4 



MAMMALIA. 



[Chap. I, 



lections in illustration of the productions of the colony. 

 Of these the late Dr. Kinnis was one of the most ener- 

 getic and successful. He was seconded by Dr. Tem- 

 pleton of the Eoyal Artillery, who engaged assiduously 

 in the investigation of various orders, and commenced 

 an interchange of specimens with Mr. Blyth l 9 the dis- 

 tinguished naturalist and curator of the Calcutta 

 Museum. The birds and rarer vertebrata of the island 

 were thus compared with their peninsular congeners, 

 and a tolerable knowledge of those belonging to the 

 island, so far as regards the higher classes of animals, 

 has been the result. The example so set was perse- 

 veringly followed by Mr. E. L. Layard and the late Dr. 

 Kelaart, and infinite credit is due to Mr. Blyth for the 

 zealous and untiring energy with which he has devoted 

 his attention and leisure to the identification of the 

 specimens forwarded from Ceylon, and to their descrip- 

 tion in the Calcutta Journal. To him, and to the gen- 

 tlemen I have named, we are mainly indebted for what- 

 ever accurate knowledge we now possess of the zoology 

 of the colony. 



The mammalia, birds, and reptiles received their first 

 scientific description in an able work published in 1852 

 by Dr. Kelaart of the army medical staff 2 , which is by 

 far the most valuable that has yet appeared on the 

 Singhalese fauna. Co-operating with him, Mr. Layard 

 has supplied a fund of information especially in ornitho- 

 logy and conchology. The zoophytes and Crustacea 

 have I believe been partially investigated by Professor 

 Harvey, who visited Ceylon in 1852, and more re- 



1 Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. of Ceylon, by R Kelaart, Esq., 

 xv. p. 280, 314. M.D., F.L. S., &c. &c. 2 vols. 



2 Prodromus Fauna Zeylanicce ; Colombo and London, 1852. 

 being Contributions to the Zoology 



