I92I.] N. Annandai.e : Fauna of Rarkuda I. 317 



been observed, and mantids are not so common as they often are 

 in India. The commonest of the Phasgonuridae are arboreal grass- 

 hoppers of the group PseudophylHdes. One of these lays its eggs 

 in little pockets on the edge of the leaves of Glycosmis pcnta- 

 phyila, the most abundant shrub on the island. A remarkable 

 ant like form of the same family, but a different tribe, was taken 

 on one occasion. It is probably the young of a larger, wingless 

 species captured several times. 



COLEOPTERA. — The beetles of Barkuda are mostly small and 

 of dull and inconspicuous colouration. Highty modified forms 

 are scarce, except minute termitophilous species. This is due 

 mainly to the absence or scarcity of phytophagous beetles, and 

 this again to the sclerophytic nature of the vegetation, which de- 

 pends on the physical structure and climate of the island. The 

 few Chrysomelids that occur are small and for the most part rare, 

 while such groups as the Cetoniinae and the Rutelinae are repre- 

 sented mainly by occasional stragglers. The absence of many 

 wood-boring genera is more surpri.=ing, as dead wood is abundant. 

 Perhaps it is due partly to the fact that the wood is derived 

 almost exclusively from the genus Ficus. and partly because 

 certain families and genera of Coleoptera (e.g. the Lucanidae, 

 Passalidae and many of the larger longicorns) although they are 

 abundant in the hill-jungles of both Northern and Southern India, 

 avoid the tropical plains of the Peninsula. On Barkuda no trace 

 of lyucanidae or Passalidae has been found, and the few longicorns 

 observed have been mostly small and scarce. Another class of 

 beetles in which the fauna is deficient is the larger dung-beetles. 

 Several of the smaller Scarabinae are common, feeding on the 

 dung of deer (Cerviis axis), but the absence of other ungulates 

 doubtless accounts for that of the beetles that eat their excrement. 

 The dominant types of Coleoptera are strictly terrestrial forms, 

 either actively predaceous such as the Carabidae and Cicindelidae, 

 both of which are well represented, or of vegetarian habits such as 

 the Tenebrionidae. The only really conspicuous form at all com- 

 mon, however, is the Meloid Mylabris pustulata, which is frequently 

 seen in flight and also on the flowers of the Sword-Bean [Canavalia) , 

 which are a favourite food. Some peculiar termitophilous Coleop- 

 tera have been collected , including Terinitodiscns heiniii, W asm., 

 a minute flattened and expanded Staphylinid which inhabits 

 the fungus-gardens of Tennes (Odontotermes) obesus, often in large 

 numbers. 



HymEnoptera. — Less care was expended on the collection 

 of the Hymenoptera than on that of the majority of the larger 

 groups of insects as there was very little prospect of getting them 

 worked out. The parasitic and phytophagous families are, as 

 might be expected, poorly represented. Ants are very abundant 

 and belong to many species, but are almost exclusively terrestrial, 

 the arboreal forms usually common in Indian woods being appa- 

 rently absent. This is certainly so in respect to the L,eaf-sewing 

 Ant (Oecophylla smaraqdina), which never succeeds in establishing 



