Notes on the Fauna of a Desert Tract in Southern India. Part II. — Insects and 



Arachnida. 



(With one plate.) 



By N. Annandale, D.Sc, C.M.Z.S., Deputy Superintendent of the Indian Museum. 



[Read December 6th, 1905.] 

 Contents. 



Page. 



Introduction 203 



List of species identified 204 



Orthoptera 206 



Orthoptera of the Seistan Boundary Commission 210 



Neuroptera 211 



Hymen optera 211 



Coleoptera 212 



Lepidoptera 213 



Hemiptera 214 



Arachnida 215 



Remarks on distribrution "...217 



Remarks on colour 218 



Introduction. 



The season of my visit to Ramanad was not a favourable one for obtaining 

 Insects and Arachnida, and my collection in these groups is small. It is unlikely, 

 except by the merest chance, that any form at all rare in the neighbourhood was taken, 

 and certainly many of the common species were not collected. A considerable part of 

 the collection, moreover, consists of small or obscure Insects and Spiders which I have 

 not ventured to name. Systematic entomology is, among all the branches of zoology, the 

 work of specialists in the various orders and families, and it is only the existence of mono- 

 graphs such as those in the " Fauna of India " series that makes it possible for one, who 

 is not a specialist, to take a comprehensive view of the arthropodous fauna of a locality. 

 Had it not been for the existence in the Indian Museum of specimens named by de 

 Saussure, de Selys, Wood-Mason and other experts, and for the publication, in the 

 series mentioned, of the volumes by Bingham, Distant and Pocock, and, elsewhere, of 

 the papers on Orthoptera by de Saussure, Brunner von Wattenwyl and Bolivar, even the 

 partial working out of this small collection would have been impossible. Nevertheless 

 the very exclusiveness of the collection gives it a certain interest, and it is important to 

 ascertain any details regarding the habits and modifications of Insects living under 

 conditions so unfavourable. My thanks are due to Mr. C. A. Paiva, Entomological 

 Assistant in the Indian Museum, who has given me help in the preliminary work of 

 sorting and comparison. 



