Abstract:
Sri Lanka is a tropical island of the Indian Ocean, and lying midway on the sea route
between east and west. Its unique geo-climatic features support rich biological diversity.
These resources are still being described scientifically and new discoveries of flora and
fauna are still occasionally published. These wealthy biological resources received the
attention of travelers, explorers, scholars, religious dignitaries, royalty and pirates from
other parts of the world who came across the country since the ancient times. These
observations were recorded and a considerable number of such accounts still exist.
In this paper we have considered the accounts in the published literature which were
compiled during the Portuguese occupation during the 16th – 17th centuries. The
accounts of these literatures are general descriptions or scientific accounts. However,
the present binominal scientific nomenclature by Carl Linnaeus appeared in 1750s, after
the period of our concern. Therefore, we have compared these descriptions with present
known biological taxa and have made an attempt to identify each species exactly. The
accuracy, reliability and the validity of the descriptions of these accounts are also
evaluated. The paper also analyzes the scientific nature and the contribution to the world
of science of these descriptions, as among pioneering descriptive accounts of our
biodiversity, which opened up the enormous biological resources of this island to the
western world.
