Chapter 17

1:Lycana polyommatus, &c.2:Amblypodia pseudocentaurus, &c.

1:Lycana polyommatus, &c.

2:Amblypodia pseudocentaurus, &c.

Short as is the eastern twilight, it has its own peculiar forms, and the naturalist marks with interest the small, but strong,Hesperiidoe,[1] hurrying, by abrupt and jerking flights, to the scented blossoms of the champac or the sweet night-blowing moon-flower; and, when darkness gathers around, we can hear, though hardly distinguish amid the gloom, the humming of the powerful wings of innumerable hawk moths, which hover with their long proboscides inserted into the starry petals of the periwinkle.

1:Pamphila hesperia, &c.

Conspicuous amidst these nocturnal moths is the richly-colouredAcherontia Satanas, one of the Singhalese representatives of our Death's head moth, which utters a sharp and stridulous cry when seized. This sound has been variously conjectured to be produced by the friction of its thorax against the abdomen, and Reaumur believed it to be caused by rubbing the palpi against the tongue. I have never been able to observe either motion, and Mr. E. L. Layard is of opinion that the sound is emitted from two apertures concealed by tufts of wiry bristlesthrown out from each side of the inferior portion of the thorax.[1]

1: There is another variety of the same moth in Ceylon which closely resembles it in its markings, but I have never detected in it the utterance of this curious cry. It is smaller than theA. Satanas, and, like it, often enters dwellings at night, attracted by the lights; but I have not found its larvæ, although that of the other species is common on several widely different plants.

Moths.—Among the strictly nocturnalLepidopteraare some gigantic species. Of these the cinnamon-eatingAtlas, often attains the dimensions of nearly a foot in the stretch of its superior wings. It is very common in the gardens about Colombo, and its size, and the transparent talc-like spots in its wings cannot fail to strike even the most careless saunterer. But little inferior to it in size is the famed Tusseh silk moth[1], which feeds on the country almond (Terminalia catappa) and the palma Christi or Castor-oil plant; it is easily distinguishable from the Atlas, which has a triangular wing, whilst its [wing] is falcated, and the transparent spots are covered with a curious thread-like division drawn across them.

1:Antheroea mylitta, Drury.

Towards the northern portions of the island this valuable species entirely displaces the other, owing to the fact that the almond andpalma Christiabound there. The latter plant springs up spontaneously on every manure-heap or neglected spot of ground; and might be cultivated, as in India, with great advantage, the leaf to be used as food for the caterpillar, the stalk as fodder for cattle, and the seed for the expression of castor-oil. The Dutch took advantage of this facility, and gave every encouragement to the cultivation of silk at Jaffna[1], but it never attained such a development as tobecome an article of commercial importance. Ceylon now cultivates no silkworms whatever, notwithstanding this abundance of the favourite food of one species; and the rich silken robes sometimes worn by the Buddhist priesthood are still imported from China and the continent of India.

1: The Portuguese had made the attempt previous to the arrival of the Dutch, and a strip of land on the banks of the Kalany river near Colombo, still bears the name of Orta Seda, the silk garden. The attempt of the Dutch to introduce the true silkworm, theBombyx mori, took place under the governorship of Ryklof Van Goens, who, on handing over the administration to his successor in A.D. 1663, thus apprises him of the initiation of the experiment:—"At Jaffna Palace a trial has been undertaken to feed silkworms, and to ascertain whether silk may be reared at that station. I have planted a quantity of mulberry trees, which grow well there, and they ought to be planted in other directions."—VALENTYN, chap. xiii. The growth of the mulberry trees is noticed the year after in a report to the governor-general of India, but the subject afterwards ceased to be attended to.

In addition to the Atlas moth and the Mylitta, there are many otherBombycidoein Ceylon; and, though the silk of some of them, were it susceptible of being unwound from the cocoon, would not bear a comparison with that of theBombyx mori, or even of the Tusseh moth, it might still prove to be valuable when carded and spun. If the European residents in the colony would rear the larvæ of these Lepidoptera, and make drawings of their various changes, they would render a possible service to commerce, and a certain one to entomological knowledge.

