432 



INSECTS. 



[Chap. XII. 



meta Cramerii, Westw. ; E. Templetonii, Westw. ; and 

 Cryptothelea consorta, Temp. 



All the other tribes of minute Lepitoptera have abun- 

 dant representatives in Ceylon ; some of them most 

 attractive from the great beauty of their markings and 

 colouring. The curious little split-winged moth (Ptero- 

 phorus) is frequently seen in the cinnamon gardens and 

 in the vicinity of the fort, hid from the noon-day heat 

 among the cool grass shaded by the coco-nut topes. 

 Three species have been captured, all characterised by 

 the same singular feature of having the wings fan-like, 

 separated nearly their entire length into detached sec- 

 tions, resembling feathers in the pinions of a bird 

 expanded for flight. 



Homopteka. Cicada. — Of the Homoptera, the one 

 which will most frequently arrest attention is the cicada, 

 which, resting high up on the bark of a tree, makes the 

 forest re-echo with a long-sustained noise so curiously 

 resembling that of a cutler's wheel that the creature 

 producing it has acquired the highly-appropriate name 

 of the " knife-grinder." 



CICADA — " THE KNIFE -GRINDER." 



In the jungle which adjoined the grounds attached 

 to my official residence at Kandy, the shrubs were fre- 

 quented by an insect covered profusely with a snow-white 

 powder, arranged in delicate filaments that curl like 



