NOTES. 79 



The specimen which was driven ashore by the rising south-west 

 wind at Wellawatta last May was no longer able to fly. It lived 

 for a day or two after being taken^ and was subsequently mounted 

 at the Museum. Its measurements are the following : Wing- 

 expanse 5 ft. 10 in., length of wing 2 ft. 9| in., total length from 

 the end of the bill to the extremities of the forked tail 2 ft. 7 in., 

 length of bill 3^ in., tail 1 ft. 1| in., leg 5 in. 



A striking fact which the above figures illustrate, besides 

 the enormous wing-expanse and the length of the spreading tail, 

 is the shortness of the legs, which are relatively very weak. The 

 feet also are but feebly webbed. 



A third visitor, captured on the beach at Colombo so recently 



as 3rd October of this year, may be welcomed as a token of the 



setting of the south-west monsoon. This is a Sooty Tern, Sterna 



fuliginosa, which, though not so rarely met with here as the 



frigate bird, is not common on these shores. 



A. WILLEY. 

 Colombo, October 10, 1903. 



9. Moths of Ceylon. — A catalogue entitled " List of Moths 

 Recorded from Ceylon up to the end of the Year 1902," has been 

 issued this year from the Government Press for the Colombo 

 Museum (price Re. 1). The first portion (261 pages) was compiled 

 by Mr. A. Haly, the former Director of the Museum, and 228 pages 

 were actually printed under his supervision. A supplementary list 

 (pages 262-299) has been kindly furnished by Mr. F. M. Mackwood. 



The preface contains a list of names which were included on 

 insufficient data in the part which had been already printed. 

 Mr. Mackwood has since noted another name to be expunged from 

 the catalogue, 1364 — Lithosia intermixta, which is a synonym of 

 1356 — L. hrevipennis. 



A few literal errors have crept into the text, e.g., costipennu 

 instead of ustipennis on page 63, postvitata instead of postvittata 

 on page 94. 



Excluding the entries which have proved to be faulty, the 

 catalogue contains the names of 2,022 species, of which 495, or 

 nearly 25 per cent., are recorded as endemic. 



Since the catalogue was published Mr. Mackwood has com- 

 municated further additions arranged in three categories. Part I. 

 of the subjoined list includes names which were omitted by 

 oversight from the published list. Part II. contains names of 

 moths obtained some time ago, of which Hampson's identifica- 

 tions have onlv recently come to hand. 



