248 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. 



declines, the moths issue from thek retreats, the crickets 

 add theu' shriU voices to swell the diii ; and when dark- 

 ness descends, the eye is charmed with the milhons of 

 emerald lamps hghted up by the fire-flies amidst the sur- 

 rounding gloom. 



'No attempt has as yet been made to describe the class 

 systematically, much less to enumerate the prodigious 

 number of species which abound in every locahty. Oc- 

 casional observers have, from time to time, contributed 

 notices of particular families to the Scientific Associations 

 of Europe, but their papers remain undigested, and the 

 time has not yet arrived for the preparation of an Ento- 

 mology of the island. 



What Darwin remarks of the Coleoptera of Brazil is 

 nearly as applicable to the same order of insects in 

 Ceylon : " The number of minute and obscurely colom^ed 

 beetles is exceechngiy great ; the cabinets of Europe can 

 as yet, with partial exceptions, boast only of tlie larger 

 species from tropical climates, and it is sufiicient to dis- 

 turb the composure of an entomologist to look forward to 

 the future dimensions of a catalogue with any pretensions 

 to completeness." ^ 



M. Neitner, a German entomologist, who has spent 

 some years in Ceylon, has recently published, in one of 

 the local periodicals, a series of papers on the Coleoptera 

 of the island, in which every species introduced is stated 

 to be previously undescribed.^ 



CoLEOPTEEA. — Bupresticlce ; Golden Beetles. — In the 

 morning the herbaceous plants, especially on the eastern 

 side of the island, are studded with these gorgeous beetles 

 whose golden elytra^ are used to enrich the embroidery 

 of the Indian zenana, whilst the lustrous joints of the legs 

 are strung on silken threads, and form necklaces and 

 bracelets of singular brilhancy. 



These exquisite colours are not confined to one order, 



1 Nat. Journal, p. 39. I ^ Sternoccra Chrysis ; S. sterni- 



^ Republished in the ^«w.i\"«^.//('6'i^. j cornis. 