The Wood-carrying Moth.—There is another family of insects, the singular habits of which will not fail to attract the traveller in the cultivated tracts of Ceylon—these are moths of the genusOiketicus,[1] of which the females are devoid of wings, and some possess no articulated feet; the larvæ construct for themselves cases, which they suspend to a branch frequently of the pomegranate,[2] surrounding them with the stems of leaves, and thorns or pieces of twigs bound together by threads, till the whole presents the appearance of a bundle of rods about an inch and a half long; and, from the resemblance of this to a Roman fasces, one African species has obtained the name of "Lictor." The German entomologists denominated the groupSack-träger, the Singhalese call themDalmea katteaor "billets of firewood," andregard the inmates as human beings, who, as a punishment for stealing wood in some former stage of existence, have been condemned to undergo a metempsychosis under the form of these insects.

1:Eumeta, Wlk.2: The singular instincts of a species of Thecla,Dipsas Isocrates, Fab., in connection with the fruit of the pomegranate, were fully described by Mr. Westwood, in a paper read before the Entomological Society of London in 1835.

1:Eumeta, Wlk.

2: The singular instincts of a species of Thecla,Dipsas Isocrates, Fab., in connection with the fruit of the pomegranate, were fully described by Mr. Westwood, in a paper read before the Entomological Society of London in 1835.

The male, at the close of the pupal rest, escapes from one end of this singular covering, but the female makes it her dwelling for life; moving about with it at pleasure, and entrenching herself within it, when alarmed, by drawing together the purse-like aperture at the open end. Of these remarkable creatures there are five ascertained species in Ceylon.Psyche Doubledaii, Westw.;Metisa plana, Walker;Eumeta Cramerii, Westw.;E. Templetonii, Westw.; andCryptothelea consorta, Temp.

All the other tribes of minuteLepidopterahave abundant representatives in Ceylon; some of them most attractive from the great beauty of their markings and colouring. The curious little split-winged moth (Pterophorus) is frequently seen in the cinnamon gardens and the vicinity of the fort, resting in the noonday heat in 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 sections resembling feathers in the pinions of a bird expanded for flight.

HOMOPTERA.Cicada.—Of theHomoptera, 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 which produces it has acquired the highly-appropriate name of the "knife-grinder."

HEMIPTERA.Bugs.—On the shrubs in his compound the newly-arrived traveller will be attracted by an insect of a pale green hue and delicately-thin configuration, which, resting from its recent flight, composes its scanty wings, and moves languidly along the leaf. But experience will teach him to limit his examination to arespectful view of its attitudes; it is one of a numerous family of bugs, (some of them most attractive[1] in their colouring,) which are inoffensive if unmolested, but if touched or irritated, exhale an odour that, once perceived, is never after forgotten.

1: Such asCantuo ocellatus, Leptopelis Marginalis, Callidea Stockerius, &c. &c. Of the aquatic species, the giganticBelostoma Indicumcannot escape notice, attaining a size of nearly three inches.

APHANIPTERA.Fleas.—Fleas are equally numerous, and may be seen in myriads in the dust of the streets or skipping in the sunbeams which fall on the clay floors of the cottages. The dogs, to escape them, select for their sleeping places spots where a wood fire has been previously kindled; and here prone on the white ashes, their stomachs close to the earth, and their hind legs extended behind, they repose in comparative coolness, and bid defiance to their persecutors.

DIPTERA.Mosquitoes.—But of all the insect pests that beset an unseasoned European the most provoking by far are the truculent mosquitoes.[1] Even in the midst of endurance from their onslaughts one cannot but be amused by the ingenuity of their movements; as if aware of the risk incident to an open assault, a favourite mode of attack is, when concealed by a table, to assail the ankles through the meshes of the blocking, or the knees which are ineffectually protected by a fold of Russian duck. When you are reading, a mosquito will rarely settle on that portion of your hand which is within range of your eyes, but cunningly stealing by the underside of the book fastens on the wrist or finger, and noiselessly inserts his proboscis there. I have tested the classical expedient recorded by Herodotus, who states that the fishermen inhabiting the fens of Egypt cover their beds with their nets, knowing that the mosquitoes, although they bite through linenrobes, will not venture though a net.[2] But, notwithstanding the opinion of Spence,[3] that nets with meshes an inch square will effectually exclude them, I have been satisfied by painful experience that (if the theory is not altogether fallacious) at least the modern mosquitoes of Ceylon are uninfluenced by the same considerations which restrained those of the Nile under the successors of Cambyses.

