Chap. XII.] LIST OF CEYLON INSECTS. 



445 



the exception of the species here enumerated. It has been 

 remarked that the Trichoptera and other aquatic Neuroptera 

 are less local than the land species, owing to the more equable 

 temperature of the habitation of their larva?, and on account 

 of their being often conveyed along the whole length of rivers. 

 The species of Psocus in the list are far more numerous than 

 those yet observed in any other country, with the exception of 

 Europe. 



Order Hymenoptera. 



" In this order the Formicidce and the Poneridce are very 

 numerous, as they are in other damp and woody tropical coun- 

 tries. 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 parasitic 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 Lepidop- 

 tera alone in their class afford materials for a comparison of 

 the productions of Ceylon with those of Hindustan and of 

 Australasia ; nine hundred and thirty-two 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 entrance to the eastern 

 regions, the list in this volume will suitably precede the 

 descriptive catalogues of the heterocerous Lepidoptera of Hin- 

 dustan, Java, Borneo, and of other parts of Australasia, which 

 are being prepared for publication. In some of the heteroce- 

 rous families several species are common to Ceylon and to 

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



