PREFACE, 



The local names used in Tavoy and Arracan are given 

 where known ; the latter on the authority of Capt. 

 Phayre ; from whom also were first derived some of the 

 Burmese name3 for birds, and the smaller mammalia. 

 It is only within the last two years that the proper Bur- 

 man name for eagle has found its way into books, though 

 it was communicated first by Capt. Phayre, some eight or 

 ten years ago. 



Ths present work does not explain mere technicalities 

 for the naturalist, but brings to light in the department in 

 which it enters, a host of common English words that have 

 hitherto been left, in this country, like uselesss lumber 

 in the shade. To illustrate this position, take a single ex- 

 ample from the ichthyology, in which for the first time 

 the correct native names are furnished of the following 

 fish known to English readers : River perch, cockup, 

 band fish, umber or sea perch, Indian whiting, mullet,* 

 mango-fish, climbing perch, snake-head, ophidian, long- 

 snout, doree, pomphret, ribband-fish, goby, carp, barbel, 

 gudgeon, bream, white fish, loach, flat-bellied herring, 

 thryssa-anchovy, bristle-finned sprat, fresh-water herring, 

 flying-fish, gar-fish, half-billed gar-fish, plagusia-sole, 

 brachirus-turbot, adipose cat-fish, short-headed cat-fish, 

 eight bar buled cat-fish, long-finned cat-fish, two barbuled 

 cat-fish, fork-tailed cat-fish, barbuleless cat-fish, plotosus 

 cat-fish, clarias cat-fish, long-headed cat-fish, hammer- 

 headed shark, saw-fish, scate or ray, sea-porcupine, or 

 square fish, fishing frog, common eel, serpent-hearted 

 eel, and conger eel. 



Still no pretensions are made in this work to complete- 

 ness. It is not a book composed in the luxury of literary 

 leisure, but a collection of notes which I have been making 

 during the twenty years of my residence in this country, 

 in the corners of my time that would otherwise have been 

 wasted. Often to forget my weariness when travelling, 

 where it has been necessary to bivouac in the jungles ; while 

 the Karens have been seeking fuel for their night fires, 

 or angling for their suppers in the streams, I have occu- 



•There are three species of mullet with three distinct native names, one of which 

 has been correctly defined before. 



