Introductory. vii 



type) follow, the letters S. and T. signifying Sinhalese and 



Tamil respectively. 



Tamil is the language and race of the Northern and Eastern Pro- 

 vinces only ; the rest of the island is Sinhalese. There is, however, also 

 a large immigrant Tamil population (from Southern India) employed 

 as coolies upon estates, chiefly in the Central Province. I am conscious 

 of great imperfection in these names, and further research will doubtless 

 add largely to those here given, and correct many errors. Lists of some 

 of the common S. and T. prefixes are appended (A.). 



2. References (in small type) arranged chronologically, 

 to published books and papers where the species is treated 

 of or noticed as a Ceylon plant, with any names ( = synonyms) 

 there given when different to the one adopted. 



A very large number of works is referred to, for I have endeavoured 

 to make these local quotations as complete as possible ; but there are a 

 few which are so regularly quoted that an explanation of them is at once 

 necessary : — 



Herm.Mus. [P. Hermann], MusaeumZeylanicum, 1717. A catalogue, 

 ' mostly under their Siiihalese names, of the collection of dried 

 plants collected by Hermann in 1672-77 in the neighbourhood 

 of Colombo, and now in the British Museum [pp. 71]. 



Burnt. Thes. J. Burman, Thesaurus Zeylanicus, 1737. An alpha- 

 betical catalogue of the plants of Ceylon compiled from collections 

 made by Hermann and Hartog. Contains 1 10 good plates [pp. 250]. 



Fl. Zeyl. C. Linnaeus, Flora Zeylanica, 1747. A catalogue, arranged 

 on the Linnean system, of the Ceylon plants contained in 

 Hermann's own Herbarium above referred to. 429 species are 

 determined and placed in their genera, leaving 228 species un- 

 determined [pp. 275 and 4 plates].* 



Moon Cat. A. Moon, Catalogue of Indigenous and Exotic Plants of 

 Ceylon, 1824. A list, arranged on the Linnean system, of all the 

 plants recorded from Ceylon, with their Sinhalese names, and 

 with references (often incorrect) to a few other authors. 1127 

 species are given, of which 164 were considered to be new ones, 

 and there are also 366 cultivated plants included. A second part 

 consists of an alphabetical list of Sinhalese names [pp. 77, 41]. 



Arn. Pug: G. A. Walker- Arnott, Pugillus Plantarum Indis Orientalis, 

 1836 (In Nova Acta L. C. Acad. Nat. Cur. vol. xviii.). Full de- 

 scriptions of a number of new species collected by Col. and Mrs. 



* At the date of this book Linnaeus had not invented his binominal 

 system of nomenclature, and no species are therefore named in it. For a 

 critical determination of all the specimens in Hermann's Herbarium see 

 my paper in Joum. Linn. Soc, vol. xxiv. pp. 129-155. 



