SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



Fauh al Resemblan ces. 



A.E the geographical distribution is given under each species, I do 

 not propose to enter into the subject here. Of the thirty-seven 

 species enumerated, however, twelve (or 32 per cent.) are at present 

 only known from Ceylon ; seventeen (or 46 per cent.) are wide- 

 ranging forms which occur in at least two other localities: four 

 (or 11 per cent.) have only been found hitherto in the Khasi Hills 

 (Assam) ; and Java. India, the South Indian Mills, and Australia 

 each produces one species which is only known otherwise from 

 Ceylon. 



At present we know too little of the distribution of the Ptero- 

 phoridse in general to permit of any useful deductions being drawn. 

 but a point which has especially struck me is the ureal resemblance 

 shown by the plume fauna of Ceylon to those of the Khasi Hills 

 (Assam) and .Java. The fact of rinding such forms as P. citro pleura 

 and .4. melanopoda in localities so widely separated as the Khasi 

 Hills and the central districts of Ceylon seems to me either to argue 

 the immense antiquity of a specific existence which reaches back 

 to a time when Ceylon and Assam were connected (if ever they 

 were) or else to point to the wonderful powers of dispersal (? by 

 the monsoon winds) possessed by these little moths. The latter 

 supposition appears the more probable. 



Acknowledgments. 



One of the most pleasing duties in writing a paper like the present 

 lies in the fact that some acknowledgment can be made for the 

 many instances of help freely rendered by friends and corre- 

 spondents. To Mr. E. Meyrick my thanks are due for the ready and 

 courteous way in which he has replied to the innumerable queries 

 which have arisen in working at this subject away from type- 

 collections and libraries; his published papers must also form the 

 basis of all work on the plume moths of India and Ceylon. Messrs. 

 E. E. Green, W, Vaughan, J. Pole, F. M. Mackwood. W. Ormiston, 

 and O. S. Wickwar have most generously helped with specimens 

 collected by themselves, and I am also indebted to Mr. G. B. de 

 Mowbray, who kindly sent me his collection for inspection. Dr. J. 

 C. Willis has assisted most substantially by the identification of the 

 various plants on which larvae have been found. 



Synoptic Table of Genera of the Pterophoridje of 



Ceylon. 



C Wings not fissured .. ..2 



i W 7 ings fissured . . . . 3 



( Outer margin of f.w. not falcate . . Agdistis 



( Outer margin of f.w. st rongly falcate . . Steganodactyla 



