plume-moths of ceylon. 5 



Synonyms and Citations. 



The more important of these will be found quoted under the 

 various species, but I regret to say that many of these papers are 

 inaccessible to the ordinary student in Ceylon, i.e., no copies are to 

 be found in any public or scientific library in the Island. The most 

 generally useful papers are those on the family by Mr. Meyrick in 

 Trans. Entom. Soc, London, for 188G and 1907, and in the Bombay 

 Society's Journal, vol. XVI., part 4, et seq. The descriptions in 

 Walker's Catalogue are hopeless without reference to the type- 

 specimens, and Moore's " Lerfidoptera of Ceylon" and Cotes' and 

 Swinhoe's "Catalogue of the Moths of India" may safely be ignored 

 by workers in this group. 



Contractions. 



The following contractions are employed : — 



B. J. . . . Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 



E. M. M. . . Entomologists' Monthly Magazine. 



Entom. . . The Entomologist. 



f.w. . . fore wing. 



h.w. . . hind wing. 



Linn. Ent. VI. . . Linnsea Entomologiea, Vol. VI. (1852). 



Meyr. . . E. Meyrick. 



Pag. .. A. Pagenstecher. 



P. Z. S. . . Proc. Zoological Society of London. 



T. E. S. . . Trans. Entomological Society of London. 



Wlk.,Cat. X XX . F. Walker, List of the Lepidopterous Insects in 



the British Museum, Part XXX. (London. 



1864). 



Wlsrn. . . Lord Walsingham. 



Zell. . . P. C. Zeller. 



Localities. (See Map.) 



Parts of the Island have been fairly well worked, e.g. , the districts 

 around Kandy, Maskeliya, Madulsima, and Diyatalawa ; of other 

 parts we know a little, e.g., Puttalam, Trincomalee, and the coast 

 line between Colombo and Hambantota ; the rest of Ceylon is as 

 yet practically a terra incognita. As places likely to yield novelties 

 1 would especially indicate the Ratnapura District, the Kelani 

 Valley, and that part of the Island lying north of a line drawn 

 from Puttalam to Trincomalee. 



Times of Appearance. 



As a rule, I have thought it unnecessary to enumerate exact dates 

 of capture, as my experience has led me to conclude that nearly all 

 our Ceylon plumes are continuously-brooded, and that some indi- 

 viduals may be found at almost any time of the year. I would 

 impress upon collectors, however, the desirability of recording exact 

 dates of capture on the labels of all their specimens. 



