204 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



It remains to be seen, if any attempt is made to educate this 

 youth, will it improve or diminish his extraordinary powers, or if 

 they will vanish as suddenly as he states they came. 



September 8, 1912. FREDERICK LEWIS. 



26. Pioneers of Natural History in Ceylon. — To Mr. E. E. Green's 

 account of " The Pioneers of Ceylon Natural History " might be 

 added some notice of Colonel and Mrs. George Warren Walker who 

 were in the Island in the twenties, and are " famous in the amials 

 of Ceylon botany."* Sir Emerson Tennent says: " Amongst the 

 collections of Ceylon plants deposited in the Hookerian Herbarium 

 are those made by General and Mrs. Walker. Some admirable 

 letters of Mrs. Walker are printed in Hooker's ' Companion to the 

 Botanical Magazine.' They include an excellent account of the 

 vegetation of Ceylon." 



Also we should certainly add J. W. Bennett, F.L.S., some time 

 of the Civil Service, whose book, " Ceylon and its Capabilities," 

 contains a good deal on the natural history of the Island, and who 

 wrote besides books on " A Selection of the Most Remarkable 

 Fishes found on the Coast of Ceylon," and on " The Fruits of Ceylon," 

 published in 1830 and 1842 respectively. On the subject of the 

 fishes of Ceylon he was decidedly the pioneer, though his book 

 " never proceeded beyond the description of about thirty indivi- 

 duals."t It was accompanied by fine plates depicting the species 

 described. 



Several other Ceylon Civilians have given their attention to its 

 natural history. The late Mr. M. S. Crawford sent many specimens 

 of Ceylon plants, with their Tamil names attached, to Dr. Trimen, 

 thus enabling him, as he has duly acknowledged, to identify them 

 by their scientific names, and he compiled lists of the jungle products 

 used as food in the Mannar District, and of the flora (with notes) of 

 Mannar Island, originally intended for a projected " Manual " of 

 that district. These lists he had printed privately, and they were 

 ultimately published in the " Ceylon Forester," Vol. II., pp. 141-4. 

 Mr. A. 0. Brodie and his papers in the R. A. S. (C. B.) Journal might 

 also be mentioned. 



Some of the birds of Ceylon described by Knox attracted attention 

 as long ago as 1760. There is in my possession a coloured drawing 

 with the following description written below it : — ' ' A Bird from the 

 Island of Ceylon drawn from Nature of the size of Life by George 



Edwards, April 4, 1760 See Knox's Hist, of Ceylon in the 



East Indies,' London, 1681, page 27." The sketch represents a 

 Paradise Fly-catcher with chestnut plumage and long chestnut tail 

 feathers — the gini-hora of the Sinhalese. 



* "Ceylon in 1837-1846," 'by A. M. Ferguson, C.M.G., p. 48. Vol. I., 

 p. 84, note. f Ibid, p. 205. 



