ZOOLOGY. 



[PART II. 



become an article of commercial importance. Ceylon 

 now cultivates no silkworms whatever, notwithstanding 

 this abundance of the favourite food of one species ; and 

 the rich silken robes sometimes worn by the Buddhist 

 priesthood are still imported from China and the con- 

 tinent of India. 



In addition to the Atlas moth and the Mylitta, there 

 are many other Bombycidce in Ceylon ; and, though the 

 silk of some of them, were it susceptible of being un- 

 wound from the cocoon, would not bear a comparison 

 with that of the Bombyx mori, or even of the Tusseh 

 moth, it might still prove to be valuable when carded and 

 spun. If the European residents in the colony would 

 rear the larree of these Lepidoptera, and make drawings 

 of their various changes, they would render a possible 

 service to commerce, and a certain one to entomological 

 knowledge. 



The Wood-carrying Moth. There is another family of 

 insects, the singular habits of which will not fail to 

 attract the traveller in the cultivated tracts of Ceylon 

 these are moths of the genus Oiketicus 1 , of which the 

 females are devoid of wings, and some possess no articu- 

 lated feet. Their larvas construct for themselves cases, 

 which they suspend to a branch frequently of the pome- 

 granate 2 , surrounding them with the stems of leaves, and 

 thorns or pieces of twigs bound together by threads, till 

 the whole presents the appearance of a bundle of rods 

 about an inch and a half long ; and, from the resem- 

 blance of this to a Eoman fasces, one African species 

 has obtained the name of " Lictor." The German ento- 

 mologists denominated the group Sack-trager, the Singha- 

 lese call them Dalmea kattea or " billets of firewood," and 



grow well there, and they ought to 

 be planted in other directions." VA- 

 LENTYN, chap. xiii. The growth of 

 the mulberry trees is noticed the year 

 after in a report to the governor- 

 general of India, but the subject 

 afterwards ceased to be attended to. 

 1 Eumeta, Wlk. 



2 The singular instincts of a species 

 of Thecla, Dipsas Isocrates, Fab., 

 in connection with the fruit of the 

 pomegranate, were fully described by 

 Mr. Westwood, in a paper read before 

 the Entomological Society of London 

 in 1835. 



