Mesodesma Layardi, Deshayes, Pr. Zool. Soc. 1854. striata, Chemn. Conch. Cab.[6]

Cras-atella rostrata, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. sulcata, Lam. Anim. s. Vert.

Amphidesma duplicatum, Sowerby. Species Conch.

Pandora Ceylanica, Sowerby, Couch. Mis.

Galeomma Layardi. Desh. Pr. Zl. S. 1856.

Kellia peculiaris, Adams, Pr. Zl. S. 1856.

Petricola cultellus, Desh. Pr. Zl. S. 1853.

Sangumoiaria rosea, Lam. Anim. s. Vert.

Psammobia rostrata, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. orcidens, Gm. Systems Naturae. Skinneri, Reeve, Conch. Icon.[7] Layardi, Desh. P.Z. Soc. 1854.

[Footnote 1: A. dichotomum, Chenu.]

[Footnote 2: Fistulana gregata, Lam.]

[Footnote 3: Blainvillea, Hupe.]

[Footnote 4: Latraria tellinoides, Lam.]

[Footnote 5: I have also seen M. hians of Philippi in a Ceylon collection.]

[Footnote 6: M. Taprobanensis, Index Test. Suppl.]

[Footnote 7: Psammotella Skinneri, Reeve.]

lunulata, Desh. P.Z. Soc. 1854. amethystus, Wood, Gen. Conch.[1] rugosa, Lam. Anim. s. Vert.[2] Tellina virgata, Linn. Syst. Nat.[3] rugosa, Born, Test. Mus. Caes. Vind. ostracea, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. ala, Hanley, Thesaur. Conch. i. inaequalis, Hanley, Thesaur. Conch. i. Layardi, Deshayes, P.Z. Soc. 1854. callosa, Deshayes, P.Z. Soc. 1854. rubra, Deshayes, P.Z. Soc. 1854. abbreviata, Deshayes, P.Z. Soc. 1854. foliacea, Linn. Systema Naturae. lingua-felis, Linn. Systema Naturae. vulsella, Chemn. Conch. Cab.[4] Lucina interrupta, Lam. Anim. s. Vert.[5] Layardi, Deshayes, Pr. Zool. Soc. 1855. Donax scortum, Linn. Syst. Nat. cuneata, Linn. Syst. Nat. faba, Chemn. Conch. Cab. spinosa, Gm. Syst. Nat. paxillus, Reeve, Conch. Icon. Cyrena Ceylanica, Chemn. Conch. Cab. Tennentii, Hanley, P.Z. Soc. 1858. Cytherea Erycina, Linn. Syst. Nat.[6] meretrix, Linn. Syst. Nat.[7] castanea, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. castrensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. casta, Gm. Syst. Nat. costata, Chemn. Conch. Cab. laeta, Gm. Syst. Nat. trimaculata, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Hebraea, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. rugifera, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. scripta, Linn. Syst. Nat. gibbia, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Meroe, Linn. Syst. Nat. testudinalis, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. seminuda, Anton. Wiegm. A. Nat. 1837.[8] Venus reticulata, Linn. Syst. Nat.[9] pinguis, Chemn. Conch. Cab. recens, Philippi, Abbild. Neuer Conch. thiara, Dillw. Descriptive Cat. Shells. Malabarica, Chemn. Conch. Cab. Bruguieri, Hanley, Recent Bivalves. papilionacea, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Indica, Sowerby, Thesaur. Conch. ii. inflata, Deshayes, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1853.[10] Ceylonensis, Sowerby, Thes. Conch. ii. literata, Linn. Systema Naturae. textrix, Chemn. Conch. Cab.[11] Cardium unedo, Linn. Syst. Nat. maculosum, Wood, Gen. Con. leucostomum, Born, Tt. M. Caes. Vind. rugosum, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. biradiatum, Bruguiere, En. Meth. Vers. attenuatum, Sowerby, Conch. Illust. enode, Sowerby, Conch. Illust. papyraceum, Chemn. Conch. Cab. ringiculum, Sowerby, Conch. Illust. subrugosum, Sowerby, Conch. Illust. latum, Born, Test. Mus. Caes. Vind. Asiaticum, Chemn. Conch. Cab. Cardita variegata, Brug. Enc. Meth. Vers. bicolor, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Arca rhombea, Born, Test. Mus. vellicata, Reeve, Conch. Icon. cruciata, Philippi, Ab. Neur Conch. decussata, Reeve (as of Sowerby), C.I.[12] scapha, Meuschen, in Gronov. Zoo. Pectunculus nodosus, Reeve, Conch. Icon. pectiniformis, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Nucula mitralis, Hinds, Zool. voy. Sul. Layardi, Adams, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1856. Mauritii (Hanley as of Hinds), Rec. Biv. Unio corrugatus, Mueller, Hist. Verm. Ter.[13] marginalis, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Lithodomus cinnamoneus, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Mytilus viridis, Linn. Syst. Nat.[14] bilocularis, Linn. Syst. Nat. Pinna inflata, Chamn. Conch. Cab. cancellata, Mawe, Intr. Lin. Conch. Malleus vulgaris, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. albus, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Meleagrina margaritifera, Linn. Syst. Nat. vexillum, Reeve, Conch. Icon.[15] Avicula macroptera, Reeve, Conch. Icon. Lima squamosa, Linn. Anim. s. Vert. Pecten plica, Linn. Syst. Nat. radula, Linn. Syst. Nat. pleuronectes, Linn. Syst. Nat. pallium, Linn. Syst. Nat. senator, Gm. Syst. Nat. histrionicus, Gm. Syst. Nat. Indicus, Deshayes, Voyage Belanger. Layardi, Reeve, Conch. Icon. Spondylus Layardi, Reeve, Conch. Icon. candidus, Reeve (as of Lam.) C. Icon. Ostrea hyotis, Linn. Syst. Nat. glaucina, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Mytiloides, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. cucullata? var., Born, Test. M. Vind.[16] Vulsella Pholadiformis, Reeve, C. Icn. (immat.) Placuna placenta, Linn. Syst. Nat. Lingula anatina, Lam. Anim. s. Vert.

[Footnote 1: P. caerulesens, Lam.]

[Footnote 2: Sanguinolaria rugosa, Lam.]

[Footnote 3: T. striatula of Lamarck is also supposed to be indigenous to Ceylon.]

[Footnote 4: T. rostrata, Lam.]

[Footnote 5: L. divaricata is found, also, in mixed Ceylon collections.]

[Footnote 6: C. dispar of Chemnitz is occasionally found in Ceylon collections.]

[Footnote 7: C. impudica. Lam.]

[Footnote 8: As Donax.]

[Footnote 9: V. corbis, Lam.]

[Footnote 10: As Tapes.]

[Footnote 11: V. textile, Lam.]

[Footnote 12:?Arca Helblingii, Chemn.]

[Footnote 13: Mr. Cuming informs me that he has forwarded no less than six distinct Uniones from Ceylon to Isaac Lea, of Philadelphia, for determination or description.]

[Footnote 14: M. smaragdinus, Chemn.]

[Footnote 15: As Avicula.]

[Footnote 16: The specimens are not in a fitting state for positive determination. They are strong, extremely narrow, with the beak of the lower valve much produced, and the inner edge of the upper valve denticulated throughout. The muscular impressions are dusky brown.]

Hyalaea tridentata, For. Anim. Orient.[1] Chiton, 2 species (Layard). Patella Reynaudii, Deshayes, Voy. Be. testodinaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. Emarginula fissurata, Ch. C. Cab.[2] Lam. Calyptraea (Crucibulum) violascens, Carpenter, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1856. Dentalium octogonum, Lam Anim. s. Vert. aprinum. Linn Syst. Nat. Bulla soluta, Chemn Conch. Cab.[3] vexillum, Chemn Conch. Cab. Bruguieri, Adams, Thes. Conch. elongata, Adams, Thes. Conch. ampulla, Linn. Syst. Nat. Lamellaria (as Marsenia Indica, Leach. in Brit. Mus.) allied to L. Mauritiana, if not it. Vaginula maculata, Templ. An. Nat. Lunax, 2 sp. Parmacella Tennentii, Templ.[4] Vitrina irradians, Pfeiffer, Mon. Helic. Edgariana, Ben. Ann. N.H. 1853 (xii.) membranacea, Ben. A.N.H. 1853 (xii.) Helix haemastoma, Linn. Syst. Nat. vittata, Mueller, Vermium Terrestrium. bistrialis, Beck, in Pfeiff. Symb. Helic. Tranquebarica, Fabricius, in Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. Juliana, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1834. Waltoni, Reeve, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1842. Skinneri. Reeve, Conch. Icon. vii. corylus, Reeve, Conch. Icon. vii. umbrina (Reeve, as of Pfeiff..), C. Ic. vii. fallaciosa. Ferussac, Hist. Mollus. Rivolii, Deshayes. Enc. Meth. Vers. ii. Charpentieri, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. erronea, Albers. Zeitschr. Mal. 18S3. carneola, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. convexiuscula, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. gnoma, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. Chenui, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. semidecussata, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. phoenix, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. superba, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. Ceylanica, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. Gardnerii, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. coriaria, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. Layardi, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. concavospira, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. novella, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. verrucula, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. hyphasma, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. Emiliana, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. Woodiana, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. partita, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. biciliata, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. Isabellina, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. Soc. trifilosa, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. politissima, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. Sc. 1854. Thwaitesii, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. nepos, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1855. subopaca, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1853. subconoidea, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. S. 18S4. ceraria, Benson, An. Nat. H. 1853 (xii.) vilipensa, Benson, An. N.H. 1853 (xii.) perfucata, Benson, A.N.H. 1853 (xii.) puteolus, Benson, An. N.H. 1853 (xii.) mononema, Benson, A.N.H. 1853 (xii.) marcida, Benson, An. N.H. 1853 (xii.) galerus, Benson, A.N.H. 1856 (xviii.) albizonata. Dohrn, Proc. Zoo. Soc. 1858. Nictneri, Dohrn, MS.[5] Grevillei, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1856. Streptaxis Layardi, Pfeiff. Mon. Helic. Cingalensis, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. Pupa muscerda, Benson, A.N.H. 1853 (xii.) mimula, Benson, A.N.H. 1856 (xviii.) Ceylanica, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. Bulimus trifasciatus, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. pullus, Gray. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1834. gracilis, Hutton, Journ. Asiat. Soc. iii. punctatus, Anton, Verzeichn. Conch. Ceylanicus, Pfeiff. (?Blaevis, iGray, in Index Testaceologicus.) adumbratus, Pfieff. Monog. Helic. intermedius, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. proletarius, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. albizonatus. Reeve, Conch. Icon. Mavortius, Reeve, Conch. Icon. luscoventris, Ben. A.N.H. 1856 (xviii.) rufopictus, Ben. A.N.H. 1856 (xviii.) panos, Benson, Ann. Nat. H. 1853 (xii.) Achatina nitens, Gray, Spicilegia Zool. inornata, Pfeiff. Monog. Helic. capillacea, Pfeiff Monog. Helic. Ceylanica, Pfeiff Monog. Helic. Punctogaliana. Pfeiff Monog. Helic. pachycheila, Benson veruina, Bens, A. Nat. Hist. 1853 (xii.) parabilis, Bens, A.N. Hist. 1856 (xviii.) Succinea Ceylanica, Pfeiff Monog. Helic. Auricula Ceylanica, Adams. Pr. Zool. Soc. 1854.[6] Ceylanica, Petit, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1842.[7] Layardi, Adams, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854.[8] pellucens, Menke, Synopsis Moll. Pythia Ceylanica, Pfeiff. Zeits. Malacoz. 1853. ovata, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. Truncatella Ceylanica, Pfeiff Proc. Zool. Soc. 1856. Cyclostoma (Cyclophorus) Ceylanicum, Sowerby, Thes. Conch. involvulum, Mueller, Verm. Terrest. Menkeanum, Philippi, Zeit. Mal. 1847. punctatum, Gratel. A.L. Bordeaux (xi.) loxostoma, Pfeiff. Monog. Pneumon.

