55 per cent.
ON THE TIN OF MKR<, 299
tin mines in Tcnasserim, or for collecting tin in the rivi-r
within that division; and in 1871 a definite request for powers
to work for tin at Kahan and other localities was made t
local authorities. The price of tin was then abnormally high in
England, and soon had reached to more than 160 per ton,
causing tin-mining in Cornwall to be pushed forward with unusual
vigour. Inquiries were made in 1872 from merchants in London
connected with the Indian trade, " whose attention had been
.more particularly directed to the valuable tin deposits in the hills
called Kahan and Yahmon, near Mergui, as presenting ground
in which mining operations could be at once commenced, and as
furnishing a basis for the prosecution of further works," who en-
tertained and expressed no doubt that, " under the grant of a lease
on reasonable terms, a company could be at once formed to raise
the necessary capital, and open mines at these places." The
correspondence, however, was protracted, and it was not until
May 1873 that it was notified that, " with the exception of the
Malewoon township and the upper Tenasserim, the whole of the
tin localities of the Mergui and Tavoy districts were available for
mining purposes;" and in 1874 the draft of the lease of a tract
near Mergui was issued, denning the conditions upon which the
sanction of the Government of India could be obtained.
Four years having elapsed since the subject was first mooted,
and the price of tin in England in the meantime having fallen
about ;6o per ton, it was thought useless to attempt to procure
capital in London for tin-mining in Mergui, and the project had
therefore, for the time, to be abandoned.
The terms of lease then proposed by the Indian Government
were, a yearly rent of 1,000 rupees, and a royalty of 10 per cent,
of the value of metals and metallic ores raised, after the same
shall have been dressed and made merchantable, either for smelting
on the spot, or intended for exportation in an unprepared and un-
smelted condition.
Also, if after the third year the aforesaid royalty should not
exceed 1,000 rupees, then the rent for such year to be increased
to 2,000 rupees.
It cannot be said that these terms are encouraging for mining,
which of all enterprises is one of the most uncertain.
G. B. TREMENHEERE, Major-Gen.
SPRINGGROVE, ISLEWORTH, Sept. n, 1885.
GENERAL INDEX.
AEEL, Dr. Clarke, Account of an
Orang-utan, 172-8
Abia, 1 6, 20
Acheen, Achin, Achib, 41, 84, 88, j
114 ; ii. 90, 91
Allaster, Allestar, 2, 3
Alompra, Alongphra, 198
Alu-ganuh, 214
Amboon, 1 6
Amboyna, 236, 239, 248
Anam, 190
Andaman Islands, 124
Antimony, 180
Apabookit, 3
Apay, 287-9
Arakan, 126, 132
Attarilm, Attiyun, 195, 196
EAIIALATOLIS, 17
Bagelen, 105
Balabac, 15
Balambangan, Blambangan, 4-21
Balamein, 194
Balastier, ii. 68, 69
Bali, 106
Banga-oo, 1 8
Bangaout, 18
Banguey, 9, 12, 14, 19
Banjar-masseen, Banjar-masing, 16, 89
Bankoka, 16
Bankren, 287
Bantam, 104
Bantapakchan, 267
Barton, Lieut. James, Report on
Balambangan, 4-20
Basseelan, Basilan, 1 8
Batagapit, ii. 90
Batopompok, 6
Battakawang, 209-11
Batu Feringi, 203-5
Bayan Khara, ii. 85
Becha-becha, 18
Biajus, 122, 123, 125
Bila, 124
Bima, no
Bisayors, Bisayas, 19
Black pepper, 33
Blakan niati, 67, 97, 103
Blyth, Mr. Edward, on the Orang-
utan, 301-18
On the Flat-horned Taurine
Cattle of South-eastern Asia,
ii. 278-97
Bokpyeen, 270, 283, 284
Boolylooko, 17
Borneo, 5, 10, 13, 15, 1 7, 20, 26, 89,
172
Bountin, Bunting, 180, 205, 207, 212
Budewa, ii. no
Bukit Murriam, 232
Bukit Temah, ii. 67, 69, 79, 80, 88,
89, 103
Burma, Burmese, 127, 138, 194 ff.
