CICADA—"THE KNIFE GRINDER."

In the jungle which adjoined the grounds attached to my official residence at Kandy, the shrubs were frequented by an insect covered profusely with a snow-white powder, arranged in delicate filaments that curl like a head of dressed celery. These it moves without dispersing the powder: but when dead they fall rapidly to dust. I regret that I did not preserve specimens, but I have reason to think that they are the larvæ of the Flata limbata, or of some other closely allied species4331, though I have not seen in Ceylon any of the wax produced by the flata.

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 a respectful view of its attitudes; it is one of a numerous family of bugs, (some of them most attractive4332 in their colouring,) which are inoffensive if unmolested, but if touched or irritated, exhale an odour that, once endured, is never afterwards forgotten.

POECILOPTERA TENNENTINA.
ELIDIPTERA EMERSONIANA.

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 is the truculent mosquito.4341 Next to the torture which it inflicts, its most annoying peculiarities are the booming hum of its approach, its cunning, its audacity, and the perseverance with which it renews its attacks however frequently repulsed. These characteristics are so remarkable as fully to justify the conjecture that the mosquito, and not the ordinary fly, constituted the plague inflicted upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians.4342

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 stocking, 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 little 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 linen robes, will not venture through a net.4351 But, notwithstanding the opinion of Spence4352, that nets with meshes an inch square will effectually exclude them, I have been satisfied by painful experience that (if the theory be 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.

The Coffee-Bug.—Allusion has been made in a previous passage to the coccus known in Ceylon as the "Coffee-Bug" (Lecanium Caffeæ, Wlk.), which of late years has made such destructive ravages in the plantations in the Mountain Zone.4361 The first thing that attracts attention on looking at a coffee tree infested by it, is the number of brownish wart-like bodies that stud the young shoots and occasionally the margins on the underside of the leaves.4362 Each of these warts or scales is a transformed female, containing a large number of eggs which are hatched within it.

When the young ones come out from their nest, they run about over the plant like diminutive wood-lice, and at this period there is no apparent distinction between male and female. Shortly after being hatched the males seek the underside of the leaves, while the females prefer the young shoots as a place of abode. If the under surface of a leaf be examined, it will be found to be studded, particularly on its basil half, with minute yellowish-white specks of an oblong form.4363 These are the larvæ of the males undergoing transformation into pupæ, beneath their own skins; some of these specks are always in a more advanced state than the others, the full-grown ones being whitish and scarcely a line long. Some of this size are translucent, the insect having escaped; the darker ones still retain it within, of an oblong form, with the rudiment of a wing on each side attached to the lower part of the thorax and closely applied to the sides; the legs are six in number, the four hind ones being directed backwards, the anterior forwards (a peculiarity not common in other insects); the two antennæ are also inclined backwards, and from the tail protrude three short bristles, the middle one thinner and longer than the rest.

When the transformation is complete, the mature insect makes its way from beneath the pellucid case4371, all its organs having then attained their full size: the head is sub-globular, with two rather prominent black eyes, and two antennæ, each with eleven joints, hairy throughout, and a tuft of rather longer hairs at the apices; the legs are also covered with hairs, the wings are horizontal, of an obovate oblong shape, membranous, and extending a little farther than the bristles of the tail. They have only two nerves, neither of which reaches so far as the tips; one of them runs close to the costal margin, and is much thicker than the other, which branches off from its base and skirts along the inner margin; behind the wings is attached a pair of minute halteres of peculiar form. The possession of wings would appear to be the cause why the full-grown male is more rarely seen on the coffee bushes than the female.

