No, 9. — 1850-8".] CEYLON NUDIBRANOHIATA, &C. 



79 



the Naturalist as the European species. Although it may be 

 long before we shall find an Alder or a Handcock to pourtray 

 gracefully, and faithfully record their characters and habits, 

 still it will always be gratifying for me to feel, that I was the 

 pioneer to the labours of others more competent to do justice to 

 the Ceylon Nudibranchiata. 



It has always been my endeavour, (though, I must own, often 

 unsuccessfully,) to describe in familiar language to my friends in 

 Ceylon, the Natural History of animals found in the Island, and 

 therefore, if I have not attained this object in the following- 

 pages, it will not be from the want of a wish to impart to others 

 some of the pleasure I have derived in such congenial pursuits 

 or from the absence of a desire to be amusing as well as 

 instructive. 



Popular accounts of the Natural History of a country gener„ 

 ally follow a scientific one. But I shall endeavour to combine 

 both in one communication, for I cannot but suppose that, 

 among many inquirers, there will be found even a few who are 

 anxious to dive deeper into the characters of an animal than its 

 colour or form. Having this object in view, I cannot introduce 

 the following descriptions of sea slugs, or sea nymphs, by a 

 more intelligible and useful preface, than an abridged description 

 of the Anatomy and Physiology of the Class Nudibranchidta, 

 given in the English Cyclopaedia ; promising, in the course of 

 my own descriptive account of the species found in Trincomalie, 

 to detail faithfully their habits and characters. 



NUDJBRANCHIATA. 



A family of Gasteropodous Mollusca, characterised by the possession of 

 distinct, external and uncovered gills. The species of the family are all 

 marine, and with few exceptions small in size. They are sometimes, with 

 other forms of animals, called sea-slugs, arising from the fact that, like 

 land slugs, they are destitute, of shells. Their body is usually elongated 

 and soft, and attached throughout its whole length to the foot, or disc, 

 upon which they crawl. Th*y are not unfrequently covered with a 

 cloak, which in some is strengthened with calcareous spicula. The head 

 is anterior, and frequently indistinct, having one or two pairs of tentacle?, 

 the upper pair of which are placed on the cloak when it is present, 



