Mr. F. Moore on Ceylon Lepidoptera. 339 



Again, Prof. Haeckel's illustrations of his genera Haliphy- 

 nema and Gastrophysema [op. cit. I. c.) appear to me to be 

 more fitted for a " caravan " at a fair than for scientific pur- 

 poses. And when we come to the latter genus (p. 24, Taf. 

 iv.-vi.), with which mj Squamalina scopula is identified, we 

 find that the cavity of the body does not extend to the discoid 

 foot (the pseudopolythalamous nature of which tubulated into 

 the body of the erect portion is the most striking feature of its 

 foraminiferal nature), but is altogether absent. 



Wliat are we to say of this ? Are we to infer that it has 

 been omitted by mistake, or are we here to apply my words, 

 which Prof. Haeckel (at p. 6) has also held up to derision, 

 viz. : — " Mental operations are seldom so correct as visual 

 ones " ? — words which I applied to one who had mistaken the 

 polyps on the cord of Hyalonema Sieboldii for the " oscula" 

 of this sponge ; or are we to say, as a German naturalist wrote 

 to me in a similar case, " One knows not (" ob man daiiiber 

 lachen oder sich argern soil") whether one ought to laugh or 

 to be angry." 



Such a course may suit Prof. Haeckel for his " Gastraea- 

 Tlieorie^'' but not those who want to possess an accurate know- 

 ledge of species, which, I presume, would be the test of a can- 

 didate's knowledge under examination, before that of the 

 Gastrasa-theory ! 



It may do very well for Prof. Haeckel to puff off his Gastraea- 

 Theorie''^ at another's expense, with a " flourish of tnimpets " 

 and huge caravan-like diagrams (not a bit less frequent in this 

 country than in Germany) ; but it does not make me the less 

 regret that any part of the ' Challenger ' collections should 

 have ever been placed in his hands for description and illus- 

 tration. 



XLV. — Descriptions of Ceylon Lepidoptera. 

 By F. Moore, F.Z.S. 



Rhopalocera. 



Fam. Npnphalidae. 



Neptis disi'Kpta. 



Female. Upperside black : fore wing with whitish discoidal 

 streak and triangular terminal spot ; three spots from middle 

 of hind margin and a fourth smaller spot beyond the trian- 



