CHAPTEE I. 



MAMMALIA. 



With the exception of the Mammalia and Birds, the 

 fauna of Ceylon has, up to the present, failed to receive 

 that systematic attention to which its richness and va- 

 riety most amply entitle it. The Singhalese themselves, 

 habitually indolent, and singularly unobservant of nature 

 and her operations, are at the same time restrained 

 from the study of natural history by the tenet of their 

 religion which forbids the taking of life under any cir- 

 cumstances. From the nature of their avocations, the 

 majority of the European residents, engaged in plant- 

 ing and commerce, are discouraged by want of leisure 

 from cultivating the taste ; and it is to be regretted 

 that, with few exceptions, the civil servants of the 

 government, whose position and duties would have 

 afforded them influence and extended opportunities for 

 successful investigation, have never seen the importance 

 of encouraging such studies. 



The first effective impulse to the cultivation of natural 

 science in Ceylon, was communicated by Dr. Davy when 

 connected with the medical staff 1 of the army from 

 1816 to 1820, and his example stimulated some of the 

 assistant-surgeons of Her Majesty's forces to make col- 



1 Dr. Davy, brother to the il- 

 lustrious Sir Humphry Davy, pub- 

 lished, in 1821, his Account of the 

 Interior of Ceylon and its Inhabi- 



tants, which contains the earliest 

 notice of the Natural History of 

 the island, and especially of its 

 ophidian reptiles. 