[Footnote 1: As Anomia.]

[Footnote 2: The fissurata of Humphreys and Dacosta, pl. 4.—E. rubra, Lamarck.]

[Footnote 3: B. Ceylanica, Brug.]

[Footnote 4: P. Tennentii. "Greyish brown, with longitudinal rows of rufous spots, forming interrupted bands along the sides. A singularly handsome species, having similar habits to Limax. Found in the valleys of the Kalany Ganga, near Ruanwelle."—Templeton MSS.]

[Footnote 5: Not far from bistrialis and Ceylanica. The manuscript species of Mr. Dohrn will shortly appear in his intended work upon the land and fluviatile shells of Ceylon.]

[Footnote 6: As Ellobium.]

[Footnote 7: As Melampus.]

[Footnote 8: As Ophicardelis.]

alabastrum, Pfeiff. Monog. Pneumon. Bairdii, Pfeiff. Monog. Pneumon. Thwaitesii, Pfeiff. Monog. Pneumon. annulatum, Trosch. in Pfeiff. M. Pneum. parapsis, Bens. An. Nat. Hist. 1853 (xii.) parma, Bens. An. Nat. His. 1856 (xviii.) cratera, Bens. An. N. Hist. 1856 (xviii.) (Leptopoma) halophilum, Benson, Ann. Nat. Hist. (ser. 2 vii.) 1851. orophilum, Bens. A.N.H. (ser. 2. xi.) apicatum, Bens. A.N.H. 1856 (xviii.) conulus, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. flammeum, Pfeiff. Monog. Pneumon. semiclausum, Pfeiff. Monog. Pneumon. poecilum, Pfeiff. Monog. Pneumon. elatum, Pfeiff. Monog. Pneumon. Cyclostoma (Aulopoma). Iteri, Guerin, Rev. Zool. 1847. helicinum, Chemn. Conch. Cab. Hoffmeisteri, Troschel, Zeit. Mat. 1847. grande, Pfeiff. Monog. Pneumon. spheroideum, Dohrn, Malak. Blaetter. (?) gradatum, Pfeiff. Monog. Pneumon. Cyclostoma (Pterocyclos). Cingalense, Bens. A.N.H. (ser. 2. xi.) Troscheli, Bens. Ann. Nat. Hist. 1851. Cumingii, Pfeiff. Monog. Pneumon. bifrons, Pfeiff. Monog. Pneumon. Cataulus Templemani, Pfeiff. Mon. Pneu. eurytrema, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1852. marginatus, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1853. duplicatus, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. aureus, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1855. Layardi, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1852. Austenianus Bens. A.N.H. 1853 (xii.) Thwaitesii, Pfeiff. Proc. Zo. Soc. 1852. Cumingii, Pfeiff. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1856. decorus, Bens. Ann. Nat. Hist. 1853. haemastoma, Pfeiff. Proc. Zo. Soc. 1856. Planorbis Coromandelianus, Fab. in Dorhn's MS. Stelzeneri, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858. elegantulus, Dohrn, Proc. Z. Soc. 1858. Limnaea tigrina, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858. pinguis, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858. Melania tuberculata, Mueller, Verm. Ter.[1] spinulosa, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. corrugata, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. rudis, Lea, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1850. acanthica, Lea, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1850. Zeylanica, Lea, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1850. confusa, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858. datura, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858. Layardi, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858. Paludomus abbreviatus, Reeve, Pr. Zool. Soc. 1852. clavatus, Reeve, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1852. dilatatus, Reeve, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1852. globulosus, Reeve, Conch. Icon. decussatus, Reeve, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1852. nigricans, Reeve, Conch. Icon. constrictus, Reeve, Proc. Zo. Soc. 1852. bicinctus, Reeve, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1852. phaslaninus, Reeve, Proc. Zo. Soc. 1852. laevis, Layard, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. palustris, Layard, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. fulguratus, Dohrn, Proc. Zo. Soc. 1857. nasutus, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857. sphaericus, Dohrn, Proc. Zo. Soc. 1857. solidus, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857. distinguendus, Dohrn, Proc. Z.S. 1857. Cumingianus, Dohrn, Proc. Z.S. 1857. dromedarius, Dohrn, Proc. Z.S. 1857. Skinneri, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857. Swainsoni, Dohrn, Proc. Zo. Soc. 1857. nodulosus, Dohrn, Proc. Zo. Soc. 1857. Paludomus (Tanalia). loricatus, Reeve, Conch. Icon. erinaceus, Reeve, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1852. aereus, Reeve, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1852. Layardi, Reeve, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1852. undatus, Reeve, Conch. Icon. Gardneri, Reeve, Conch. Icon. Tennentii, Reeve, Conch. Icon. Reevei, Layard, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. violaceus, Layard, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. similis, Layard, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. funiculatus, Layard, Pr. Z. Soc. 1854. Paludomus (Philopotamis). sulcatus, Reeve, Conch. Icon. regalis, Layard, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. Thwaitesii, Layard, P. Zool. Soc. 1854. Pirena atra, Linn. Systema Naturae. Paludina melanostoma, Bens. Ceylanica, Dohrn, Pr. Zool. Soc. 1857. Bythinia stenothyroides, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857. modesta, Dohrn, MS. inconspicua, Dohrn, Pr. Zool. Soc. 1857. Ampullaria Layardi, Reeve, Conch. Icon. moesta, Reeve, Conch. Icon. cinerea, Reeve, Conch. Icon. Woodwardi, Dohrn, Pr. Zool. Soc. 1858. Tischbeini, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858. carinata, Swainson, Zool. Illus. ser. 2. paludinoides, Cat. Cristofori & Jan.[2] Malabarica, Philippi, monog. Ampul.[2] Luzonica, Reeve, Conch. Icon.[2] Sumatrensis, Philippi, monog. Ampul.[2] Navicella eximia, Reeve, Conch. Icon. reticulata, Reeve, Conch. Icon. Livesayi, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858. squamata, Dohrn, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858. depressa, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Neritina crepidularia, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. melanostoma, Trosch. W.A. Nat. 1837. triserialis, Sowerby, Conch. Illustr. Colombaria, Recluz, Pr. Zool. Soc. 1845. Perottetiana, Recluz, Rev. Z. Cuv. 1841. Ceylanensis, Recluz, Mag. Conch. 1851. Layardi, Reeve, Conch. Icon. rostrata, Reeve, Conch. Icon. reticulata, Sowerby, Conch. Illustr. Nerita plicata, Linn. Systema Naturae. costata, Chemn. Conch. Cab. plexa, Chemn. Conch. Cab.[3] Natica aurantia, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. mammilla, Linn. Systema Naturae. picta, Reeve, (as of Recluz), C. Icon. arachnoidea, Gm. Systema Naturae. lineata, Lam. Anim. s. Vert.

[Footnote 1: M. fasciolata, Olivier.]

[Footnote 2: These four species are included on the authority of Mr. Dohrn.]

