PKEFACE. Vii 



m 



about forty years ago, is also helping to alter the character of the 

 vegetation up to an elevation of 3000 feet. The plant alluded to 

 13 the Lantana miccta, Linn,, which appears to have found in 

 Ceylon a soil and cUmate exactly suited to its growth, for it now 

 covers thousands of acres with its dense masses of foliage, taking 

 complete possession of land where cultivation has been neglected 

 or abandoned, preventing the growth of any other plants, and even 

 destroying small trees, the tops of which its subscandent stems 

 are able to reach. The fruit of this plant is so acceptable to fru- 

 givorous birds of all kinds, that through their instrumentality it 

 is spreading rapidly, to the complete exclusion, in spots where it 

 becomes established, of the indigenous vegetation. ' 



Brucea Sumatranay Crotalaria zncana, Lagascea mollis^ Cosmos 

 caudatm txnd Asclepias Curassavica^htiye become perfectly natural- 

 ized, and are common weeds in the warmer parts of the island. 



In Newera Ellia, a few exotic plants, which w^ere. introduced 

 with grass seed, have become naturalized ; those I have observed 

 are Gerastium vulgatum, Hypericum lumifusiim, Trifolium repens, 

 Verbascum Thapsus^ Stachys arvensis, ]?lantago lanceolaia^ and 

 Dactylis glomerata. 



It now remains to express my grateful acknowledgment for 

 assistance rendered to me during the progress of this work. 



Dr, Wight, immediately on my arrival in the island, gave me 

 his most valuable help in naming the numerous specimens I found 

 in the herbarium, which had been collected by my predecessors, 

 and principally by Dr, Gardner. 



Sir William Hooker has most kindly assisted me with his pro- 

 found knowledge of the subject in determining the names of the 

 Ferns. 



To Dr. Joseph D. Hooker I am most deeply indebted for the 

 invaluable aid he has been uniutermittingly giving me durin^ the 

 whole progress of this work, and without this aid I could not 

 with any satisfaction have undertaken it. 



My cordial thanks are due to Dr. Thomas Anderson for having 

 undertaken the identification and description of the AcafitJiacece, 

 an Order of plants to which he was at the time devoting parti- 

 cular attention, and was studying in the herbarium at Kew. 



To the Bev. S. 0. Glenie, T.L.S., Episcopal Colonial Chaplain at 

 Trincomalie, and to Mr. W. Ferguson. F.L.S.. Civil FnmnPAr T nm 



