PREFACE. 
Since the publication of Dr. Tliwaites’ ‘ Enumeratio,’ several species, not 
previously discovered in Ceylon, have been added to the list of indigenous Ferns ; 
and of those specified therein the names of several have been revised in the 
‘ Synopsis Filicum,’ the latest of Sir W. Hooker’s works, the nomenclature of which 
is adopted in the herbarium at Kew. A complete list, comprising all the species 
hitherto discovered, according to the nomenclature in use at the great National 
Herbarium, seemed therefore desirable. The present little work is intended to 
supply this desideratum. It is further adapted to the use and convenience of the 
Ceylon botanist by notes and remarks on such of the species as present features 
of particular interest. 
The habitats are nearly all given from the writer’s own actual experience, 
and are therefore in many instances different from those mentioned in Dr. Tliwaites’ 
‘ Enumeratio.’ These were no doubt perfectly accurate at the time they were 
written, but it is probable the coffee-planter’s axe has cleared away all traces of some 
of those old habitats, and other additional ones have been discovered. For the 
information contained in the Notes the writer is indebted to the Director of the 
Kew Koyal Gardens for the access kindly afforded him to the copious suites of 
specimens there classified, and especially to Mr. Baker’s kind and ready assistance 
in his references to the Herbarium. The writer feels that any acknowledgment of 
these favours would be incomplete if it did not comprise a record of the results for the 
use of other inquirers who may not be able to avail themselves of the advantages so 
generously afforded to him. 
