482 Mr. George Lewis on a 



To close with a few more general remarks. There are 

 two seasons in Ceylon, but there is nothing which corre- 

 sponds in any way to spring ; there is no simultaneous 

 or perceptible movement in either animal or vegetable 

 life. The north-east monsoon blows from October to 

 May, and the south-west from May to October. The 

 first is the dry season, with rain at intervals ; the second 

 brings heavy and almost daily rain, and it is in the still 

 evenings, or in the interval of bright sunshine of the 

 latter period, when most Coleoptera appear. Of the wet 

 season I saw nothing, but I had this advantage, my 

 collection, made in the comparative dry weather, kept as 

 clean as if made in England. There are parts of Ceylon, 

 in the north and east coasts, which differ materially, 

 although not essentially, to the parts I describe ; there 

 are sandy dry plains and low swampy jungle, which are 

 rarely visited except by natives, and the difficulty of 

 journeying thither is considerable. A bullock-cart is the 

 best mode of transit, and a few weeks would hardly be 

 sufficient time to obtain much insight into the fauna. 



There is one very important family unrepresented in 

 my collection, and I have not noticed any members of it 

 amongst any other Ceylonese captures. Of the Necro- 

 jjJiaga I. do not possess a single species, and this may be 

 accounted for by the presence of the multitudinous ants 

 which are ever ready to carry away the smallest particle 

 of organic matter, and of the numerous Corvi, which seize 

 upon the larger animals. In this land of forest the Luca- 

 nidce are also remarkably scarce ; one ^Fjgus, two Figuli, 

 and the large Odontolahis are all I found, and examples 

 of the last only occurred abundantly under special and 

 almost artificial circumstances. The ebonies and hard 

 iron-woods give out little sap, not enough to supply food 

 for these large beetles, and they are driven to the gum 

 exuded from the Eucalypti which are now planted in 

 numbers on the estates and near bungalows. There are 

 no stercoraceous beetles in the tracts of the eleiDhants, 

 and the droppings of these herbaceous animals have 

 been analysed, and prove of little value for manure. 

 Ceylon does not appear to be sufficiently isolated to pro- 

 duce many very distinct or peculiar species, and I cannot . 

 say I have come across any trace of special or endemic 

 forms. Indigenous species are of course very numerous 

 in such genera as Morio, Catascopus, Colpodes, &c., but 

 then these are allies of others which occur in a cquntry 