[Footnote 3: N. exuvia, Lam. not Linn.]

adusta, Ch. C. C. f. 1926-7, & Karsten.[1] pellis-tigrina, Karsten, Mus. Lesk.[2] didyma, Bolten, Mus.[3] Ianthina prolongata, Blainv., D.S.N. xxiv. communis, Kr., (as of L. in part) S.A.M. Sigaretus, sp.[4] Stomatella calliostoma, Adams, Thesaur. Conch. Haliotis varia, Linn. Systema Naturae. striata, Martini (as of Linn.), C. Cab. i. semistriata, Reeve, Conch. Icon. Tornatella solidula, Linn. Systema Nat. Pyramidella maculosa, Lam., Anim. s. Vert. Eulima Martini, Adams, Thes. Conch, ii. Siliquaria muricata, Born, Test. Mus. Caes. Vind. Scalaria raricostata, Lam., Anim. s. Vert. Delphinula laciniata, Lam., Anim. s. Vert. distorta, Linn., Syst. Nat.[5] Solarium perdix, Hinds., Proc. Zool. Soc. Layardi, Adams, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854.[6] Rotella vestiaria, Linn., Syst. Nat. Phorus pallidulus, Reeve, Conch. Icon. i. Trochus elegantulus, Gray, Index Tes. Suppl. Niloticus, Linn. Syst. Nat. Monodonta labio, Linn. Syst. Nat. canaliculata, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Turbo versicolor, Gm. Syst. Nat. princeps, Philippi.[7] Planaxis undulatus, Lam. Anim. s. Vert.[8] Littorina angulifera, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. melanostoma, Gray, Zool., Beech. Voy.[9] Chemnitzia trilineata, Adams, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1853. lirata, Adams, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1853. Phasianella lineolata, Gray, Index Test. Suppl. Turritella bacillum, Kiener, Coquilles Vivantes. columnaris, Kiener, Coquilies Vivantes. duplicata, Linn. Syst. Nat. attenuata, Reeve, Syst. Nat. Cerithium fluviatile, Potrez & Michaud, Galerie Douai. Layardi (Cerithidea), Adams, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. palustre, Linn. Syst. Nat. aluco, Linn. Syst. Nat. asperula, Linn. Syst. Nat. telescopium, Linn. Syst. Nat. palustre obeliscus, Linn. Syst. Nat. fasciatum, Brug., Encycl. Meth. Vers. rubus, Sower. (as of Mart.), Thes. C. ii. Sowerbyi, Kiener, Coquilles Vivantes (teste Sir E. Tennent). Pleurotoma Indica, Deshayes, Voyage Belanger. virgo, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Turbinella pyrum, Linn. Syst. Nat. rapa, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. (the Chank.) cornigera, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. spirillus, Linn. Syst. Nat. Cancellaria trigonostoma, Lam. Anim. s. Vert.[10] scalata, Sowerby, Thesaur. Conch. articularis, Sowerby, Thesaur. Conch. Littoriniformis, Sowerby, Thes. Conch. contabulata, Sowerby, Thes. Conch. Fasciolaria filamentosa, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. trapezium, Linn. Syst. Nat. Fusus longissimus, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. colus, Linn. Mus. Lud. Ulricae. toreuma, Deshayes, (as Mur. t. Martyn).[11] laticostatus, Deshayes, Mag. Zool. 1831. Blosvillei, Deshayes, E. Meth. Vers., ii. Pyrula rapa, Linn. Syst. Nat.[12] citrina, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. pugilina, Born, Test. Mus. Vind.[13] ficus, Linn. Syst. Nat. ficoides, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Ranella crumena, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. spinosa, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. rana, Linn. Syst. Nat.[14] margaritula, Deshayes, Voy. Belanger. Murex baustellum, Linn. Syst. Nat. adustus, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. microphyllus, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. anguliferus, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. palmarosae, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. ternispina, Kiener, (as of Lam.), Coquilles Vivantes. tenuispina, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. ferrugo, Mawe, Index. Test. Suppl.[15] Reeveanus, Shuttleworth, (teste Cuming) Triton anus, Linn. Syst. Nat.[16] mulus, Dillwyn, Descript. Cat. Shells. retusus, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. pyrum, Linn. Syst. Nat. clavator, Chemn. Conch. Cab. Ceylonensis, Sowerby, Proc. Zool. Soc. lotorium, Lam. (not Linn.), An. s. Vert. lampas, Linn. Syst. Nat. Pterocera lambis, Linn. Syst. Nat. millepeda, Linn. Syst. Nat. Strombus canarium, Linn. Syst. Nat.[17] succinotus, Linn. Syst. Nat. fasciatus, Born, Test. Mus. Caes. Vind.

[Footnote 1: Conch. Cab. f. 1926-7, and N. melanostoma, Lam. in part.]

[Footnote 2: Chemn. Conch. Cab. 1892-3.]

[Footnote 3: N. glauciua, Lam. not Linn.]

[Footnote 4: A species (possibly Javanicus) is known to have been collected. I have not seen it.]

[Footnote 5: Not of Lamarck. D. atrata. Reeve.]

[Footnote 6: Philippia L.]

[Footnote 7: Zeit. Mal. 1846 for T. argyrostoma, Lam. not Linn.]

[Footnote 8: Buccinum pyramidatum, Gm. in part: B. sulcatum, var. C. of Brug.]

[Footnote 9: Teste Cuming.]

[Footnote 10: As Delphinulat.]

[Footnote 11: Ed. Lam. Anim. s. Vert.]

[Footnote 12: P. papyracea, Lam. In mixed collections I have seen the Chinese P. bezoar of Lamarck as from Ceylon.]

[Footnote 13: P. vespertilio, Gm.]

[Footnote 14: R. albivaricosa, Reeve.]

[Footnote 15: M. anguliferus var. Lam.]

[Footnote 16: T. cynocephalus of Lamarck is also met with in Ceylon collections.]

[Footnote 17: S. incisus of the Index Testaceologicus (urceus, var. Sow. Thesaur.) is found in mixed Ceylon collections.]

Sibbaldii, Sowerby, Thesaur. Conch. t. lentiginosus, Linn. Syst. Nat. marginatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. Lamarckii, Sowerby, Thesaur. Conch. Cassis glauca, Linn. Syst. Nat.[1] canaliculata, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Zeylanica, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. areola, Linn. Syst. Nat. Ricinula albolabris, Blainv. Nouv. Ann. Mus. H. N. i.[2] horrida, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. morus, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Purpura tiscella, Chemn. Conch. Cab. Persica, Linn. Syst. Nat. hystrix, Lam. (not Linn.) An. s. Vert. granatina, Deshayes, Voy. Belanger. mancinella, Lam. (as of Linn.) An. s.V. buto, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. carinitera, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Harpa conoldalis, Lam. Anim, s. Vert. minor, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Dolium pomum, Linn. Syst. Nat. olearium, Linn. Syst. Nat. perdix, Linn. Syst. Nat. maculatum, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Nassa ornata, Kiener, Coq. Vivantes. [3] verrucosa, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. crenulata, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. olivacea, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. glans, Linn. Syst. Nat. arcularia, Linn. Syst. Nat. papillosa, Linn. Syst. Nat. Phos virgatus, Hinds. Zool. Sul. Moll. retecosus, Hinds, Zool. Sulphur, Moll. senticosus, Linn. Syst. Nat. Buccinum melanostoma, Sowerby, App. to Tankerv. Cat. erythrostoma, Reeve, Conch. Icon. Proteus, Reeve, Conch. Icon. rubiginosum, Reeve, Conch. Icon. Eburna spirata, Linn. Syst. Nat.[4] canaliculata, Schumacher, S.A. s. V.[5] Ceylanica, Bruguiere, En. Meth. Vers. Bullia vittata, Linn. Syst. Nat. lineolata, Sowerby, Tankerv. Cat.[6] Melanoides, Deshayes, Voy. Belan. Terebra chlorata, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. muscaria, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. laevigata, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1834. maculata, Linn. Syst. Nat. subulata, Linn. Syst. Nat. concinna, Deshayes, ed. Lam. A. s. V. myurus, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. tigrina, Gm. Syst. Nat. cerithina, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Columbella flavida, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. fulgurans, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. mendicaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. scripta, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. (Teste Jay). Mitra episcopalis, Dillwyn, Des. Cat. Shells. cardinalis, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. crebrilirata, Reeve, Conch. Icon. punctostriata, Adams, Proc. Zool. So. 1854. insculpta, Adams, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. Layardi, Adams, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854.[7] Voluta vexillum, Chemn. Conch. Cab. Lapponica, Linn. Syst. Nat. Melo Indicus, Gm. Syst. Nat. Marginella Sarda, Kiener, Coq. Vivantes. Ovulum ovum, Linn. Syst. Nat. verrucosum, Linn. Syst. Nat. pudicum, Adams, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. Cypraea Argus, Linn. Syst. Nat. Arabica, Linn. Syst Nat. Mauritiana, Linn. Syst. Nat. hirundo, Linn. Syst. Nat. Lynx, Linn. Syst. Nat. asellus, Linn. Syst. Nat. erosa, Linn. Syst. Nat. vitellus, Linn. Syst. Nat. stolida, Linn. Syst. Nat. mappa, Linn. Syst. Nat. helvola, Linn. Syst. Nat. errones, Linn. Syst. Nat. cribraria, Linn. Syst. Nat. globulus, Linn. Syst. Nat. clandestina, Linn. Syst. Nat. ocellata, Linn. Syst. Nat. caurica, Linn. Syst. Nat. tabescens, Soland. in Dillwyn Des. C. Sh. gangrenosa, Soland. in Dillw. D.C. Sh. interrupta, Gray, Zool. Journ. i. lentiginosa, Gray, Zool. Journ. i. pyriformis, Gray, Zool. Journ. i. nivosa, Broderip, Zool. Journ. iii. poraria, Linn. Syst. Nat. testudinaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. Terebellum subulatum, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Ancillaria glabrata, Linn. Syst. Nat. candida, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Oliva Maura, Lam. Anim. s. Vert, erythrostoma, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. gibbesa, Born, Test. Mus. Caes.[8] nebulosa, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Macleayana, Duclos, Monogr. of Oliva. episcopalis, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. elegans, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. ispidula, Linn. Syst. Nat. (partly).[9] Zeilanica, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. undata, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. irisans, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. (teste Duclos). Conus miles, Linn. Syst. Nat. generalis, Linn. Syst. Nat. betulinus, Linn. Syst. Nat. stercus-muscarum, Linn. Syst. Nat. Hebraeus, Linn. Syst. Nat. virgo, Linn. Syst. Nat. geographicus, Linn. Syst. Nat. aulicus, Linn. Syst. Nat. figutinus, Linn. Syst. Nat. striatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. senator, Linn. Syst. Nat.[10] literatus, Linn. Syst. Nat.