The female, like the male, attaches herself to the surface of the plant, the place selected being usually the young shoots; but she is also to be met with on the margins of the undersides of the leaves (on the upper surface neither the male nor female ever attach themselves); but, unlike the male, which derives no nourishment from the juices of the tree (the mouth being obsolete in the perfect state), she punctures the cuticle with a proboscis (a very short three-jointed promuscis), springing as it were from the breast, but capable of being greatly porrected, and inserted in the cuticle of the plant, and through this she abstracts her nutriment. In the early pupa state the female is easily distinguishable from the male, by being more elliptical and much more convex. As she increases in size her skin distends and she becomes smooth and dry; the rings of the body become effaced; and losing entirely the form of an insect, she presents, for some time, a yellowish pustular shape, but ultimately assumes a roundish conical form, of a dark brown colour.4381

THE COFFEE BUG. Lecanium Coffeæ.

Until she has nearly reached her full size, she still possesses the power of locomotion, and her six legs are easily distinguishable in the under surface of her corpulent body; but at no period of her existence has she wings. It is about the time of her obtaining full size that impregnation takes place4382; after which the scale becomes somewhat more conical, assumes a darker colour, and at length is permanently fixed to the surface of the plant, by means of a cottony substance interposed between it and the vegetable cuticle to which it adheres. The scale, when full grown, exactly resembles in miniature the hat of a Cornish miner4391, there being a narrow rim at the base, which gives increased surface of attachment. It is about 1/8 inch in diameter, by about 1/12 deep, and it appears perfectly smooth to the naked eye; but it is in reality studded over with a multitude of very minute warts, giving it a dotted appearance. Except the margin, which is ciliated, it is entirely destitute of hairs. The number of eggs contained in one of the scales is enormous, amounting in a single one to 691. The eggs are of an oblong shape, of a pale flesh colour, and perfectly smooth.4392 In some of the scales, the eggs when laid on the field of the microscope resemble those masses of life sometimes seen in decayed cheese.4393 A few small yellowish maggots are sometimes found with them, and these are the larvæ4394 of insects, the eggs of which have been deposited in the female while the scale was soft. They escape when mature by cutting a small round hole in the dorsum of the scale.

It is not till after this pest has been on an estate for two or three years that it shows itself to an alarming extent. During the first year a few only of the ripe scales are seen scattered over the bushes, generally on the younger shoots; but that year's crop does not suffer much, and the appearance of the tree is little altered.

The second year, however, brings a change for the worse; if the young shoots and the underside of the leaves he now examined, the scales will be found to have become much more numerous, and with them appear a multitude of white specks, which are the young scales in a more or less forward state. The clusters of berries now assume a black sooty look, and a great number of them fall off before coming to maturity; the general health of the tree also begins to fail, and it acquires a blighted appearance. A loss of crop is this year sustained, but to no great extent.

The third year brings about a more serious change, the whole plant acquires a black hue, appearing as if soot had been thrown over it in great quantities; this is caused by the growth of a parasitic fungus4401 over the shoots and the upper surface of the leaves, forming a fibrous coating, somewhat resembling velvet or felt. This never makes its appearance till the insect has been a considerable time on the bush, and probably owes its existence there to an unhealthy condition of the juices of the leaf, consequent on the irritation produced by the coccus, since it never visits the upper surface of the leaf until the latter has fully established itself on the lower. At this period the young shoots have an exceedingly disgusting look from the dense mass of yellow pustular bodies forming on them, the leaves get shrivelled, and the infected trees become conspicuous in the row. The black ants are assiduous in their visits to them. Two-thirds of the crop is lost, and on many trees not a single berry forms.

This Lecanium, or a very closely allied species, has been observed in the Botanic Garden at Peradenia, on the Citrus acida, Psidium pomiferum, Myrtus Zeylanica, Rosa Indica, Careya arborea, Vitex Negundo, and other plants. The coffee coccus has generally been first observed in moist, hollow places sheltered from the wind; and thence it has spread itself even over the driest and most exposed parts of the island. On some estates, after attaining a maximum, it has generally declined, but has shown a liability to reappear, especially in low sheltered situations, and it is believed to prevail most extensively in wet seasons. While in its earlier stages, it is easily transmitted from one estate to another, on the clothes of human beings, and in various other ways, which will readily suggest themselves. Dr. Gardner, after a careful consideration and minute examination of estates, arrived at the conclusion, that all remedies suggested up to that time had utterly failed, and that none at once cheap and effectual was likely to be discovered. He seems also to have been of opinion that the insect was not under human control; and that even if it should disappear, it would only be when it should have worn itself out as other blighte have been known to do in some mysterious way. Whether this may prove to be the case or not, is still very uncertain, but every thing observed by Dr. Gardner tends to indicate the permanency of the pest.