CAGAYAN SOOLOO, 19
Calootan, 12
Camboja, 152
Camphor, 40-43
Cantor, Dr. Thomas, Catalogue of
Mammalia, ii. 1-64
Catalogue of Reptiles, ii. 1 1 2-
257
Botanical Collections, ii. 257-78
Caoutchouc, 57, 61-66
Celebes, 89, 106
Chalome, 188
Champa, 152
Changy, ii. 104
Chanja, 189
Chantabun, 190
Chatigan, 132
Cheang-mai, 194
Chetang, 194
Chilichap, 236, 239, 248
302
GENERAL INDEX.
( "himpolnm, 276
Chuliar, 2, 3, 39
Chumpan, 189
Cinnamon, 33
Cloves, 33-35
Coal, i So
Cochin China, 152-4
Cockup, 70,76
Comintan, 118
Copper, 48-50, 190
Coral, 43-48
Coriman, 237, 246, 248
Crean, Creang. See Krian
Crisp, Mr. John, Account of Nassau
Islanders, 66-76
DALRYMPLE, Mr. Alexander, 19, 20,
22, 45, 67
Description of Balambangan ,
5-!3
Formation of Establishment on
Pulo Pinang, 26-37
Dampar, 6, 9
Dang-dami, 195
Dang-dami-kyang, 195
Dang-wein-kyang, 195
Dayak, 124
Dr. Barros, 150, 152
Dr. Rhodes, 150, 153
Domel, 187, 1 88
Doomondoung, 17
Dumaran, 15
EANG, 3
Earthquakes, 46, 47 ; ii. 90-97
Haster Island, 51, 89
Elastic Gum Vine, 55-60
Elephant Rock, 182, 212-15
En-bien, 193
Engdaw, 254
Enrekan, 107
EERGUSSOX, Mr. John, extract of
letter from, 29
Forlong, Capt. J. G., and Capt. A.
Eraser, Report on the Isthmus
of Krau, 285-97
Eort Cornwallis. 202-5
Eort Marlborough, 38, 39, 46, 67, 69
GLUGOR, 202
Gold, 38-40, 180, i8r, 189, 190
Griffith, Mr. W., Account of Dr.
Cantor's botanical collections,
ii. 257-78
Gunong Berapi, ii. 89
Cherai, Jerry, Jirai, 2, 181, 182,
207
Gunong Dempo, ii. 89
Giriyan, 212
Loonong, 8, 12
Lumut, ii. 89
Ratos, ii. 85
Gyen kyang, 195
HAPHUN, 194
Haraforas, 123
Hot wells, 193, 196
Howison, Mr. James, on Elastic
Gum Vine, 55-60
Hunter, Dr. William, on the Pepper
of Prince of Wales Island, 76-83
IDAAN, 23
Igorrotes, Igolote, 124
Indian Archipelago, Tides in, 236-50
India-rubber plant, 34
Indo-Chinese Nations, Languages of,
84-171
Indo-Chinese Ranges, I79ff.
Inscriptions, 219-34
Iron, 181-3, 190, 272 ff.
Iron ores from Tavoy and Merguy,
272-5
Islanos, llanos, 19
JAMUI, ii. 90
Japara, 236, 246-8
Jen-kyet-Phra-tang, 195
Jesse, Mr. John, letter on Borneo
Proper, 20-26
Jogaben-tang, 195
Johor, 52, 88
Joorong, ii. 69
Junk-Ceylon, 184-5-7
KABOUNG, 270
Ko^mpfer, 150-2, 163
Amccnitates exotica, 1 1
Kahan, 255, 256, 261, 262, 267, 269;
ii. 298
Ka Kayet, 194, 200
Kalaminham, 138
Kalinga, Tanah Keling, 92, 93
Kaling Aung, 193
Kallang, ii. 68, 69
Kantian, 191, 276.