[Footnote 1: C. plicaria of Lamarck, and C. coronulata of Sowerby, are also said to be found in Ceylon.]

[Footnote 2: As Purpura.]

[Footnote 3: N. suturalis, Reeve (as of Lam.), is met with in mixed Ceylon collections.]

[Footnote 4: E. areolata, Lam.]

[Footnote 5: E. spirata, Lam. not Linn.]

[Footnote 6: B. Belangeri, Kiener.]

[Footnote 7: As Turricula L.]

[Footnote 8: O. utriculus, Dillwyn.]

[Footnote 9: C. planorbis, Born; C. vulpinus, Lam.]

[Footnote 10: Conus ermineus, Born, in part.]

imperialis, Linn. Syst. Nat. textile, Linn. Syst. Nat. terebra, Born, Test. Must. Caes. Vind. tessellatus, Born, Test. Mus. Caes. Vind. augur, Bruguiere, Encycl. Meth. Vers. obesus, Bruguiere, Encycl. Meth. Vers. araneosus, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. gubernator, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. monite, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. nimbosus, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. eburneus, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. vitulinus, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. quercinus Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. lividus, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. Omaria, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. Maldivus, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. nocturnus, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. Ceylonensis, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. arenatus, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. Nicobaricus, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. glans, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. Amadis, Chemn. Conch. Cab. punctatus, Chemn. Conch. Cab. minimus, Reeve. (as of Linn), C. Icon. terminus, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. lineatus, Chemn. Conch. Cab. episcopus, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. verriculum, Reeve. Conch. Cab. zonatus, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. rattus. Brug. En. Mth. V. (teste Chemn.) pertusus, Brug. Encycl. Meth. Vers. Nussatella, Linn. Syst. Nat. lithoglyphus, Brug. En. Meth. Vers.[4] tulipa, Linn. Syst. Nat. Ammiralis, var. Linn. teste Brug. Spirula Peronii, Lam. Anim. s. Vert. Sepia Hieredda, Rang. M.Z., ser. i. p. 100. Sepioteuthis, Sp. Loligo, Sp.

A conclusion not unworthy of observation may be deduced from this catalogue; namely, that Ceylon was the unknown, and hence unacknowledged, source of almost every extra-European shell which has been described by Linnaeus without a recorded habitat. This fact gives to Ceylon specimens an importance which can only be appreciated by collectors and the students of Mollusca.



2. RADIATA.

The eastern seas are profusely stocked with radiated animals, but it is to be regretted that they have as yet received but little attention from English naturalists. Recently, however, Dr. Kelaart has devoted himself to the investigation of some of the Singhalese species, and has published his discoveries in the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Asiatic Society for 1856-8. Our information respecting the radiata on the confines of the island is, therefore, very scanty; with the exception of the genera[1] examined by him. Hence the notice of this extensive class of animals must be limited to indicating a few of those which exhibit striking peculiarities, or which admit of the most common observation.

[Footnote 1: Actinia, 9 sp.; Anthea, 4 sp.; Actinodendron, 3 sp.; Dioscosoma, 1 sp.; Peechea, 1 sp.; Zoanthura, 1 sp.]

Star Fish.—Very large species of Ophiuridae are to be met with at Trincomalie, crawling busily about, and insinuating their long serpentine arms into the irregularities and perforations in the rocks. To these they attach themselves with such a firm grasp, especially when they perceive that they have attracted attention, that it is almost impossible to procure unmutilated specimens without previously depriving them of life, or at least modifying their muscular tenacity. The upper surface is of a dark purple colour, and coarsely spined; the arms of the largest specimens are more than a foot in length, and very fragile.

The star fishes, with immovable rays[1], are by no means rare; many kinds are brought up in the nets, or maybe extracted from the stomachs of the larger market fish. One very large species[2], figured by Joinville in the manuscript volume in the library at the India House, is not uncommon; it has thick arms, from which and the disc numerous large fleshy cirrhi of a bright crimson colour project downwards, giving the creature a remarkable aspect. No description of it, so far as I am aware, has appeared in any systematic work on zoology.

[Footnote 1: Asterias, Linn.]

[Footnote 2: Pentaceros?]

Sea Slugs.—There are a few species of Holothuria, of which the trepang is the best known example. It is largely collected in the Gulf of Manaar, and dried in the sun to prepare it for export to China. A good description and figures of its varieties are still desiderata.

Parasitic Worms.—Of these entozoa, the Filaria medinensis, or Guinea-worm, which burrows in the cellular tissue under the skin, is well known in the north of the island, but rarely found in the damper districts of the south and west. In Ceylon, as elsewhere, the natives attribute its occurrence to drinking the waters of particular wells; but this belief is inconsistent with the fact that its lodgment in the human body is almost always effected just above the ankle. This shows that the minute parasites are transferred to the skin of the leg from the moist vegetation bordering the footpaths leading to wells. At this period the creatures are very small, and the process of insinuation is painless and imperceptible. It is only when they attain to considerable size, a foot or more in length, that the operation of extracting them is resorted to, when exercise may have given rise to inconvenience and inflammation.

These pests in all probability received their popular name of Guinea-worms, from the narrative of Bruno or Braun, a citizen and surgeon of Basle, who about the year 1611 made several voyages to that part of the African coast, and on his return published, amongst other things, an account of the local diseases.[1] But Linschoten, the Dutch navigator, had previously observed the same worms at Ormus in 1584, and they are thus described, together with the method of removing them, in the English version of his voyage.

[Footnote 1: In DE BRY'S, Collect, vol. i. p. 49.]

"There is in Ormus a sickenesse or common plague of wormes, which growe in their legges, it is thought that they proceede of the water that they drink. These wormes are like, unto lute strings, and about two or three fadomes longe, which they must plucke out and winde them aboute a straw or a feather, everie day some part thereof, so longe as they feele them creepe; and when they hold still, letting it rest in that sort till the next daye, they bind it fast and annoynt the hole, and the swelling from whence it commeth foorth, with fresh butter, and so in ten or twelve dayes, they winde them out without any let, in the meanetime they must sit still with their legges, for if it should breake, they should not, without great paine get it out of their legge, as I have seen some men doe." [1]

[Footnote 1: JOHN HUIGHEN VAN LINSCHOTEN his Discours of Voyages into the Easte and West Indies. London, 1599, p, 16.]

The worm is of a whitish colour, sometimes inclining to brown. Its thickness is from a half to two-thirds of a line, and its length has sometimes reached to ten or twelve feet. Small specimens have been found beneath the tunica conjunctiva of the eye; and one species of the same genus of Nematoidea infests the cavity of the eye itself.[1]

[Footnote 1: OWEN'S Lectures on the Invertebrata, p. 96.]

Planaria.—In the journal already mentioned, Dr. Kelaart has given descriptions of fifteen species of planaria, and four of a new genus, instituted by him for the reception of those differing from the normal kinds by some peculiarities which they exhibit in common. At Point Pedro, Mr. Edgar Layard met with one on the bark of trees, after heavy rain, which would appear to belong to the subgenus geoplana.[1]

[Footnote 1: "A curious species, which is of a light brown above, white underneath; very broad and thin, and has a peculiarly shaped tail, half-moon-shaped in fact, like a grocer's cheese knife."]

Acalephae.—Acalephae[1] are plentiful, so much so, indeed, that they occasionally tempt the larger cetacea into the Gulf of Manaar. In the calmer months of the year, when the sea is glassy, and for hours together undisturbed by a ripple, the minute descriptions are rendered perceptible by their beautiful prismatic tinting. So great is their transparency that they are only to be distinguished from the water by the return to the eye of the reflected light that glances from their delicate and polished surfaces. Less frequently they are traced by the faint hues of their tiny peduncles, arms, or tentaculae; and it has been well observed that they often give the seas in which they abound the appearance of being crowded with flakes of half-melted snow. The larger kinds, when undisturbed in their native haunts, attain to considerable size. A faintly blue medusa, nearly a foot across, may be seen in the Gulf of Manaar, where, no doubt, others of still larger growth are to be found.

[Footnote 1: Jelly-fish.]



Occasionally after storms, the beach at Colombo is strewn with the thin transparent globes of the "Portuguese Man of War," Physalus urticulus, which are piled upon the lines left by the waves, like globules of glass delicately tinted with purple and blue. They sting, as their trivial name indicates, like a nettle when incautiously touched.

Red infusoria.—On both sides of the island (but most frequently on the west), during the south-west monsoon, a broad expanse of the sea assumes a red tinge, considerably brighter than brick-dust; and this is confined to a space so distinct that a line seems to separate it from the green water which flows on either side. Observing at Colombo that the whole area so tinged changed its position without parting with any portion of its colouring, I had some of the water brought on shore, and, on examination with the microscope, found it to be filled with infusoria, probably similar to those which have been noticed near the shores of South America, and whose abundance has imparted a name to the "Vermilion Sea" off the coast of California.[1]

[Footnote 1: The late Dr. BUIST, of Bombay, in commenting on this statement, writes to the Athenaeum that: "The red colour with which the sea is tinged, round the shores of Ceylon, during a part of the S.W. monsoon is due to the Proto-coccus nivalis, or the Himatta-coccus, which presents different colours at different periods of the year—giving us the seas of milk as well as those of blood. The coloured water at times is to be seen all along the coast north to Kurrachee, and far out, and of a much more intense tint in the Arabian Sea. The frequency of its appearance in the Red Sea has conferred on it its name."]

The remaining orders, including the corals, madrepores, and other polypi, have yet to find a naturalist to undertake their investigation, but in all probability the new species are not very numerous.

* * * * *



NOTE.

TRITONIA ARBORESCENS.

