d smaller Lizards have, I apprehend, been
imperfectly investigated; but the Tortoises are well known, and the
Serpents, from the fearful interest attaching to the race, and
stimulating their destruction, have been so vigilantly pursued, that
there is reason to believe that few, if any, varieties exist which have
not been carefully examined. In a very large collection, made by Mr.
CHARLES REGINALD BULLER during many years' residence in Kandy, and
recently submitted by him to Dr. Guenther, only one single specimen
proved to be new or previously unknown to belong to the island.

Of the _Ichthyology_ of Ceylon I am obliged to speak ill very different
terms; for although the materials are abundant almost to profusion,
little has yet been done to bring them under thoroughly scientific
scrutiny. In the following pages I have alluded to the large collection
of examples of Fishes sent home by officers of the Medical Staff, and
which still remain unopened, in the Fort Pitt Museum at Chatham; but I
am not without hope that these may shortly undergo comparison with the
drawings which exist of each, and that this branch of the island _fauna_
may at last attract the attention to which its richness so eminently
entitles it.

In the department of Entomology much has already been achieved; but an
extended area still invites future explorers; and one which the Notes of
Mr. Walker prefixed to the List of Insects in this volume, show to be of
extraordinary interest, from the unexpected convergence in Ceylon of
characteristics heretofore supposed to have been kept distinct by the
broad lines of geographical distribution.

Relative to the inferior classes of _Invertebrata_ very little has as
yet been ascertained. The Mollusca, especially the lacustrine and
fluviatile, have been most imperfectly investigated; and of the
land-shells, a large proportion have yet to be submitted to scientific
examination.

The same may be said of the _Arachnida_ and _Crustacea_. The jungle is
frequented by spiders, _phalangia_[1], and acarids, of which nothing is
known with certainty; and the sea-shore and sands have been equally
overlooked, so far as concerns the infinite variety of lobsters,
crayfish, crabs, and all their minor congeners. The _polypi, echini,
asterias_, and other _radiata_ of the coast, as well as the _acalephae_
of the deeper waters, have shared the same neglect: and literally
nothing has been done to collect and classify the infusoriae a