vi 



INTRODUCTION. 



A suggestion to re-publish these sections in an inde- 

 pendent form has afforded an opportunity for repairing 

 some of these defects by revising the entire, restoring 

 omitted passages, and introducing fresh materials col- 

 lected in Ceylon; the additional matter occupying a 

 very large portion of the present volume. 



I have been enabled, at the same time, to avail my- 

 self of the corrections and communications of scientific 

 friends; and thus to compensate, in some degree for 

 what is still incomplete, by increased accuracy in minute 

 particulars. 



In the Introduction to the First Edition of the 

 original work I alluded, in the following terms, to that 

 portion of it which is now reproduced in an extended 

 form : — 



" Eegarding the fauna of Ceylon, little has been 

 published in any collective form, with the exception of 

 a volume by Dr. Kelaakt entitled Prodromus Faunce 

 Zeilanicce ; several valuable papers by Mr. Edgak L. 

 Layard in the Annals and Magazine of Natural His- 

 tory for 1852 and 1853 ; and some very imperfect lists 

 appended to Pridbam's compiled account of the island. 1 

 Knox, in the charming narrative of his captivity, pub- 

 lished in the reign of Charles II., has devoted a chapter 

 to the animals of Ceylon, and Dr. Davy has described 

 some of the reptiles : but with these exceptions the 

 subject is almost untouched in works relating to the 

 colony. Yet a more than ordinary interest attaches to 



1 An Historical, Political, and its Dependencies, by C. Pridham, 

 Statistical Account of Ceylon and Esq. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1849. 