Ka Pesa, 182, 183
Karian, Karieng, Karayn, Kareyn,
Karen, 137, 185, 198
Karrows, 1 14
Kassay, 137
Kau-bang, 152, 160
Kedda, Keddah, Kedah, 1-4, 27, 28,
30, 31, 88, 124, 181, 182, 212
Inscription at, 232-4
GENERAL INDEX.
33
Keemanees, Kimanis, 15, 16, 20
Kennee Halloo, Kinibalu, 1 6
Khamoung-tang, 254
Khan-deng, 189
Kheng, Kiayn, Khyeng, 132, 137,
138, 195, I9&
Khorat, 190
Khyen-ni, Karen-ni, 200
Killung, 88
Kinabatangaa, 17, 18
K lam pies, 236, 240, 242, 244, 248
Xolun, 132, 137
Kra, Kraa, Krau, 187, 276 #.,285, 297
Kranjee, ii. 69
Krian, I, 3
Krukla-taung, 197
Krung-niantama, 194
Kucha- muka, 203
Kuki, 132
Kyeng 254
Kywai kuran, 267
LAT.OAN, 25
Labook, 17
Ladda, 2
Lancawi, 2
Lankapura, 88, 89
La Loubfere, 143, 163, 165
Languages :
Annamese, 152-162
Arabic, 86, 90, 96, 97
Bali, 105-6
Batta, 88, 107, 112-16, 118
Bengali, 92
Biaju, 122
Bima, 110-12, 14
Bisaya, 117, 122
Bugi, 89,94, 1 06, 112, 114, Ii6,li8>
119, 122, 147, 149
Burmese, 88, 94, 127, 132-8, 140,
142, 147-9
Chinese, 154
Harofora, 122-3
Idaan, Idan, 122-3
Javanese, 89, 94, 96, 97, 104-6,
114, 118, 122
Juan, 150, 152
Keling, Kling, 93, 96
Khmer, 149, 150
Kong- Chinese, 160-2
Lampung, 114, 116
Law, Lao, 150-2
Macassar, Mangkasar, 107, no, 112
Madura, 105
Malayu, Malay, 50-55, 87-103,
114, Il8, 119, 122, 135, 137,
142, 170, 171
Languages tontlnned :
150
Molucca, 107, 122
M'.ri, 137, 152
'IS
i. 163. 169
Pali, JJali, 86,87,89, 113, I?
130, 133. 140-4, 154, 163-70,
198, 219
Pampango, 122
Papua, 122
Prakrit, 167-9
Kejang, 53, 114, 116
Kukheng, Rakhaing, 126-32, 141,
142, 147, 148
Sanskrit, 50-55, 86, 89, 90, 93
Shan, 139
Siamese or Thay, 88, 94, 135, 139-
5r, 154. 160-1
Sin"hal
ilese, 86
Sulu, 105, 122
Sumbawa, IIO-I2
Tagala, 106, 7, 116-22
Tavengsari, 135
Ternate, 107, 122
Tirun (Tedung), 122, 123
Zend, 167-70
Laochag, 190
Laterite, ii. 65, 76, 98, 99, 106, 109
Laueang, 182
Laukyen, 192, 196
Lewin, Capt. Richard, Report by, 28.
Leyden, Dr. John, on the Languages
and Literature of the Indo-
Chinese Nations, 84-171
Light, Mr. Francis, information on
Kedah, 1-4, 26, 28, 29
Ligor, 140, 184, 190
Limboom, 2, 3
Limestone from Mergui, 272-5
Limong, Limun, 38
Linga/89
Lingu, I
Logan, Mr. J. R., on the Geology of
Singapore, ii. 64-112
Loobookcann, 17
Looc-parang, 6
Looc-see-kooamboo, 5, 6
Loundoungin, 254
Low, Capt. T-, n Geological Fea-
tures of the Malayan Peninsula,
179-201
On Inscriptions, 221-6
Lubu, Luwu, 107
MACASSAR, 237, 247
Macdonald, Mr. John, on the Gold of
Limong, 38-40
34
GENERAL INDEX.