The following is the letter of Dr. Grant, referred to at page 385:—

Sir,—I have perused, with much interest, your remarkable communication received yesterday, respecting the musical sounds which you heard proceeding from under water, on the east coast of Ceylon. I cannot parallel the phenomenon you witnessed at Batticaloa, as produced by marine animals, with anything with which my past experience has made me acquainted in marine zoology. Excepting the faint clink of the Tritonia arborescens, repeated only once every minute or two, and apparently produced by the mouth armed with two dense horny laminae, I am not aware of any sounds produced in the sea by branchiated invertebrata. It is to be regretted that in the memorandum you have not mentioned your observations on the living specimens brought you by the sailors as the animals which produced the sounds. Your authentication of the hitherto unknown fact, would probably lead to the discovery of the same phenomenon in other common accessible paludinae, and other allied branchiated animals, and to the solution of a problem, which is still to me a mystery, even regarding the tritonia.

My two living tritonia, contained in a large clear colourless glass cylinder, filled with pure sea water, and placed on the central table of the Wernerian Natural History Society of Edinburgh, around which many members were sitting, continued to clink audibly within the distance of twelve feet during the whole meeting. These small animals were individually not half the size of the last joint of my little finger. What effect the mellow sounds of millions of these, covering the shallow bottom of a tranquil estuary, in the silence of night, might produce, I can scarcely conjecture.

In the absence of your authentication, and of all geological explanation of the continuous sounds, and of all source of fallacy from the hum and buzz of living creatures in the air or on the land, or swimming on the waters, I must say that I should be inclined to seek for the source of sounds so audible as those you describe rather among the pulmonated vertebrata, which swarm in the depths of these seas—as fishes, serpents (of which my friend Dr. Cantor has described about twelve species he found in the Bay of Bengal), turtles, palmated birds, pinnipedous and cetaceous mammalia, &c.

The publication of your memorandum in its present form, though not quite satisfactory, will, I think, be eminently calculated to excite useful inquiry into a neglected and curious part of the economy of nature.

I remain, Sir,

Yours most respectfully,

ROBERT E. GRANT.

Sir J. Emerson Tennent, &c. &c.



CHAP. XII.

INSECTS.

Owing to the favourable combination of heat, moisture, and vegetation, the myriads of insects in Ceylon form one of the characteristic features of the island. In the solitude of the forests there is a perpetual music from their soothing and melodious hum, which frequently swells to a startling sound as the cicada trills his sonorous drum on the sunny bark of some tall tree. At morning the dew hangs in diamond drops on the threads and gossamer which the spiders suspend across every pathway; and above the pool dragon-flies, of more than metallic lustre, flash in the early sunbeams. The earth teems with countless ants, which emerge from beneath its surface, or make their devious highways to ascend to their nests in the trees. Lustrous beetles, with their golden elytra, bask on the leaves, whilst minuter species dash through the air in circles, which the ear can follow by the booming of their tiny wings. Butterflies of large size and gorgeous colouring, flutter over the endless expanse of flowers, and at times the extraordinary sight presents itself of flights of these delicate creatures, generally of a white or pale yellow hue, apparently miles in breadth, and of such prodigious extension as to occupy hours, and even days, uninterruptedly in their passage—whence coming no one knows; whither going no one can tell.[1] As day declines, the moths issue from their retreats, the crickets add their shrill voices to swell the din; and when darkness descends, the eye is charmed with the millions of emerald lamps lighted up by the fire-flies amidst the surrounding gloom.

[Footnote 1: The butterflies I have seen in these wonderful migrations in Ceylon were mostly Callidryas Hilariae, C. Alcmeone, and C. Pyranthe, with straggling individuals of the genus Euplaea, E. Coras, and E. Prothoe. Their passage took place in April and May, generally in a north-easterly direction. The natives have a superstitious belief that their flight is ultimately directed to Adam's Peak, and that their pilgrimage ends on reaching the sacred mountain. A friend of mine travelling from Kandy to Kornegalle, drove for nine miles through a cloud of white butterflies, which were passing across the road by which he went.]

As yet no attempt has been made to describe the insects of Ceylon systematically, much less to enumerate the prodigous number of species that abound in every locality. Occasional observers have, from time to time, contributed notices of particular families to the Scientific Associations of Europe, but their papers remain undigested, and the time has not yet arrived for the preparation of an Entomology of the island.

What DARWIN remarks of the Coleoptera of Brazil is nearly as applicable to the same order of insects in Ceylon: "The number of minute and obscurely coloured beetles is exceedingly great; the cabinets of Europe can as yet, with partial exceptions, boast only of the larger species from tropical climates, and it is sufficient to disturb the composure of an entomologist to look forward to the future dimensions of a catalogue with any pretensions to completeness."[1] M. Nietner, a German entomologist, who has spent some years in Ceylon, has recently published, in one of the local periodicals, a series of papers on the Coleoptera of the island, in which every species introduced is stated to be previously undescribed.[2]

[Footnote 1: Nat. Journal, p. 39.]

[Footnote 2: Republished in the Ann. Nat. Hist.]

COLEOPTERA.—Buprestidae; Golden Beetles.—In the morning the herbaceous plants, especially on the eastern side of the island, are studded with these gorgeous beetles, whose golden wing-cases[1] are used to enrich the embroidery of the Indian zenana, whilst the lustrous joints of the legs are strung on silken threads, and form necklaces and bracelets of singular brilliancy.

[Footnote 1: Sternocera Chrysis; S. sternicornis.]

These exquisite colours are not confined to one order, and some of the Elateridae[1] and Lamellicorns exhibit hues of green and blue, that rival the deepest tints of the emerald and sapphire.

[Footnote 1: Of the family of Elateridae, one of the finest is a Singhalese species, the Campsosternus Templetonii, of an exquisite golden green colour, with blue reflections (described and figured by Mr. WESTWOOD in his Cabinet of Oriental Entomology, pl. 35, f. 1). In the same work is figured another species of large size, also from Ceylon, this is the Alaus sordidus.—WESTWOOD, l. c. pl. 35, f. 9.]

Scavenger Beetles.—Scavenger beetles[1] are to be seen wherever the presence of putrescent and offensive matter affords opportunity for the display of their repulsive but most curious instincts; fastening on it with eagerness, severing it into lumps proportionate to their strength, and rolling it along in search of some place sufficiently soft in which to bury it, after having deposited their eggs in the centre. I had frequent opportunities, especially in traversing the sandy jungles in the level plains to the north of the island, of observing the unfailing appearance of these creatures instantly on the dropping of horse dung, or any other substance suitable for their purpose; although not one was visible but a moment before. Their approach on the wing is announced by a loud and joyous booming sound, as they dash in rapid circles in search of the desired object, led by their sense of smell, and evidently little assisted by the eye in shaping their course towards it. In these excursions they exhibit a strength of wing and sustained power of flight, such as is possessed by no other class of beetles with which I am acquainted, but which is obviously indispensable for the due performance of the useful functions they discharge.

[Footnote 1: Ateuchus sacer; Copris sagax; C. capucinus, &c. &c.]



The Coco-nut Beetle.—In the luxuriant forests of Ceylon the extensive family of Longicorns[1] and Passalidae live in destructive abundance. To the coco-nut planters the ravages committed by beetles are painfully familiar.[2] The larva of one species of Dynastida, the Oryctes rhinoceros, called by the Singhalese "Gascooroominiya," makes its way into the younger trees, descending from the top, and after perforating them in all directions, forms a cocoon of the gnawed wood and sawdust, in which it reposes during its sleep as a pupa, till the arrival of the period when it emerges as a perfect beetle. Notwithstanding the repulsive aspect of the large pulpy larvae of these beetles, they are esteemed a luxury by the Malabar coolies, who so far avail themselves of the privilege accorded by the Levitical law, which permitted the Hebrews to eat "the beetle after his kind."[3]

[Footnote 1: The engraving on the preceding page represents in its various transformations one of the most familiar and graceful of the longicorn beetles of Ceylon, the Batocera rubus.]

[Footnote 2: There is a paper in the Journ. of the Asiat. Society of Ceylon, May, 1845, by Mr. CAPPER, on the ravages perpetrated by these beetles. The writer had recently passed through several coco-nut plantations, "varying in extent from 20 to 150 acres, and about two to three years old: and in these he did not discover a single young tree untouched by the cooroominiya."—P. 49.]

[Footnote 3: Leviticus, xi. 22.]

Amongst the superstitions of the Singhalese arising out of their belief in demonology, one remarkable one is connected with the appearance of a beetle when observed on the floor of a dwelling-house after nightfall. The popular belief is that in obedience to a certain form of incantation (called cooroominiya-pilli) a demon in the shape of a beetle is sent to the house of some person or family whose destruction it is intended to compass, and who presently falls sick and dies. The only means of averting this catastrophe is, that some one, himself an adept in necromancy, should perform a counter-charm, the effect of which is to send back the disguised beetle to destroy his original employer; for in such a conjuncture the death of one or the other is essential to appease the demon whose intervention has been invoked. Hence the discomfort of a Singhalese on finding a beetle in his house after sunset, and his anxiety to expel but not to kill it.

Tortoise Beetles.—There is one family of insects, the members of which cannot fail to strike the traveller by their singular beauty, the Cassididae or tortoise beetles, in which the outer shell overlaps the body, and the limbs are susceptible of being drawn entirely within it. The rim is frequently of a different tint from the centre, and one species which I have seen is quite startling from the brilliancy of its colouring, which gives it the appearance of a ruby enclosed in a frame of pearl; but this wonderful effect disappears immediately on the death of the insect.

ORTHOPTERA. Leaf-insects.—But in relation to the insects of Ceylon the admiration of their colours is still less exciting than the astonishment created by the forms in which some of the families present themselves; especially the "soothsayers" (Mantidae) and "walking leaves." The latter[1], exhibiting the most cunning of all nature's devices for the preservation of her creatures, are found in the jungle in all varieties of hues, from the pale yellow of an opening bud to the rich green of the full-blown leaf, and the withered tint of decay. So perfect is the imitation of a leaf in structure and articulation, that this amazing insect when at rest is almost undistinguishable from the foliage around: not only are the wings modelled to resemble ribbed and fibrous follicles, but every joint of the legs is expanded into a broad plait like a half-opened leaflet.