1:Culex laniger? Wied. In Kandy Mr. Thwaites findsC. fuscanus, C. circumvolens, &c., and one with a most formidable hooked proboscis, to which he has assigned the appropriate nameC. Regius.2: HERODOTUS,Euterpe, xcv.3: KIRBY and SPENCE'SEntomology, letter iv.

1:Culex laniger? Wied. In Kandy Mr. Thwaites findsC. fuscanus, C. circumvolens, &c., and one with a most formidable hooked proboscis, to which he has assigned the appropriate nameC. Regius.

2: HERODOTUS,Euterpe, xcv.

3: KIRBY and SPENCE'SEntomology, letter iv.

List of Ceylon Insects.

For the following list of the insects of the island, and the remarks prefixed to it, I am indebted to Mr. F. Walker, by whom it has been prepared after a careful inspection of the collections made by Dr. Templeton, Mr. E.L. Layard, and others; as well as those in the British Museum and in the Museum of the East India Company.

"A short notice of the aspect of the Island will afford the best means of accounting, in some degree, for its entomological Fauna: first, as it is an island, and has a mountainous central region, the tropical character of its productions, as in most other cases, rather diminishes, and somewhat approaches that of higher latitudes.

"The coast-region of Ceylon, and fully one-third of its northern part, have a much drier atmosphere than that of the rest of its surface; and their climate and vegetation are nearly similar to those of the Carnatic, with which this island may have been connected at no very remote period.[1] But if, on the contrary, the land in Ceylon is gradually rising, the difference of its Fauna from that of Central Hindostan is less remarkable. The peninsula of the Dekkan might then be conjectured to have been nearly or wholly separated from the central part of Hindostan, and confined to the range of mountains along the eastern coast; the insect-fauna of which is asyet almost unknown, but will probably be found to have more resemblance to that of Ceylon than to the insects of northern and western India—just as the insect-fauna of Malaya appears more to resemble the similar productions of Australasia than those of the more northern continent.

1: On the subject of this conjecture seeante,Vol. I. Pt. I, ch. i. p. 7.

"Mr. Layard's collection was partly formed in the dry northern province of Ceylon; and among them more Hindostan insects are to be observed than among those collected by Dr. Templeton, and found wholly in the district between Colombo and Kandy. According to this view the faunas of the Neilgherry Mountains, of Central Ceylon, of the peninsula of Malacca, and of Australasia would be found to form one group;—while those of Northern Ceylon, of the western Dekkan, and of the level parts of Central Hindostan would form another of more recent origin. The insect-fauna of the Carnatic is also probably similar to that of the lowlands of Ceylon; but it is still unexplored. The regions of Hindostan in which species have been chiefly collected, such as Bengal, Silhet, and the Punjaub, are at the distance of from 1,300 to 1,600 miles from Ceylon, and therefore the insects of the latter are fully as different from those of the above regions as they are from those of Australasia, to which Ceylon is as near in point of distance, and agrees more with regard to latitude.

"Dr. Hagen has remarked that he believes the fauna of the mountains of Ceylon to be quite different from that of the plains and of the shores. The south and west districts have a very moist climate, and as their vegetation is like that of Malabar, their insect-fauna will probably also resemble that of the latter region.

"The insects mentioned in the following list are thus distributed:—

Order COLEOPTERA.

"The recorded species ofCicindelidoeinhabit the plains or the coast country of Ceylon, and several of them are also found in Hindostan.

"Many of the species ofCarabidoeand ofStaphylinidoe, especially those collected by Mr. Thwaites, near Kandy, and by M. Nietner at Colombo, have much resemblance to the insects of these two families in North Europe; in theScydmoenidoe,Ptiliadoe, Phalacridoe, Nitidulidoe, Colydiadoe, andLathridiadoethe northern form is still more striking, and strongly contrastswith the tropical forms of the giganticCopridoe, Buprestidoe, andCerambycidoe, and with theElateridoe, Lampyridoe, Tenebrionidoe, Helopidoe, Meloidoe, Curculionidoe, Prionidoe, Cerambycidoe, Lamiidoe, andEndomychidoe.

"TheCopridoe, Dynastidoe, Melolonthidoe, Cetoniadoe, andPassalidoeare well represented on the plains and on the coast, and the species are mostly of a tropical character.