Macdonald, Mr. John, on Three Nat-
ural Productions of Sumatra, 40-50
Madagascar, 51, 89
Magindanao, 13
Majin, 195
Malacca, 26, 28, 52, 54, 90, 180
Malamein, 195
Malayan Peninsula, Geological Fea-
tures of, 179-201
Malays, 2, 39, 52, 68, 69, 113
Maldive Islanus, 123
Malewan, Malewoon, 268, 276-9,
284-6, 300 ; ii. 299
Malleeangin, 15
Malloodoo, 1 6
Mammalia Inhabiting the Malayan
Peninsula and Islands, ii. 1-64
Maneaboong, 16
Mandar, Mandhar, 107
Manganese, 257
Mangoak, 9
Manila, Manilla, 22, 116
Manna, ii. 90
Mantaway, Mentawei, 72, 76, 115
Manubo, J 23
Mapilla, Mappilla, 114, 115
Marsden, Mr. \V., Traces of Hindu
Language amongst the Malays,
5-55
History of Sumatra, 40, 113, 115
Martaban, 182, 193-4
Marumma, Mramma, 132
Marut, Mooroot, 23, 123-6
Mekon, 140, 144
Menam, 140, 144, 190
Menangkabo, Menangkabau, 54, 88 ;
ii. 89, 93
Mergui, 187-9, I 9 I ? 272 ff., 285, 298-
301
Tin of, 251-71 ; ii. 298-9
Michan-tang, 198-200
Mindanoe, Mindanao, Magindano,
Mindano, 18, 19, 122
Ming-mon, 138
Moetong, 254
Mohany Leng, 190
Moi, Moitay, 137, 160
Moluccas, 1 06
Mount Albina, 202
Elvira, 202
Erskine, 202
Olivia, 202-4
Mug, Manga, 126, 132
Muntok, 236, 244, 248
Muong, 1 60
NAHI PIIRA, 195
Nairs, 114
Nakhon, 144
Namoy, 294
Napphapuri, 190
Nassau Islands, 66-75
Nay-dang, 191-2
Negritos, 124
Nicobar Islands, 137
Nunklai, 267
Nutmeg, 33-35
ONRUST, 236, 248
Opliir, 40 ; ii. 89
Orang-utan, 172-8, 301-18
Oton, 116
PADAIOI, 113
Padang, 45, 69 ; ii. 90
Pager uyang, ii. 89
Pahang, 88
Pah-klong, 287
Pakchan, 188, 253, 268, 270 275 ff.,
285-97, 3
Palawan, 13, 15, 20, 22
Pelouk, 270
Paltani, Patani, 2, 88
Pandalus, 138
Panel asan, 1 6
Pangalet, 1 6
Pappal, 1 6
Papra, 185
Papuas, 123-4
Passir, 89
Patane, 33
Paulinus a S. Bartholomaeo. 163. 164,
1 66
Payar-teet, 288
Pedir, ii. 91
Peechapooree, 276
Pegu, 138-9
Penang, Pinang. Sec Pulo Pinang
Pepper, 34
Peragoa, 15
Perak, 4, 88, 124, 180
Phabaptaung, 197
Philippine Islands, Alphabets of, 235
Fhokan-loang-prabang, 190
Phra-chanja, 190
Phra-chedu-sam-ong, 194
Phra-pyu, 195
Phra-song-chu, 194
1'hunga, 185, 1 86, 195
Pigeon Island, 208
Pitan, 17
Plau, 185
Poggy Islands, 66-75, "S
Pongo, 302
Poojil, 2
Poolo Penang. See Pulo Pinang
GENERAL INDEX.
