[Footnote 2: Rana eutipora, and the Malabar bull-frog, R. Malabarica.]
In the shrubberies around my house at Colombo the graceful little hylas[1] were to be found in great numbers, crouching under broad leaves to protect them from the scorching sun; some of them utter a sharp metallic sound at night, similar to that produced by smacking the lips. They possess in a high degree the power of changing their colour; and one which had seated itself on the gilt pillar of a dinner lamp was scarcely to be distinguished from the or-molu to which it clung. They are enabled to ascend glass by means of the suckers at the extremity of their toes. Their food consists of flies and minute coleoptera.
[Footnote 1: The tree-frog, Hyla leucomystax, _Gracer_.]
I am indebted to Dr. Gray of the British Museum for a more complete enumeration of the reptiles of Ceylon than is to be found in Dr. Kelaart's published lists; but many of those new to Europeans have been carefully described by the latter gentleman in his _Prodromus Faunae Zeylanicae_ and its appendices, as well as in the 13th vol. _Magaz. Nat. Hist._ (1854).
Monitor dracæna, _Linn._ _Hydrosaurus salvator, Wagl._ _Mabouya elegans, Gray_. _Riopa punctata, Linn._ _Hardwichii, Gray_. _Tiliqua rufescens, Shaw_. _Eumeces_ Taprobanius, _Kel._ Nessia Burtoni, _Gray_. _Acontias_ Layardi, _Kelaart_. Argyrophis bramieus, _Daud._ Rhinophis Blythii, _Kelaart_. Mytilia Gerrardii, _Gray_. Templetonii, _Gray_. animaculata, _Gray_. melanogaster, _Gray_. Siluboura Ceylonica, _Cuv._ Uropeltis Saffragamus, _Kelaart_. grandis, _Kelaart_. pardalis, _Kelaart_. Dapatnaya Laukadivana, _Kel._ Trevelyanii, _Kelaart_. Hemidactylus frenatus, _Schleg._ Leschenaultii, _Dum & Bib._ _trihedrus, Less._ maculatus, _Dum & Bib._ Piresii, _Kelaart_. Coctoei, _Dum & Bib._ Peripia Peronii, _Dum & Bib._ Gymnodactylus Kandianus, _Kel._ Sitana Ponticercana, _Cuv._ Lyriocephalus scutatus, _Wagl._ Ceratophora Stoddartii, _Gray_. Salea Jerdoni, _Gray_. Calotes ophiomachus, _Gray_. versicolor, _Dum. & Bib._ Rouxii, _Dum. & Bib._ mystaceus, _Dum. & Bib._ Chamelo vuelgaris, _Daud._
Trimesuras viridis, _Lucep._ Ceylonensis, _Gray_. nigro-marginatus, _Gthr._ Megæra trigonoerphalux, _Latr._ Trigonocephalus hypnalis, _Wagl._ Dabois elegans, _Gray_. Pelamys bicolor, _Doud._ Aturia lapemoides, _Gray_. Hydrophis sublævis, _Gray_. Chersydrus granulatus, _Merr._ Cerberus cinereus, _Gray_. Tropidophis schistosus, _Daud._ Python reticulatus, _Gray_. Cylindrophis rufa, _Gray_. maculata, _Linn._ Aspidura brachyorrhos, _Boie._ Haplocercus Ceylonensis, _Gthr._ Ohgodon subquadratus, _Dum. & Bib._ subgriseus, _Dum. & Bib._ sublineatus, _Dum. & Bib._ Simotes Russellii, _Daud_. purpurascens, _Schleg._ Ablabes collaris, _Gray_. Tropidonotus quincunciatus, _Schleg._ var. funebris. var. carinatus. stolatus, _Linn_. chrysargus, _Boie_. Cynophis Helena, _Daud_. Coryphodon Blumenbachii, _Merr._ Cyclophis calamaria, _Günther_. Chrysopelea ornata, _Shaw_. Dendrophis picta, _Gm._ punctulata, _Gray_. Dryiophis _prasina, Reinw._ Passerita, myeterizans, _Linn_. var. fusca. Dipsas _multimaculata Reinw._ Dipsadomorphus Ceylonensis, _Gray_. Lycodon aulicus, _Dum. & Bib._ Cercaspis carinata, _Kuhl._ Bungarus fascinatus, _Schneid._ Naja tripudians, _Merr._