262 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. 



The ants wliicli burrow in the ground in Ceylon are 

 generally, but not invariably, black, and some of them are 

 of considerable size. One species, about the thuxl of an 

 inch in length, is abundant in the hills, and especially about 

 the roots of trees, where they pile up the earth in circular 

 heaps round the entrance to theu^ nests, and in doing this 

 I have observed a singular illustration of their instinct. To 

 carry up each particle of sand by itself would be an end- 

 less waste of labour, and to carry two or more loose ones 

 securely would be to tliem embarrassing, if not impossible ; 

 they therefore overcome the difficulty by glueing together 

 with their sahva so much earth or sand as is sufficient for 

 a burden, and each one may be seen hurrying up from 

 below with his load, carrj^ing it to the top of the cir- 

 cular heap outside, and throwing it over, Avhilst it is so 

 strongly attached as to roll to the bottom without break- 

 ing asunder. 



The ants I have been here describing are inoffensive, dif- 

 fering in this particular from the Dimiya and another of 

 similar size and ferocity, which is called by the Singhalese 

 Kaddiya ; and they have a legend illustrative of their alarm 

 for the bites of the latter, to the effect that the cobra de 

 capello invested the Kaddiya with her own venom in admi- 

 ration of the singular courage displayed by these httle 

 creatures.^ 



Lepidoptera. Butter/lies. — Butterflies in the interior of 

 the island are comparatively rare, and, contrary to the ordi- 

 nary belief, they are seldom to be seen in the sunshine. 

 Tliey frequent the neighbourhood of the jungle, and espe- 

 cially the vicinity of the rivers and waterfalls, hving mainly 

 in the shade of the moist fohage, and retm'ning to it in haste 

 after the shortest flights, as if their slender bodies were 

 speedily dried up and exhausted by the exposure to tlie 

 intense heat. 



Among the largest and most gaudy of the Ceylon Lepi- 

 doptera is the great black and yellow hutterHj (Ornithoptera 



1 Knox's Historical Belation of Ceylon, pt i. ch. vi. p. 23. 