35
Porah, 70
Potatan, 1 6
Prahat, 189, 190, 198
Prie, 4
Prince of Wales Island. Sit Pulo
Pinang
Province Wellesley, Inscriptions in,
223
Pulo Arang-arang, ii. 109
I'.idan, 205-6
Brani, ii. 97, 103
Campong, ii. 67
Chinco, 236, 239, 248
Jerajah, 209
Kra, 209-11
Krimin, ii. 101
Kundit, 203, 208
Nias, ii. 91
Ooban, Ubin, ii. So, 97, 104, 5
Panghil, 205, 6
Parcha, 88
Pinang, 4, 26, 37, 45, 55, 60, 76,
83, 156, 180,2
Geology of, 201-15
Rimau, 209, 211
Sonsong, 206, 207, 213
Ticoose, Tikus, 203, 205
Tikong, ii. 97, 105
Varela, ii. 94
Pungal, ii. 104
Puntiana, 89
Purlis, Perl is, I, 2
QUAI.LA BATRANG, 2, 3
Mooda, 3, 4
Murba, 4
Quan-to, 160
Quedah. See Keddah
RACHADO, ii. 87, 93, 109
Raha, 9
Rehgnon, Rhenong, 253, 282, 284,
286
Reptiles inhabiting the Malayan Pen-
insula and Islands, ii. 112, 257
Rigow, 89
Ro, 132, 135
Ross, Mr. Andrew, 27, 29-31
Roxburgh, Dr. W., 56
Description of Caoutchouc
Vine, 61-6
Runto, ii. 105
SADDLE ISLAND, 203, 208
Salangan, 18, 19
Salangor, 88 ; ii. 87
Salat Samboolan, ii. 69
Tambroh ii. 103
VOL. II.
Samang, 124
niko, 123
Samba
S.unhoanga, 18
Sampan-mangio, 9, 1 1, 15, 1 6
Sainpinitin, 19
ic-yat, 189
Saiulakan, 17
Sangoon, 2
Sanloon, 194, 195, 197
Sebaya, ii. 90
See cockup, 67, 9
See gal ley hood, 17
See-kooamboo, 5, 7
Seempool, 6, n, 12
Sehajat, ii. 97
Seibi, 72
Seinle-dang, 196
Semadall, 17
Senaban, ii. 90
Serangoon, ii. 69
Shan, 139
Shui madu, Shwe madu, 194, 198
Siacu, Siak, 34
Siam, 139, 152, 275,296
Si-beero, Siberut, 72, ii. 90
Si-kijang, ii. 97, 102, 103
Si-kukur, ii. 97, 103
Sincara, ii. 89
Singapore, Climate of, 215-18
Geology of, ii. 64-112. Allu-
vial hypothesis, 71 ; diluvial
hypothesis, 71 ; decomposition
of rocks in situ, 72 ; earth-
quakes, 74 ; volcanic action, 75
Sittoul, I
Smith, Mr. Christopher, 33, 34
Sokkothai, 190
Soobapoocull, 18
Sooboorong-y-Dammit, 12
Soogoot, 17
Soolo, Sulu, 10, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22
Soongia Saletar, ii. 69
Spice, 33
Sungi Cluan, 79
St. Matthew's Island, 285
Subano, 123
Sulaman, 16
Sumatra, 25, 38-50, 66-75, 84, 88,
90, 172 ff.
Sumbawa, no
Sunda, 105
TABUNKA, 125
Tagal, 236, 241, 248
Tailoong, 140
1'ai-tai, Tawee-tawee, 15, 17, 18
Takumlae. 278
306
GENERAL INDEX.
