visit to Ceylon. 481 



78° to 82° Fah. I obtained the greater part of my 

 collection on the edges of the jungle-belts, or where the 

 forest remained on the ridges, for, as I have noticed 

 before, this province has been from the earliest time 

 simply dense jungle, and I cannot call to mind at this 

 moment more than one species which is essentially a 

 ground insect, living in open places. The solitary in- 

 stance is a species of Apristus, which I took running on 

 banks in the midday sun, when the thermometer regis- 

 tered 123° Fah. 



I found the elephant paths, which strike straight through 

 the jungle, led into too dense forest for insects, but when I 

 passed into the ravines with flowing water, the only other 

 roads, I now and then came to open spaces cleared by the 

 falling of trees, and there insects were abundant. The dis- 

 tricts of Dikoya and Bogawantalawa lie beneath the. Nu- 

 wara Eliya and Horton Plains, the altitudes of which 

 range from 6000 to 8000 feet. These plains exhibit one very 

 peculiar feature ; the jungle is often broken uj) by the 

 "patenas," or open grass-lands, and there a few, very 

 few, Euro-asiatic. forms occur. In hunting over these 

 plains an entomologist will, from old associations, look 

 for Leistus, Carahus, and Poccilus, for the patenas are like 

 Wimbledon Common on a large scale, with rhododendrons 

 dotted about instead of gorse. Broom and furze both 

 grow freely, having been brought from England, and 

 mullein and mint thrive by the roadside, while the 

 streams are blocked up with imported watercress. But 

 insect-life is scarce, and all I found fell into a few genera 

 — Scarites, 1 ; Anchomeniis, 2 ; Harpalus, 2 ; Dromiiis, 

 1 ; and some Staphylinidce of European type. The 

 temperature of the lake and tarns was too low for 

 aquatics, and there is often indications of frost on the 

 grass, although snow never lies there. 



If Carahi were introduced they would assuredly thrive, 

 but the tropical heat of the zone on the coast, which 

 surrounds these high plateaux, is a barrier against the 

 intrusion of northern forms less easy to surmount than an 

 ocean belt or many degrees of arid desert. It is very 

 curious to find even the few I have mentioned, and these 

 may be looked upon as- evidences of the great distances 

 small flying Coleoptera are borne on the wind. In the 

 high jungle, which here continually encroached on the 

 patenas, the beetles are nearly identical with those of- 

 Dikoya and Bogawantalawa, but they are much less 

 abundant. 