[Footnote 1: Phyllium siccifolium.]



It rests on its abdomen, the legs serving to drag it slowly along, and thus the flatness of its attitude serves still further to add to the appearance of a leaf. One of the most marvellous incidents connected with its organisation was exhibited by one which I kept under a glass shade on my table, it laid a quantity of eggs, that, in colour and shape, were not to be distinguished from seeds. They were brown, and pentangular, with a short stem, and slightly punctured at the intersections.



The "soothsayer," on the other hand (Mantis superstitiosa. Fab.[1]), little justifies by its propensities the appearance of gentleness, and the attitudes of sanctity, which have obtained for it the title of the "praying mantis." Its habits are carnivorous, and degenerate into cannibalism, as it preys on the weaker individuals of its own species. Two which I enclosed in a box were both found dead a few hours after, literally severed limb from limb in their encounter. The formation of the foreleg enables the tibia to be so closed on the sharp edge of the thigh as to amputate any slender substance grasped within it.

[Footnote 1: M. aridifolia and M. extensicollis, as well as Empusa gongylodes, remarkable for the long leaf-like head, and dilatations on the posterior thighs, are common in the island.]

The Stick-insect.—The Phasmidae or spectres, another class of orthoptera, present as close a resemblance to small branches or leafless twigs as their congeners do to green leaves. The wing-covers, where they exist, instead of being expanded, are applied so closely to the body as to detract nothing from its rounded form, and hence the name which they have acquired of "walking-sticks." Like the Phyllium, the Phasma lives exclusively on vegetables, and some attain the length of several inches.

Of all the other tribes of the Orthoptera Ceylon possesses many representatives; in swarms of cockroaches, grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets.

NEUROPTERA. Dragon-flies.—Of the Neuroptera, some of the dragon-flies are pre-eminently beautiful; one species, with rich brown-coloured spots upon its gauzy wings, is to be seen near every pool.[1] Another[2], which dances above the mountain streams in Oovah, and amongst the hills descending towards Kandy, gleams in the sun as if each of its green enamelled wings had been sliced from an emerald.

[Footnote 1: Libellula pulchella.]

[Footnote 2: Euphaea splendens.]

The Ant-Lion.—Of the ant-lion, whose larvae have earned a bad renown from their predaceous ingenuity, Ceylon has, at least, four species, which seem peculiar to the island.[1] This singular creature, preparatory to its pupal transformation, contrives to excavate a conical pitfall in the dust to the depth of about an inch, in the bottom of which it conceals itself, exposing only its open mandibles above the surface; and here every ant and soft-bodied insect which curiosity tempts to descend, or accident may precipitate into the trap, is ruthlessly seized and devoured by its ambushed inhabitant.

[Footnote 1: Palpares contrarius, Walker; Myrmeleon gravis, Walker; M. dirus, Walker; M. barbarus, Walker.]

The White Ant.—But of the insects of this order the most noted are the white ants or termites (which are ants only by a misnomer). They are, unfortunately, at once ubiquitous and innumerable in every spot where the climate is not too chilly, or the soil too sandy, for them to construct their domed edifices.

These they raise from a considerable depth under ground, excavating the clay with their mandibles, and moistening it with tenacious saliva[1] until it assume the appearance, and almost the consistency, of sandstone. So delicate is the trituration to which they subject this material, that the goldsmiths of Ceylon employ the powdered clay of the ant hills in preference to all other substances in the preparation of crucibles and moulds for their finer castings: and KNOX says, "the people use this finer clay to make their earthen gods of, it is so pure and fine."[2] These structures the termites erect with such perseverance and durability that they frequently rise to the height of ten or twelve feet from the ground, with a corresponding diameter. They are so firm in their texture that the weight of a horse makes no apparent indentation on their solidity; and even the intense rains of the monsoon, which no cement or mortar can long resist, fail to penetrate the surface or substance of an ant hill.[3] In their earlier stages the termites proceed with such energetic rapidity, that I have seen a pinnacle of moist clay, six inches in height and twice as large in diameter, constructed underneath a table between sitting down to dinner and the removal of the cloth.

[Footnote 1: It becomes an interesting question whence the termites derive the large supplies of moisture with which they not only temper the clay for the construction of their long covered ways above ground, but for keeping their passages uniformly damp and cool below the surface. Yet their habits in this particular are unvarying, in the seasons of droughts as well as after rain; in the driest and least promising positions, in situations inaccessible to drainage from above, and cut off by rocks and impervious strata from springs from below. Dr. Livingstone, struck with this phenomenon in Southern Africa, asks: "Can the white ants possess the power of combining the oxygen and hydrogen of their vegetable food by vital force so as to form water?"—Travels, p. 22. And he describes at Angola, an insect[A] resembling the Aphrophora spumaria; seven or eight individuals of which distil several pints of water every night.—P. 414. It is highly probable that the termites are endowed with some such faculty: nor is it more remarkable that an insect should combine the gases of its food to produce water, than that a fish should decompose water in order to provide itself with gas. FOURCROIX found the contents of the air-bladder in a carp to be pure nitrogen.—Yarrell, vol. i. p. 42. And the aquatic larva of the dragon-fly extracts air for its respiration from the water in which it is submerged. A similar mystery pervades the inquiry whence plants under peculiar circumstances derive the water essential to vegetation.]

[Footnote A: A. goudotti? Bennett.]

[Footnote 2: KNOX'S Ceylon, Part i, ch. vi, p.24.]

[Footnote 3: Dr. HOOKER, in his Himalayan Journal (vol. i. p. 20) is of opinion that the nests of the termites are not independent structures, but that their nucleus is "the debris of clumps of bamboos or the trunks of large trees which these insects have destroyed." He supposes that the dead tree falls leaving the stump coated with sand, which the action of the weather soon fashions into a cone. But independently of the fact that the "action of the weather" produces little or no effect on the closely cemented clay of the white ants' nest, they may be daily seen constructing their edifices in the very form of a cone, which they ever after retain. Besides which, they appear in the midst of terraces and fields where no trees are to be seen: and Dr. Hooker seems to overlook the fact that the termites rarely attack a living tree; and although their nests may be built against one, it continues to flourish not the less for their presence.]

As these lofty mounds of earth have all been carried up from beneath the surface, a cave of corresponding dimensions is necessarily scooped out below, and here, under the multitude of miniature cupolas and pinnacles which canopy it above, the termites hollow out the royal chamber for their queen, with spacious nurseries surrounding it on all sides; and all are connected by arched galleries, long passages, and doorways of the most intricate and elaborate construction. In the centre and underneath the spacious dome is the recess for the queen—a hideous creature, with the head and thorax of an ordinary termite, but a body swollen to a hundred times its usual and proportionate bulk, and presenting the appearance of a mass of shapeless pulp. From this great progenitrix proceed the myriads that people the subterranean hive, consisting, like the communities of the genuine ants, of labourers and soldiers, which are destined never to acquire a fuller development than that of larvae, and the perfect insects which in due time become invested with wings and take their departing flight from the cave. But their new equipment seems only destined to facilitate their dispersion from the parent nest, which takes place at dusk; and almost as quickly as they leave it they divest themselves of their ineffectual wings, waving them impatiently and twisting them in every direction till they become detached and drop off, and the swarm, within a few hours of their emancipation, become a prey to the night-jars and bats, which are instantly attracted to them as they issue in a cloud from the ground. I am not prepared to say that the other insectivorous birds would not gladly make a meal of the termites, but, seeing that in Ceylon their numbers are chiefly kept in check by the crepuscular birds, it is observable, at least as a coincidence, that the dispersion of the swarm generally takes place at twilight. Those that escape the caprimulgi fall a prey to the crows, on the morning succeeding their flight.

The strange peculiarity of the omnivorous ravages of the white ants is that they shrink from the light; in all their expeditions for providing food they construct a covered pathway of moistened clay, and their galleries above ground extend to an incredible distance from the central nest. No timber, except ebony and ironwood, which are too hard, and those which are strongly impregnated with camphor or aromatic oils, which they dislike, presents any obstacle to their ingress. I have had a case of wine filled, in the course of two days, with almost solid clay, and only discovered the presence of the white ants by the escape from the corks. I have had a portmanteau in my tent so peopled with them in the course of a single night that the contents were found worthless in the morning. In an incredibly short time a detachment of these pests will destroy a press full of records, reducing the paper to fragments; and a shelf of books will be tunnelled into a gallery if it happen to be in their line of march. The timbers of a house when fairly attacked are eaten from within till the beams are reduced to an absolute shell, so thin that it may be punched through with the point of the finger: and even kyanized wood, unless impregnated with an extra quantity of corrosive sublimate, appears to occasion them no inconvenience. The only effectual precaution for the protection of furniture is incessant vigilance—the constant watching of every article, and its daily removal from place to place, in order to baffle their assaults.

They do not appear in the hills above the elevation of 4000 or 5000 feet. One species of white ant, the Termes Taprobanes, was at one time believed by Mr. Walker to be peculiar to the island, but it has recently been found in Sumatra and Borneo, and in some parts of Hindustan.

There is a species of Termes in Ceylon (T. monoceros), which always builds its nest in the hollow of an old tree; and, unlike the others, carries on its labours without the secrecy and protection of a covered way. A marching column of these creatures may be observed at early morning in the vicinity of their nest, returning laden with the spoils collected during their foraging excursions. These consist of comminuted vegetable matter, derived, it may be, from a thatched roof, if one happens to be within reach, or from the decaying leaves of a coco-nut. Each little worker in the column carries its tiny load in its jaws; and the number of individuals in one of these lines of march must be immense, for the column is generally about two inches in width, and very densely crowded. One was measured which had most likely been in motion for hours, moving in the direction of the nest, and was found to be upwards of sixty paces in length. If attention be directed to the mass in motion, it will be observed that flanking it on each side throughout its whole length are stationed a number of horned soldier termites, whose duty it is to protect the labourers, and to give notice of any danger threatening them. This latter duty they perform by a peculiar quivering motion of the whole body, which is rapidly communicated from one to the other for a considerable distance: a portion of the column is then thrown into confusion for a short time, but confidence soon returns, and the progress of the little creatures goes on with steadiness and order as before. The nest is of a black colour, and resembles a mass of scoriae; the insects themselves are of a pitchy brown.[1]

[Footnote 1: For these particulars of the termes monoceros, I am indebted to Mr. Thwaites, of the Roy. Botanic Garden at Kandy.]

