272 ZOOLOGY. [PART II. 



Order HYMENOPTERA. 



" In this order the Formicidce and the Poneridce are very nu- 

 merous, as they are in other damp and woody tropical countries. 

 Seventy species of ants have been observed, but as yet few of 

 them have been named. The various other families of aculeate 

 Hymenoptera are doubtless more abundant than the species 

 recorded indicate, and it may be safely reckoned that the para- 

 sitic Hymenoptera in Ceylon far exceed one thousand species in 

 number, though they are yet only known by means of about two 

 dozen kinds collected at Kandy by Mr. Thwaites. 



Order LEPIDOPTERA. 



" The fauna of Ceylon is much better known in this order 

 than in any other of the insect tribes, but as yet the Lepidoptera 

 alone in their class afford materials for a comparison of the 

 productions of Ceylon with those of Hindustan and of Austral- 

 asia; 932 species have been collected by Dr. Templeton and 

 by Mr. Layard in the central, western, and northern parts of the 

 island. All the families, from the Papilionidce to the Tineidce, 

 abound, and numerous species and several genera appear, as 

 yet, to be peculiar to the island. As Ceylon is situate at the en- 

 trance to the eastern regions, the list in this volume will suitably 

 precede the descriptive catalogues of the heterocerous Lepi- 

 doptera of Hindustan, Java, Borneo, and of other parts of Aus- 

 tralasia, which are being prepared for publication. In some of 

 the heterocerous families several species are common to Ceylon 

 and to Australasia, and in various cases the faunas of Ceylon and 

 of Australasia seem to be more similar than those of Ceylon and 

 of Hindustan. The long intercourse between those two regions 

 may have been the means of conveying some species from one to 

 the other. Among the Pyralites, Hymenia recurvalis inhabits 

 also the West Indies, South America, West Africa, Hindustan, 

 China, Australasia, Australia, and New Zealand ; and its food- 

 plant is probably some vegetable which is cultivated in all those 

 regions; so also Desmia afflictalis is found in Sierra Leone, 

 Abyssinia, Ceylon, and China. 



Order DIPTERA. 



" About fifty species were observed by Dr. Templeton, but 

 most of those here recorded were collected by Mr. Thwaites at 

 Kandy, and have a great likeness to North European species. 



