INTRODUCTION. 
A CONSIDERABLE portion of the contents of the present 
volume formed the zoological section of a much more 
comprehensive work recently published, on the history 
and present condition of Ceylon.! But its inclusion 
there was a matter of difficulty; for to have altogether 
omitted the chapters on Natural History would have 
impaired the completeness of the plan on which I had 
attempted to describe the island; whilst to insert them 
as they here appear, without curtailment, would have 
encroached unduly on the space required for other 
essential topics. In this dilemma, I was obliged to 
adopt the alternative of so condensing the matter as to 
bring the whole within the prescribed proportions. 
But this operation necessarily diminished the general 
interest of the subjects treated, as well by the omission 
of incidents which would otherwise have been retained, 
as by the exclusion of anecdotes calculated to illustrate 
the habits and instincts of the animals described. 
1 Ceylon: An Account of the son Trnyent, K.C.S., LL.D., &c. 
Island, Physical, Historical, and Illustrated by Maps, Plans, and 
Topographical ; with Notices of its Drawings. 2vols. 8vo. Longman 
Natural History, Antiquities, and and Co., 1859. 
Productions, By Sir James Emnr- 
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