HYMENOPTERA. Mason Wasp.—In Ceylon as in all other countries, the order of hymenopterous insects arrests us less by the beauty of their forms than the marvels of their sagacity and the achievements of their instinct. A fossorial wasp of the family of Sphegidae,[1] which is distinguished by its metallic lustre, enters by the open windows, and converts irritation at its movements into admiration of the graceful industry with which it stops up the keyholes and similar apertures with clay in order to build in them a cell. Into this it thrusts the pupa of some other insect, within whose body it has previously introduced its own eggs. The whole is surrounded with moistened earth, through which the young parasite, after undergoing its transformations, gnaws its way into light, to emerge as a four-winged fly.[2]

[Footnote 1: It belongs to the genus Pelopaeus, P. Spinolae, of St. Fargean. The Ampulex compressa, which drags about the larvae of cockroaches into which it has implanted its eggs, belongs, to the same family.]

[Footnote 2: Mr. E.L. Layard has given an interesting account of this Mason wasp in the Annals and Magazine of Nat. History for May, 1853. "I have frequently," he says, "selected one of these flies for observation, and have seen their labours extend over a period of a fortnight or twenty days; sometimes only half a cell was completed in a day, at others as much as two. I never saw more than twenty cells in one nest, seldom indeed that number, and whence the caterpillars were procured was always to me a mystery. I have seen thirty or forty brought in of a species which I knew to be very rare in the perfect state, and which I had sought for in vain, although I knew on what plant they fed.

"Then again how are they disabled by the wasp, and yet not injured so as to cause their immediate death? Die they all do, at least all that I have ever tried to rear, after taking them from the nest.

"The perfected fly never effects its egress from the closed aperture, through which the caterpillars were inserted, and when cells are placed end to end, as they are in many instances, the outward end of each is always selected. I cannot detect any difference in the thickness in the crust of the cell to cause this uniformity of practice. It is often as much as half an inch through, of great hardness, and as far as I can see impervious to air and light. How then does the enclosed fly always select the right end, and with what secretion is it supplied to decompose this mortar?"]

A formidable species (Sphex ferruginea of St. Fargeau), which is common to India and most of the eastern islands, is regarded with the utmost dread by the unclad natives, who fly precipitately on finding themselves in the vicinity[1] of its nests. These are of such ample dimensions, that when suspended from a branch, they often measure upwards of six feet in length.[2]

[Footnote 1: It ought to be remembered in travelling in the forests of Ceylon that sal volatile applied immediately is a specific for the sting of a wasp.]

[Footnote 2: At the January (1839) meeting of the Entomological Society, Mr. Whitehouse exhibited portions of a wasps' nest from Ceylon, between seven and eight feet long and two feet in diameter, and showed that the construction of the cells was perfectly analogous to those of the hive bee, and that when connected each has a tendency to assume a circular outline. In one specimen where there were three cells united the outer part was circular, whilst the portions common to the three formed straight walls. From this Singhalese nest Mr. Whitehouse demonstrated that the wasps at the commencement of their comb proceed slowly, forming the bases of several together, whereby they assume the hexagonal shape, whereas, if constructed separately, he thought each single cell would be circular. See Proc. Ent. Soc., vol. iii. p. 16.]

Bees.—Bees of several species and genera, some unprovided with stings, and some in size scarcely exceeding a house-fly, deposit their honey in hollow trees, or suspend their combs from a branch. The spoils of their industry form one of the chief resources of the uncivilised Veddahs, who collect the wax in the upland forests, to be bartered for arrow points and clothes in the lowlands.[1] I have never heard of an instance of persons being attacked by the bees of Ceylon, and hence the natives assert, that those most productive of honey are destitute of stings.

[Footnote 1: A gentleman connected with the department of the Surveyor-General writes to me that he measured a honey-comb which he found fastened to the overhanging branch of a small tree in the forest near Adam's Peak, and found it nine links of his chain or about six feet in length and a foot in breadth where it was attached to the branch, but tapering towards the other extremity. "It was a single comb with a layer of cells on either side, but so weighty that the branch broke by the strain."]

The Carpenter Bee.—The operations of one of the most interesting of the tribe, the Carpenter bee[1], I have watched with admiration from the window of the Colonial Secretary's official residence at Kandy. So soon as the day grew warm, these active creatures were at work perforating the wooden columns which supported the verandah. They poised themselves on their shining purple wings, as they made the first lodgment in the wood, enlivening the work with an uninterrupted hum of delight, which was audible to a considerable distance. When the excavation had proceeded so far that the insect could descend into it, the music was suspended, but renewed from time to time, as the little creature came to the orifice to throw out the chips, to rest, or to enjoy the fresh air. By degrees, a mound of saw-dust was formed at the base of the pillar, consisting of particles abraded by the mandibles of the bee. These, when the hollow was completed to the depth of several inches, were partially replaced in the excavation after being agglutinated to form partitions between the eggs, as they were deposited within. The mandibles[2] of these bees are admirably formed for the purpose of working out the tunnels required, being short, stout, and usually furnished at the tip with two teeth which are rounded somewhat into the form of cheese-cutters.

[Footnote 1: Xylocopa tenuiscapa, Westw.; Another species found in Ceylon is the X. latipes, Drury.]

[Footnote 2: See figure above.]



These when brought into operation cut out the wood in the same way as a carpenter's double gouge, the teeth being more or less hollowed out within. The female alone is furnished with these powerful instruments. In the males the mandibles are slender as compared with those of the females. The bores of some of these bees are described as being from twelve to fourteen inches in length.

Ants.—As to ants, I apprehend that, notwithstanding their numbers and familiarity, information is very imperfect relative to the varieties and habits of these marvellous insects in Ceylon.[1] In point of multitude it is scarcely an exaggeration to apply to them the figure of "the sands of the sea." They are everywhere; in the earth, in the houses, and on the trees; they are to be seen in every room and cupboard, and almost on every plant in the jungle. To some of the latter they are, perhaps, attracted by the sweet juices secreted by the aphides and coccidae.[2] Such is the passion of the ants for sugar, and their wonderful faculty of discovering it, that the smallest particle of a substance containing it is quickly covered with them, though placed in the least conspicuous position, where not a single one may have been visible a moment before. But it is not sweet substances alone that they attack; no animal or vegetable matter comes amiss to them: no aperture appears too small to admit them; it is necessary to place everything which it may be desirable to keep free from their invasion, under the closest cover, or on tables with cups of water under every foot. As scavengers, they are invaluable; and as ants never sleep, but work without cessation during the night as well as by day, every particle of decaying vegetable or putrid animal matter is removed with inconceiveable speed and certainty. In collecting shells, I have been able to turn this propensity to good account; by placing them within their reach, the ants in a few days removed every vestige of the mollusc from the innermost and otherwise inaccessible whorls; thus avoiding all risk of injuring the enamel by any mechanical process.

[Footnote 1: Mr. Jerdan, in a series of papers in the thirteenth volume of the Annals of Natural History, has described forty-seven species of ants in Southern India. But M. Nietner has recently forwarded to the Berlin Museum upwards of seventy species taken by him in Ceylon, chiefly in the western province and the vicinity of Colombo. Of these many are identical with those noted by Mr. Jerdan as belonging to the Indian continent. One (probably Drepanognathus saltator of Jerdan) is described by M. Nietner as occasionally "moving by jumps of several inches at a spring."]

[Footnote 2: Dr. DAVY, in a paper on Tropical Plants, has introduced the following passage relative to the purification of sugar by ants:

"If the juice of the sugar-cane—the common syrup as expressed by the mill—be exposed to the air, it gradually evaporates, yielding a light-brown residue, like the ordinary muscovado sugar of the best quality. If not protected, it is presently attacked by ants, and in a short time is, as it were, converted into white crystalline sugar, the ants having refined it by removing the darker portion, probably preferring that part from it containing azotized matter. The negroes, I may remark, prefer brown sugar to white: they say its sweetening power is greater; no doubt its nourishing quality is greater, and therefore as an article of diet deserving of preference. In refining sugar as in refining salt (coarse bay salt containing a little iodine), an error may be committed in abstracting matter designed by nature for a useful purpose."]

But the assaults of the ants are not confined to dead animals alone, they attack equally such small insects as they can overcome, or find disabled by accidents or wounds; and it is not unusual to see some hundreds of them surrounding a maimed beetle, or a bruised cockroach, and hurrying it along in spite of its struggles. I have, on more than one occasion, seen a contest between, them and one of the viscous ophidians, Caecilia, glutinosa[1], a reptile resembling an enormous earthworm, common in the Kandyan hills, of an inch in diameter, and nearly two feet in length. On these occasions it would seem as if the whole community had been summoned and turned out for such a prodigious effort; they surround their victim literally in tens of thousands, inflicting wounds on all parts, and forcing it along towards their nest in spite of resistance. In one instance to which I was a witness, the conflict lasted for the latter part of a day, but towards evening the Coecilia was completely exhausted, and in the morning it had totally disappeared, having been carried away either whole or piecemeal by its assailants.

[Footnote 1: See ante, p. 317.]

The species I here allude to is a very small ant, which the Singhalese call by the generic name of Koombiya. There is a species still more minute, and evidently distinct, which frequents the caraffes and toilet vessels. A third, probably the Formica nidificans of Jerdan, is black, of the same size as that last mentioned, and, from its colour, called the Kalu koombiga by the natives. In the houses its propensities and habits are the same as those of the others; but I have observed that it frequents the trees more profusely, forming small paper cells for its young, like miniature wasps' nests, in which it deposits its eggs, suspending them from a twig.