Talasam, 18
Talcing, 138
Taling guwa, 270
Talong, ii. 89
Taman, 191
Tambasan, 1 8
Tampassook, 16
Tanah merah besar, ii. 104
Tanghir, ii. 103
Tanjong Changai, ii. 67
Gul, ii. 104
Pagar, ii. 103
Panchur, ii. no
Pingrang, ii. 105
Sinoko, ii. 67
Tanna Say, 88
Tappanooly, 40, 46
Tarajja, Toraja, 114, 117
Tasan, 287, 294
Tasapaow, 277
Taurine Cattle of South-eastern Asia,
ii. 278-97
Tavoy, 187, 191, 272 ff. ; ii. 29
Tayoung, 288, 292-4
Temal, 88
Tenasserim, 187, 190, 252, 254, 255,
257, 261, 267 ; ii. 298
Tepoy, 17
Thabawlik, 252, 254, 256, 259,261,268
Thakiet, 252, 254, 256
Thampe, Thaumbe, 185, 201
Thampagu, 194
Thasung, 190
Thapyu, 254
Thengclon, 252, 256, 268
Therabuen, 257, 258
Thevenot, 116
Thuggoo, 257, 258
Tides in the inoian Archipelago,
236-50
Tilibon, 184
Timber, 14, 25, 34, 36
Tin, 1 80, 181, 192, 251, 271, 282, 298,
301 ; ii. 298, 9
Tinnaw, 135, 140
Tokoon, 223
Tonkin, 152, 153
Tool van, 1 8
Toommang, 8
Toungoo, 69
Topping, Mr. M., Account of
Quedah, 1-4, 32
Torong Seebooroongy, ii
Toung byouk, 270
Towsan Abia, 15, 1 8
Trang, I, 3, 140, 182-4, 195
Tiemenheere, Capt. G. ]>., on the
Tin of Mergui, 251-6, 258-71,
298-301 ; ii. 297-9
on Manganese, 257
Visit to the Pakchan River, 275-
84
Tringgano, 88
Trocklon, Trotto, Trutao, 2, 182
Trumpeon, 287-9
Tuboc, 1 8
Tulla Blanga, Tulloh Blangau, ii. 67,
103
Tuloh Bohang, 203
UXSAXG, 18
Urceola elastica, 61, 66
Ure, Dr. A., Analysis of Iron Ores,
272-5
WAKON KYANG, 195
Wall, Capt. J., Report by, 28
Ward, Mr. T., Sketch of the Geology
of Pulo Pinang and neigh-
bouring islands, 201-15
YAHMON, 261, 267, 268 ; ii. 298, 299
Ye, 193-7
Ye bu, 196
Yo, i.q. Ro
Yunzalen, 194
ZKDAWOON, 255
INDEX OF VERNACULAR TERMS.
AGOO, AGU, 10
Ambrang, Am rang ii. 22, 23
Anga prao, ii. 22
Anjing dyer, ii. 22, 23
utan, ii. 23
Annebon, Anneebon, Annibung, 1 1 , 3
BABI, ii. 48
landak, ii. 43
utan, ii. 48
Baci, basi, 8 1
Badak, ii. 49
Bahanumpul, 12
Bahlika bhasha, 162-3
Balata, 17
Bandaharn, 24
Bailing, ii. 116
Banteng, ii. 290-96
Barang-barang, ii. 22
Basa dagang, 88
dalam Jawa, 93, 104
jasvi, 88
keling, 92
liiar Jawa, 104
timor, 89
Beyawak, ii. 138
Bintangal, 10
Bintingur, 68
Bintangor utan, 68
Bintuix-ng, ii. 20, 51
Bomma, Byamma, 133
Broh, ii. 6
Bruang, ii. 19
Buaya, ii. 125-6
Bubul, ii. 281
Byag, 10
CAPOOR (Kapur) mati, 42
Cappas, 17
Chabatadi, 82
Chan-cray, 152
Cheritra, Charitra, 96, 143-4, 165
Chichak terbang, ii. 146
Chieng-mai, 152
Chincorot (Chingkarat), ii. 19,
Chingkrawah, ii. 35
etem (itam), ii. 34
pulih, ii. 35
Chitra, 96
Chuneah, 69
Como, 150
DA DAI', 78
Dancawn, 10
Daun pinang, ii. 31
De gadong, 24
Dekan, ii. 42
Dongon, 10
Duyong, ii. 59
;, GADUKH, 82
Gago, ii. 128
Gajah, ii. 47
Gaour, ii. 280 fT., 293
Garangan, ii. 30
Gayal, ii. 280-93
(Ickko, ii. 128
Geru, 210
Goke, ii. 128
Gruning, ii. 140
HARIMAU, ii. 31
Ilikaiat, Hikayat, 96
IWATTAN, 24
JALANG, ii. 33
Jau, ii. 37
KAIO-OOLAR, Kayu-ular, 1 1
Ka-ka, ii. 4
Kakong, ii. 243
Kalong, ii. 15
Kanchil, ii. 53
Kapak, Kapah, ii. 223
Karbau, ii. 58
Karma, 234
Karong, ii. 16$
Katak, ii. 240
puru, ii. 243
! Katong, ii. 114
I Kayu-gitteh, 154
Kechubu, ii. 41
Keemoo, Kimu, 68
Keko, ii. 128
Khek, 87
308
INDEX OF VERNACULAR TERMS.
