78 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



London, in 1776, a quarto work styled ' Illustrations of Zoology.' " 

 Legge remarks that " some of the drawings are faiiiy accurate ; 

 but others are grotesque and umiatural, showing the poor state of 

 perfection to which the illustration of books had up to that time 

 been brought." 



We now come to the time of the British occupation. In 1817 

 Alexander Moon was appomted Superintendent of the Botanic 

 Gardens, then situated at Kalutara. Six years later, after the 

 conquest of the Kandyan kmgdom, the gardens were removed to 

 their present site at Peradeniya. There had been other Superin- 

 tendents before him, but Moon appears to have been the first of 

 them to leave any written work behind him. He published a 

 " Catalogue of Indigenous and Exotic Plants of Ceylon," in the 

 year 1824, which must have been of great assistance to the local 

 botanists of the period. Such names as Moonia heterophylla and 

 Capparis moonii, in our list of Ceylon Flora, are indications of his 

 reputation as a botanist. 



John Davy, mentioned by Tennent as one of the few students of 

 Ceylon Natural History before his day, was contemporary with Moon, 

 He paid special attention to Reptilia and described several species 

 of snakes. He also published a note on the '' Analysis of the Snake 

 Stone." Tennent notes that " Dr. Davy, brother to the illustrious 

 Sir Humphrey Dav}^ published in 1821 his ' Account of the Interior 

 of Ceylon and its Inhabitants,' which contains the earliest notice of 

 the Natural History of the Island, and especially of its Ophidian 

 Reptiles." 



Dr. George Gardner, who was Superintendent of the Peradeniya 

 Gardens from 1844 to 1849, besides publishing various contributions 

 to the Flora, paid some attention to Geology, and is responsible for 

 a " Sketch of the Geology of Ceylon." Tennent acknowledges his 

 assistance in his " Account of the Botany of the Island." Acrotrema 

 gardneri, Goniothalamus gardneri, Aberia gardneri, and many other 

 Ceylon plants retam his name. Dr. Gardner also published a 

 memoir on the Coffee Bug. 



Of Dr. Templeton, who was contemporary with Gardner, I find 

 several records in Tennent's volumes. It appears that, at a meeting 

 of the Entomological Society, in 1842, Dr. Templeton introduced 

 thin slices of the rhizomes of Sonneralia acida, as a substitute for 

 cork, for lining butterfly boxes. Again, in 1844, Dr. Templeton 

 forwarded to the Zoological Society a description accompanied by 

 drawings of the Wanderoo of the western maritime districts. 

 A rare moth {(Eceticus templetonii) testifies to his interest in 

 entomology. 



To this same period belongs Major Champion, who published 

 some " Remarks on the Flora of Ceylon " in the Ceylon Almanac 

 for 1844. 



