Reptile Fauna of Ceylon

by William Ferguson
At the age of 19 he arrived in Ceylon, then a British crown colony, to commence work as a government surveyor. . . . Ferguson devoted his leisure time to natural history, an interest that was greatly facilitated by his surveying work in rural areas and in the tropical forests. . . . Like many other amateur naturalists of the Victorian era, however, he published much more widely, including zoology, entomolgy, and geology. Where he had an advantage over most of his peers was that he knew his subjects in the field.

––Kraig Adler, from the Introduction
This booklet, originally published in 1877, represents the first comprehensive and fully annotated list of the herpetofauna of Sri Lanka. It includes 41 species of amphibians and 139 of reptiles. It also gives a list of the Sinhalese common names. Two new and still-recognized species are described in this booklet: a gecko and a colubrid snake. A biography of Ferguson, a British surveyor and amateur naturalist who worked in Sri Lanka during 1839–1887, is added together with a list of his herpetological publications. This reprint is issued to commemorate the Fourth World Congress of Herpetology, to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in December 2001.
Specifications: 48 pages, 5.5 x 8.5 inches, cardboard cover. ISBN 0–916984–59–1.
Price: $8.00 + Postage

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