Khmer, 149
Khohmen, 149, 165
Khuan, 155
Kidang, ii. 55
King, 159
Klawah, ii. 14
Kluang, ii. 15
Kodok, ii. 240
Kra, ii. 6
Kubin, ii. 40, 146
Kubong, ii. 7
Kuching, ii. 34
utan, ii. 33
Kuda, ii. 53
ayer, ii. 49
Kuggawin, Kekawin, 96, 105
Kukang, ii. 7
Kximbang, ii. 32
Kura-kura, ii. 124
Kurbong, ii. 7
Kuwuk, ii. 33
LADDA, 77
Lain-sain, 152
Lancha, ii. 240
Lan-chang, 152
Landak, ii. 45
Lanka-basa, 163
Lao, 152
Lawawn, 10
Laxamana, 31
Linsang, ii. 26
Lissang, 10
Lo, 152
Lotong, ii. 4
etam, ii. 4
MAI-EEN, ii. 267
Mai-ke-um, 184
Malawee, 10
Malayu, 87
Manangky, 9
Mankiido, 78
Mantau, 69
Masu, 87
Mias pappan, 301, 318
kas.sar, 301, 305, 308, 309, 312,
3i6, 318
rambi, 303,305, 318
chapin, 310, 312, 314, 316
Mithun, ii. 286
Mobohok, 10
Musang akar, ii. 27
b.itu, ii. 29
bulan, ii. 27, 28
bungkwang, ii. 28
jebat, ii. 25
pandan, ii. 28
Musang turon, ii. 31
Myamma, 133
NAGA, 10
Nangsu-khom, 150, 165
Nappal, ii. 93
Napu, ii. 54
Neebon, nibong, n, 30
Neepa, n, 14
Nga melly, 31
Nom, 154
ORANG KAY A, 24
Mantawi, 69
pandak, ii. I
timor, 106
utan, ii. I
PALO-MARIA, 10
Pa mancha, 24
Pangaran, 24
Pantun, 95, 98, 99
Parnmpi'ian laut, ii. 59
Parang, 72
Pasang kechil, 245
ma, 245
onok, 245
Pelandok, ii. 53
Pengoling, ii. 46
Pingu, ii. 122
Plowan, ii. 269
Poolle, 10
Poone, 10
Pulasan, ii. 2
Puntong Prun, ii. 31
Pyoung, ii. 290
RAJAS, 234
Rambing utan, ii. 57
Rati aki, 73
Rimau, ii. 31
akar, ii. 33
ballu, ii. 33
bintang, ii. 32
clahan, ii. 32
kumbang, ii. 32
sipai, ii. 31
Roomaniya (Rumuniya) baitul, ii. 267
]>aigo, ii. 267
Ruinga, 132
Ruklieng, 127
I\. us a l)uiiga, ii. 5^
ciam, ii. 56
Rusan, 132
SAYER, SHA'IR, 96, 98
vSangah prao, ii. 29
Santiki, 10
INDEX OF VERNACULAR TERMS.
