190 Descriptions of new Ceylon Coleopiera. [no. 2, new series. 
themselves otherwise but by flying. From some reason or other, 
I am ashamed to say, I did not follow up the matter at the time, 
but I am now certain on the subject. Indeed to remove all doubt 
and to settle all disputes I have just been so fortunate as to take 
my S. advolans actually on the wing flying in my garden in the 
evening at sunset. 
Having gone so far, I will (in spite of some slight misgivings of 
being laughed at for telling an old story with so grave a face) add 
a few descriptive words about the organs in question : The wings 
of my ScYDMJENi are ample, about' double the size of the whole 
insect, oblong, having the margin beautifully ciliated and, with the 
exception of a few yellowish veins at the base, without any visible 
organs of this kind. 
In spite of the difi'erence in their shape etc. I believe the species 
described below to be all genuine Scydm^ni as restricted at pre- 
sent. Being, however, unacquainted with the sexual distinctions 
of these insects (which indeed I believe not to have been satisfac- 
torily pointed out by any one, and to diff'er in diff'erent species) I 
should not be surprised if one or two of my species were eventual- 
ly ascertained to have been separated upon these grounds alone. 
However, having been very reluctant to admit 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 nei- 
ther contingency may happen. The species were all collected by my- 
self in the immediate neighbourhood of Colombo. I have, however, 
no doubt that they occur all over the S. W. part of the Island, which 
is of an uniform physical character, and they may perhaps occupy a 
still larger portion of it. None of them are very common, on the con- 
trary, of nearly half of them I possess only one or two specimens. My 
S.femor alls lio\mdi under the soft,rotting bark of anErythrina indica. 
5. Ceylanicus and ovatus I found dead in spiderwebs. S. gramini' 
cola, glanduliferus and pyriformis I have hitherto taken exclusively 
in the sweeping net on the lawn of my garden about sunset, 
the other species I have met with indiscriminately in spiderwebs, 
under rotting vegetable substances and in the grass. 
After this preamble, which I trust may not be deemed quite su- 
perfluous, I now enter upon the description of my species, previ- 