"TheHydrophilidoehave a more northern aspect, as is generally the case with aquatic species.

"The orderStrepsipterais here considered as belonging to theMordellidoe, and is represented by the genusMyrmecolax, which is peculiar, as yet, to Ceylon.

"In theCurculionidoethe single species ofApionwill recall to mind the great abundance of that genus in North Europe.

"ThePrionidoeand the two following families have been investigated by Mr. Pascoe, and theHispidoe, with the five following families, by Mr. Baly; these two gentlemen are well acquainted with the above tribes of beetles, and kindly supplied me with the names of the Ceylon species.

Order ORTHOPTERA.

"These insects in Ceylon have mostly a tropical aspect. ThePhysapoda, which will probably be soon incorporated with them, are likely to be numerous, though only one species has as yet been noticed.

Order NEUROPTERA.

"The list here given is chiefly taken from the catalogue published by Dr. Hagen, and containing descriptions of the species named by him or by M. Nietner. They were found in the most elevated parts of the island, near Rambodde, and Dr. Hagen informs me that not less than 500 species have been noticed in Ceylon, but that they are not yet recorded, with the exception of the species here enumerated. It has been remarked that theTrichopteraand other aquaticNeuropteraare less local than the land species, owing to the more equable temperature of the habitation of their larvæ, and on account of their being often conveyed along the whole length of rivers. The species ofPsocusin the list are far more numerous than those yet observed in any other country, with the exception of Europe.

Order HYMENOPTERA.

"In this order theFormicidoeand thePoneridoeare very numerous, as they are in other damp and woody tropical countries. Seventy species of ants have been observed, but as yet few of them have been named. The various other families of aculeateHymenopteraare doubtless more abundant than the species recorded indicate, and it may be safely reckoned that the parasiticHymenopterain 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 theLepidopteraalone in their class afford materials for a comparison of the productions of Ceylon with those of Hindostan and of Australasia; 932 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 thePapilionidoeto theTineidoe, 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 heterocerousLepidopteraof Hindostan, Java, Borneo, and of other parts of Australasia, which are being prepared for publication. In some of the heterocerous families several species are common to Ceylon and to Australasia, and in various cases the faunas of Ceylon and of Australasia seem to be more similar than those of Ceylon and of Hindostan. The long intercourse between those two regions may have been the means of conveying some species from one to the other. Among thePyralites, Hymenia recurvalisinhabits also the West Indies, South America, West Africa, Hindostan, China, Australasia, Australia, and New Zealand; and its food-plant is probably some vegetable which is cultivated in all those regions; so alsoDesmia afflictalisis found in Sierra Leone, Ceylon, and China.

Order DIPTERA.

"About fifty species were observed by Dr. Templeton, but most of those here recorded were collected by Mr. Thwaites at Kandy, and have a great likeness to North European species.

"The mosquitoes are very annoying on account of their numbers, as might be expected from the moisture and heat of the climate.Culex lanigeris the coast species, and the other kinds here mentioned are from Kandy. Humboldt observed that in some parts of South America each stream had its peculiar mosquitoes, and it yet remains to be seen whether the gnats in Ceylon are also thus restricted in their habitation. The generaSciara, Cecidomyia, andSimulium, which abound so exceedingly in temperate countries, have each one representative species in the collection made by Mr. Thwaites. Thus an almost new field remains for the Entomologist in the study of the yet unknown Singhalese Diptera, which must be very numerous.

Order HEMIPTERA.

"The species of this order in the list are too few and too similar to those of Hindustan to need any particular mention.Lecanium coffeoemay be noticed, on account of its infesting the coffee plant, as its name indicates, and the ravages of other species of the genus will be remembered, from the fact that one of them, in other regions, has put a stop to the cultivation of the orange as an article of commerce.

"In conclusion, it may be observed that the species of insects in Ceylon may be estimated as exceeding 10,000 in number, of which about 2,000 are enumerated in this volume.

Class ARACHNIDA.

"Four or five species of spiders, of which the specimens cannot be satisfactorily described; oneIxodesand oneCheliferhave been forwarded to England from Ceylon by Mr. Thwaites."

NOTE.—The asterisk prefixed denotes the species discovered in Ceylon since Sir J.E. Tennent's departure from the Island in 1849.

ORDER,Coleoptera,Linn.

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