( xiv ) 



naturalists, who shuns rather than seeks the limelight, and 

 consequently has never essayed to publish the results of his 

 own observations. It has been my privilege to obtain first 

 hand from him most valuable information regarding Ceylon 

 snakes. In the matter of distribution especially, it is no 

 exaggeration to say that his information surpasses that of all 

 other records taken together. As this is an important matter, 

 it is worth recording the field of his observations, which is as 

 follows : — From January to May, 1897, Hapugastenne estate, 

 Ratnapura District ; from May, 1897, to October, 1903, 

 Hopewell estate, Balangoda district (3,000 to 4,200 feet) ; 

 from October, 1903, to September, 1904, Punagalla estate, 

 Yatiyantota district (below 3,000 feet) ; from September, 1904, 

 to June, 1906, Warwick estate, New Galway district (5,000 to 

 6,000 feet) ; from June, 1906, to March, 1913, Galatura estate, 

 Ratnapura District (500 to 1,000 feet) ; and from March, 

 1913, to March, 1920, Warwick estate, New Galway district 

 (5,000 to 6,000 feet). 



Mr. E. E. Green, who is so well known in Ceylon, deserves 

 my gratitude for giving me valuable information that has 

 never appeared in print, and for giving me some extremely 

 valuable Ceylon specimens. 



Lastly, I am much indebted to Dr. Joseph Pearson, for 

 giving me access to the collection in the Colombo Museum, 

 and to Mr. Gerard A. Joseph for giving me many valuable 

 specimens. 



The vernacular names given by natives to snakes in Ceylon 

 are most unreliable, as they are in India, and it is most difficult 

 to be certain what name is correct for even common species. 



It will be noticed that I employ but one i in the termination 

 of specific titles where many adopt a double i. My authority 

 for so doing is Professor Edward Meyrick (Bombay Natural 

 History Society's Journal, Vol. XX., p. 534), who wrote as 

 follows : " As to the Latinizing of proper names, I think the 

 position is as follows : The termination of a family name in 

 Rome was ius, because the name was an adjective ; Caesar's 

 family name was Julius, because he belonged to the Gens 

 Julia, the Julian family. A personal name, however, would 

 be treated as a substantive, and made Latin by the simplest 



