No. 9. — 1856-8.] new ceylon coleoptera. 



29 



Having gone so far, I will (in spite of some slight misgiv- 

 ings of being laughed at for telling an old story with so grave 

 a face) add a few descriptive words about the organs in ques- 

 tion. The wings of my Scydmceni are ample, about double 

 the size of the whole insect, oblong, having the margin beauti- 

 fully ciliated, and, with the exception of a few yellowish veins 

 at the base, without any visible organs of this kind. 



In spite of the difference in their shape, etc., I believe the 

 species described below to be all genuine Scydmceni as re- 

 stricted at present. Being, however, unacquainted with the 

 sexual distinctions of these insects (which indeed I believe 

 not to have been satisfactorily pointed out by any one, and to 

 differ in different species), 1 should not be surprised if one or 

 two of my species were eventually ascertained to have been 

 separated upon these grounds alone. However, having been 

 very reluctant in the admission of new species, it is just as 

 likely that individuals may hereafter be found united in one 

 which ought to be separated into two species. But I trust 

 that neither may happen. 



The species were all collected by myself in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of Colombo. I have, however, no doubt that 

 they occur all over the S. W. of the Island, which is of a uni- 

 form physical character, and perhaps occupy a still larger 

 portion of it. Indeed, I have taken the S. pselaphoides in 

 the hills, at an elevation of 3,500 feet, under the bark of 

 trees. None of them are quite common ; on the contrary, of 

 nearly half of them I possess only one or two specimeos. 

 My S. fernoralis I found under the soft, rotting bark of an 

 Erythrina Indica : S. Ceylanicus and ovatus, I found dead in 

 spiderwebs : S. graminicola, glanduliferus and pyriformis, I 

 have hitherto exclusively taken in the sweeping net on the 

 lawns of my garden about sunset : the other species I have 

 met with indiscriminately in spiderwebs, under rotting vege- 

 table substances, and in the grass. 



After this preamble, which I trust may not be deemed quite 

 superfluous, I now enter upon the description of my species, 

 drawing previously attention to the three very natural and 



