Vlll 



As an example that " seeing is believing," in its most comprehen- 

 sive view, and that without it, the most liberal may be the most 

 sceptical, one of the senior Provincial Judges, a religious and 

 hospitable character, who had resided twenty-four years in Ceylon, 

 complimented the Author on the " fertility of his imagination," 

 when the first drawing of the Hembili Girawah, No. 14, met his 

 view. His breakfast table, the next morning, displayed two living 

 specimens of that splendid fish, in a vase of water, which had 

 been caught within eight hundred yards of his own residence. With 

 an exclamation, he did justice to the author ; and in a most im- 

 pressive manner expressed his admiration of, and ascribed all glory 

 to the works of Him, to whom all things are possible as Nature's God ! 



The Cingalese fishers give no reason for their application of terms 

 to distinguish fish of the same species ; they seem indifferent to the 

 necessity for appropriate names, which, as they say, must be as nume- 

 rous as the seeds of the Wara, (the Abrus precatorius of Linnaeus). 

 In Lena Girawah, No. 24, the Ceylon striped squirrel, from its three 

 stripes, might readily suggest a distinguishing character to one fish, 

 actually of the Parrot species, having no teeth, but upper and lower 

 jaws, beautifully divided into compartments. Parrot fishes, when 

 they are full grown, have such strength in their jaws as to be enabled 

 to crush oysters, muscles, &c. to get at the flesh within. 



In order that the peculiar characters of the Fishes may be pre- 

 served for reference, as long as such, preparations generally last, the 

 Linnaean Society has conferred an honor upon the Author by accept- 

 ing the dried Specimens of the Pins and Gill-covers of the Fishes 

 herein delineated, for the Society's Museum, in Soho-Square. 



Having given the reasons which first induced the Author to 

 venture on the present work, the public will, he trusts, be so in- 

 dulgent towards him as to admit that, if he has not entirely 

 succeeded, he has endeavoured to give satisfaction. He has adhered, 

 in his drawings of the Fishes, strictly to nature ; and, as far as his 

 colours permitted, imitated their various hues : but, alas, in vain 

 must be every endeavour to attain perfection ! 