309
Sapi, ii. 165
vitan, ii. 58
Tsoing, ii. 290
Tupai, ii. 38
Seepcetalla, ii
balan-. ii. 36
Sek, 159
jinjang, ii. 37
Shabandar, 24, 31
preso, ii. 17
Siniar bantaiyan, 41
tana, ii. 17
Siri, siiih, 8l
U-rbang, ii. 40
China, 81
ummu, ii. 37
Malayo, 8 1
Tuppu Kassau, ii. 31
lidang, 8 1
Susupan, 96
ULAR AVER, ii. 203
Syau, 139
chindi, ii. 192
daun, ii. 187, 221
TAI, 139
kapak, ii. 223
yai, 139
karong, ii. 165
nay, 140, 141
laut, ii. 167
noe, 139
lembu, ii. 165
Tamarao, ii. 295
limpa, ii. 167
Tamas, 234
mata-ari, ii. 219
Tanengsari, 135
sapi, ii. 165
Tanggalung, ii. 24, 25
sawn, ii. 163, 164
Tangling, ii. 46
Ummu, ii. 37
Teetee, titi, 73
Ungka t'-tam, ii. 2, 3
Tennu, ii. 49
pi'itih, ii. 2
Thay-jhay, 139, 140, 144, 165
Unturong, ii. 20
Tikus ambang bulan, ii. 1 8
besar, ii. 41
WARAK, ii. 49
biilow, ii. 42
ruma, ii. 42
Wayang-wayang, 98
Woondouk, 286
virok, ii. 41
Wow-wow, wou-wou, ii. 2, 3
Tindaloo, 10
Toke ii. 128
YUEN, 152
Tomongong (temonggung), 24
Vun, 152
Toongal, 12
Tru-yen, 153
ZAYAT, 186-7
INDEX OF ZOOLOGICAL GENERA
AND SUB-GENERA
OCCURRING IN THE SECOND VOLUME.
ACROCIIORCUS, 165
Antilope, 57
Arctictis, 20
Atherura, 44
Bos, 58
Broncholela, 139
Bufo, 243
Bungarus, 214
CALAMARIA, 168
Calotes, 139
Canis, 23
Cernopithecus, 6
Cervus, 55
Chelonia, 12 1
Cistudo, 116
Coluber, 178
Coronella, 172
Crocodilus, 125
Cylindrophis, 161
Cynogale, 29
Cynopterus, 15
DKI.I-HINUS, 59
Dilophirus, 142
Dipsas, 181
Draco, 145
Dry inns, 186
I'll. A IS, 2O9
Elephas, 47
Emys, 1 14
Equus, 53
Eumeces, 153
J-'KI.IS, 31
(jALKOl'ITIIKcrs, 7
Gecemyda, 112
Gymnodactylus, i^
Gymnopus, 119
Gymnura, 18
HEMIDACTVLUS, 132
Herpestes, 30
Herpetodryas, 185
Homalopsis, 198
Hydrus, 228
Hylsedactylus, 224
Hylobates, 2
Hystrix, 43
LATICAUDA, 226
Leiolepis, 146
Leptophis, 188
Limnodytes, 242
Lophyrus, 141
Lutra, 22
Lycodon, 174
Lygosoma, 156
MAMS, 46
Megaderma, 8
Megalophrys, 240
Moschus, 53
Mus, 41
Mustela, 22
NAJA, 219
Nyctinomus, 9
PAPIO, 6
Paradoxurus, 27
Pilidion, 158
Pithecus, I
Platydaclylus, 127
Polypedates, 242
Prionodon, 26
INDEX OF ZOOLOGICAL GENERA.
Pteromys, 39
I'teropus, 15
I'tycho/.oon, 130
Python, 163
K ANA, 239
Rhinoceros, 49
Rhinolophus, 10
Rhinopoma, 8
Rhizomys, 42
SC'IURUS, 34
Semnopitheais, 3
Sorex, 19
Sus, 48
T API El
Taphozous, 9
Tetraonyx, 1 1 7
Tritjonoccph.il u<, 221
Tropidonotus, 193
Tupaia, 17
Typhlops, 159
URSUS, 19
VARAN us, 136
Vespertilio, 13
Viverra, 24
XEXODOX, 173
Xcnopeltis, 162
KND OF VOL. II.
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