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 of those in the British Museum and in the Museum of the East India Company.4421

"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.4422 But if, on the contrary, the land in Ceylon is gradually rising, the difference of its Fauna from that of Central Hindustan is less remarkable. The peninsula of the Dekkan might then be conjectured to have been nearly or wholly separated from the central part of Hindustan, and confined to the range of mountains along the eastern coast; the insect-fauna of which is as yet 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.

"Mr. Layard's collection was partly formed in the dry northern province of Ceylon; and among them more Hindustan 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 Nilgherry 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 Hindustan 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 Hindustan in which species have been chiefly collected, such as Bengal, Silbet, and the Punjaub, are at the distance of from 1300 to 1600 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 of Cicindelidæ inhabit the plains or the coast country of Ceylon, and several of them are also found in Hindustan.

"Many of the species of Carabidæ and of Staphylinidæ, 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 the Scydmænid, Ptiliadæ, Phalacridæ, Nitidulidæ, Colydiadæ, and Lathridiadæ the northern form is still more striking, and strongly contrasts with the tropical forms of the gigantic Copridæ, Buprestidæ, and Cerambycidæ, and with the Elateridæ, Lampyridæ, Tenebrionidæ, Helopidæ, Meloidæ, Curculionidæ, Prionidæ, Cerambycidæ, Lamiidæ, and Endomychidæ.

"The Copridæ, Dynastidæ, Melolonthidæ, Cetoniadæ, and Passalidæ are well represented on the plains and on the coast, and the species are mostly of a tropical character.

"The Hydrophilidæ have a more northern aspect, as is generally the case with aquatic species.

"The order Strepsiptera is here considered as belonging to the Mordellidæ, and is represented by the genus Myrmecolax, which is peculiar, as yet, to Ceylon.

"In the Curculionidæ the single species of Apion will recall to mind the great abundance of that genus in North Europe.

"The Prionidæ and the two following families have been investigated by Mr. Pascoe, and the Hispidæ, 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. The Physapoda, 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 Rangbodde, 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 the Trichoptera and other aquatic Neuroptera are 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 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 Formicidæ and the Poneridæ are 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 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 Lepidoptera 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 Papilionidæ to the Tineidæ, 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 Hindustan, 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 Hindustan. The long intercourse between those two regions may have been the means of conveying some species from one to the other. Among the Pyralites, Hymenia recurvalis inhabits also the West Indies, South America, West Africa, Hindustan, China, Australasia, Australia, and New Zealand; and its food-plant is probably some vegetable which is cultivated in all those regions; so also Desmia afflictalis is found in Sierra Leone, Abyssinia, 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 laniger is 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 genera Sciara, Cecidomyia, and Simulium, 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 coffeæ may 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 2000 are enumerated in this volume.

Class ARACHNIDA.

"Four or five species of spiders, of which the specimens cannot be satisfactorily described; one Ixodes and one Chelifer have 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.

Fam. CICINDELIDÆ, Steph.
Fam. CARABIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. PAUSSIDÆ, Westw.
Fam. DYTISCIDÆ, Macl.
Fam. GYRINIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. STAPHILINIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. PSELAPHIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. SCYDMÆNIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. PTILIADÆ, Wo.
Fam. PHALACRIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. NITUDULIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. COLYDIADÆ, Woll.
Fam. TROGOSITIDÆ, Kirby.
Fam. CUCUJIDÆ, Steph.
Fam. LATHRIDIANