Chap. I.] 



LIST OF CEYLON MAMMALIA. 



73 



says the pious Calvinistic chaplain, " in no way militates 

 against the truth of her story." 1 



Finally Valentyn winds up his proofs, by the accumu- 

 lated testimony of Pliny 2 , Theodore Graza, Greorge of 

 Trebisond, and Alexander ab Alexandro, to show that 

 mermaids had in all ages been known in Graul, Naples, 

 Epirus, and the Morea. From these and a multitude of 

 more modern instances he comes to the conclusion, that 

 as there are " sea-cows," " sea-horses," and " sea-dogs ; " 

 as well as " sea-trees " and " sea- flowers " which he him- 

 self had seen, what grounds in reason are there to doubt 

 that there may also be ff< sea-maidens " and " sea-men !" 



List of Ceylon Mammalia. 



A list of the Mammalia of Ceylon is subjoined. In 

 framing it, as well as the lists appended to the other chap- 

 ters on the Fauna of the island, the principal object in 

 view has been to exhibit the extent to which the Natural 

 History of the island had been investigated, and collec- 

 tions made up to the period of my leaving the colony in 

 1850. It has been considered expedient to exclude a 

 few individuals which have not had the advantage of a 

 direct comparison with authentic specimens, either at 

 Calcutta or in England. This will account for the omis- 

 sion of a number that have appeared mother catalogues, 

 but of which many, though ascertained to exist, have not 

 been submitted to this rigorous process of identification. 



The greater portion of the species of mammals and 

 birds contained in these lists will be found, with suitable 



1 Valentyn, Beschryving, 2 Nat. Hist. 1. ix. c. 5, where 



p, 333. Pliny speaks of the Nereids. 