The most formidable of all is the great red ant or Dimiya.[1] It is particularly abundant in gardens, and on fruit trees; it constructs its dwellings by glueing the leaves of such species as are suitable from their shape and pliancy into hollow balls, and these it lines with a kind of transparent paper, like that manufactured by the wasp. I have watched them at the interesting operation of forming these dwellings;—a line of ants standing on the edge of one leaf bring another into contact with it, and hold both together with their mandibles till their companions within attach them firmly by means of their adhesive paper, the assistants outside moving along as the work proceeds. If it be necessary to draw closer a leaf too distant to be laid hold of by the immediate workers, they form a chain by depending one from the other till the object is reached, when it is at length brought into contact, and made fast by cement.

[Footnote 1: Formica smaragdina, Fab.]

Like all their race, these ants are in perpetual motion, forming lines on the ground along which they pass, in continual procession to and from the trees on which they reside. They are the most irritable of the whole order in Ceylon, biting with such intense ferocity as to render it difficult for the unclad natives to collect the fruit from the mango trees, which the red ants especially frequent. They drop from the branches upon travellers in the jungle, attacking them with venom and fury, and inflicting intolerable pain both upon animals and man. On examining the structure of the head through a microscope, I found that the mandibles, instead of merely meeting in contact, are so hooked as to cross each other at the points, whilst the inner line is sharply serrated throughout its entire length; thus occasioning the intense pain of their bite, as compared with that of the ordinary ant.

To check the ravages of the coffee bug[1] (Lecanium coffeae, Walker), which for some years past has devastated some of the plantations in Ceylon, the experiment was made of introducing the red ants, who feed greedily on the Coccus. But the remedy threatened to be attended with some inconvenience, for the Malabar Coolies, with bare and oiled skins, were so frequently and fiercely assaulted by the ants as to endanger their stay on the estates.

[Footnote 1: For an account of this pest, see p. 437.]

The ants which burrow in the ground in Ceylon are generally, but not invariably, black, and some of them are of considerable size. One species, about the third of an inch in length, is abundant in the hills, and especially about the roots of trees, where they pile up the earth in circular heaps round the entrance to their nests, and in doing this I have observed a singular illustration of their instinct. To carry up each particle of sand by itself would be an endless waste of labour, and to carry two or more loose ones securely would be to them embarrassing, if not impossible. To overcome the difficulty they glue together with their saliva so much earth or sand as is sufficient for a burden, and each ant may be seen hurrying up from below with his load, carrying it to the top of the circular heap outside, and throwing it over, the mass being so strongly attached as to roll to the bottom without breaking asunder.

The ants I have been here describing are inoffensive, differing in this particular from the Dimiya and another of similar size and ferocity, which is called by the Singhalese Kaddiya. They have a legend illustrative of their alarm for the bites of the latter, to the effect that the cobra de capello invested the Kaddiya with her own venom in admiration of the singular courage displayed by these little creatures.[1]

[Footnote 1: KNOX'S Historical Relation of Ceylon, pt. i. ch. vi. p. 23.]

LEPIDOPTERA. Butterflies.—In the interior of the island butterflies are comparatively rare, and, contrary to the ordinary belief, they are seldom to be seen in the sunshine. They frequent the neighbourhood of the jungle, and especially the vicinity of the rivers and waterfalls, living mainly in the shade of the moist foliage, and returning to it in haste after the shortest flights, as if their slender bodies were speedily dried up and exhausted by exposure to the intense heat.

Among the largest and most gaudy of the Ceylon Lepidoptera is the great black and yellow butterfly (Ornithoptera darsius, Gray); the upper wings of which measure six inches across, and are of deep velvet black, the lower ornamented by large particles of satiny yellow, through which the sunlight passes. Few insects can compare with it in beauty, as it hovers over the flowers of the heliotrope, which furnish the favourite food of the perfect fly, although the caterpillar feeds on the aristolochia and the betel leaf, and suspends its chrysalis from its drooping tendrils.

Next in size as to expanse of wing, though often exceeding it in breadth, is the black and blue Papilio Polymnestor, which darts rapidly through the air, alighting on the ruddy flowers of the hibiscus, or the dark green foliage of the citrus, on which it deposits its eggs. The larvae of this species are green with white bands, and have a hump on the fourth or fifth segment. From this hump the caterpillar, on being irritated, protrudes a singular horn of an orange colour, bifurcate at the extremity, and covered with a pungent mucilaginous secretion. This is evidently intended as a weapon of defence against the attack of the ichneumon flies, that deposit their eggs in its soft body, for when the grub is pricked, either by the ovipositor of the ichneumon, or by any other sharp instrument, the horn is at once protruded, and struck upon the offending object with unerring aim.

Amongst the more common of the larger butterflies is the P. Hector, with gorgeous crimson spots set in the black velvet of the inferior wings; these, when fresh, are shot with a purple blush, equalling in splendour the azure of the European "Emperor."

The Spectre Butterfly.—Another butterfly, but belonging to a widely different group, is the "sylph" (Hestia Jasonia), called by the Europeans by the various names of Floater, Spectre, and Silver-paper fly, as indicative of its graceful flight. It is found only in the deep shade of the damp forest, usually frequenting the vicinity of pools of water and cascades, about which it sails heedless of the spray, the moisture of which may even be beneficial in preserving the elasticity of its thin and delicate wings, that bend and undulate in the act of flight.

The Lycanidae[1], a particularly attractive group, abound near the enclosures of cultivated grounds, and amongst the low shrubs edging the patenas, flitting from flower to flower, inspecting each in turn, as if attracted by their beauty, in the full blaze of sun-light; and shunning exposure less sedulously than the other diurnals. Some of the more robust kinds[2] are magnificent in the bright light, from the splendour of their metallic blues and glowing purples, but they yield in elegance of form and variety to their tinier and more delicately-coloured congeners.

[Footnote 1: Lycaena polyommatus, &c.]

[Footnote 2: Amblypodia pseudocentaurus, &c.]

Short as is the eastern twilight, it has its own peculiar forms, and the naturalist marks with interest the small, but strong, Hesperidae[1], hurrying, by abrupt and jerking flights, to the scented blossoms of the champac or the sweet night-blowing moon-flower; and, when darkness gathers around, we can hear, though hardly distinguish amid the gloom, the humming of the powerful wings of innumerable hawk moths, which hover with their long proboscides inserted into the starry petals of the periwinkle.

[Footnote 1: Pamphila hesperia, &c.]

Conspicuous amidst these nocturnal moths is the richly-coloured Acherontia Satanas, one of the Singhalese representatives of our Death's-head moth, which utters a sharp and stridulous cry when seized. This sound has been conjectured to be produced by the friction of its thorax against the abdomen;—Reaumur believed it to be caused by the rubbing of the palpi against the tongue. I have never been able to observe either motion, and Mr. E.L. Layard is of opinion that the sound is emitted from two apertures concealed by tufts of wiry bristles thrown out from each side of the inferior portion of the thorax.[1]

[Footnote 1: There is another variety of the same moth in Ceylon which closely resembles it in its markings, but in which I have never detected the uttering of this curious cry. It is smaller than the A. Satanas, and, like it, often enters dwellings at night, attracted by the lights; but I have not found its larvae, although that of the other species is common on several widely different plants.]

Moths.—Among the strictly nocturnal Lepidoptera are some gigantic species. Of these the cinnamon-eating Atlas, often attains the dimensions of nearly a foot in the stretch of its superior wings. It is very common in the gardens about Colombo, and its size, and the transparent talc-like spots in its wings, cannot fail to strike even the most careless saunterer. But little inferior to it in size is the famed Tusseh silk moth[1], which feeds on the country almond (Terminalia catappa) and the palma Christi or Castor-oil plant; it is easily distinguishable from the Atlas, which has a triangular wing, whilst its is falcated, and the transparent spots are covered with a curious thread-like division drawn across them.

[Footnote 1: Antheraea mylitta, Drury.]

Towards the northern portions of the island this valuable species entirely displaces the other, owing to the fact that the almond and palma Christi abound there. The latter plant springs up spontaneously on every manure-heap or neglected spot of ground; and might be cultivated, as in India, with great advantage, the leaf to be used as food for the caterpillar, the stalk as fodder for cattle, and the seed for the expression of castor-oil. The Dutch took advantage of this facility, and gave every encouragement to the cultivation of silk at Jaffna[1], but it never attained such a development as to become an article of commercial importance. Ceylon now cultivates no silkworms whatever, notwithstanding this abundance of the favourite food of one species; and the rich silken robes sometimes worn by the Buddhist priesthood are imported from China and the continent of India.

[Footnote 1: The Portuguese had made the attempt previous to the arrival of the Dutch, and a strip of land on the banks of the Kalany river near Colombo, still bears the name of Orta Seda, the silk garden. The attempt of the Dutch to introduce the true silkworm, the Bombyx mori, took place under the governorship; of Ryklof Van Goens, who, on handing over the administration to his successor in A.D. 1663, thus apprises him of the initiation of the experiment:—"At Jaffna Palace a trial has been undertaken to feed silkworms, and to ascertain whether silk may be reared at that station. I have planted a quantity of mulberry trees, which grow well there, and they ought to be planted in other directions."—VALENTYN, chap. xiii. The growth of the mulberry trees is noticed the year after in a report to the governor-general of India, but the subject afterwards ceased to be attended to.]

In addition to the Atlas moth and the Mylitta, there are many other Bombycidae; in Ceylon; and, though the silk of some of them, were it susceptible of being unwound from the cocoon, would not bear a comparison with that of the Bombyx mori, or even of the Tusseh moth, it might still prove to be valuable when carded and spun. If the European residents in the colony would rear the larvae of these Lepidoptera, and make drawings of their various changes, they would render a possible service to commerce, and a certain one to entomological knowledge.