148 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XVI. 



The Council regret that the amount inserted in the draft Estimates 

 for 1900 for the Museum extension was not passed. Confident hope 

 * was entertained that the Museum extension would have been started 

 in 1900, and that the congested state of the Library of the Society would 

 shortly have been relieved. 



The need of relief for the overcrowded collections of books has been 

 a crying want for a lengthy period. The Council have repeatedly in 

 their Annual Reports and letters called the attention of Government to 

 the growing difficulty of finding room for current accessions and for the 

 books already in the Library. The Library of the Society and that of 

 the Museum have outgrown the space available in the existing rooms • 

 and it is necessary that there should be more accommodation for both. 

 The Libraries need rooms large enough to allow for expansion, and at 

 the same time to permit of a rational classification of the books on the 

 shelves. Temporary measures have been adopted for some years to 

 enable the Society to house the books in the room allowed to the 

 Society. But the only real remedy for the present overflowing state 

 of the Library is an extension of the building. 



Journals. 



Vol. XV., No. 49, 1898, was issued during the year. It contains, in 

 addition to the Proceedings of the Council and General Meetings, the 

 following Papers : — 



t (i.) " Contributions to Ceylon Malacology : (2) Description of a 

 new Helicoid Land Shell from the Southern Province," 

 by Mr. O. Collett, F.R.M.S. 



(ii.) " Aids to the Identification of Ceylon Birds : Part I. — Intro- 

 duction and Key to the Passeres" by Mr. A. Haly. 



(iii.) " A Pertinent Account and Detailed Description of the Charac- 

 ter, Nature, Coitus, and Production of Elephants in the 

 Great Island of Ceylon," translated from the Dutch by 

 Mr. F. H. de Vos. 



(iv.) " Don Jeronimo de Azevedo, Governor of Ceylon from 1594 

 to 1611 a.d.," by Mr. A. E. Buultjens, B.A. Cantab. 



(v.) " Monumental Remains of the Dutch East India Company of 

 Ceylon," by Mr. F. H. de Vos. 



The printing of the Journal for 1899, No. 50, is in hand. 

 Archaeology. 



A concluding Interim Report on the Archaeological Commissioner's 

 operations at Sigiriya will in due course be read before a General 

 Meeting of the Society. 



The following is a synopsis of the work done by the Archaeological 

 Survey during 1899 : — 



Re- organization of the Arclueological Survey. 



As the result of the recommendations of the Commission appointed 

 by His Excellency the Governor to report on the more efficient prose- 

 cution of the survey, the Archaeological Commissioner's hands were 

 strengthened from January, 1899, by the : — 



(a) Increase of the vote for Archaeological purposes to 

 Rs. 40,000. 



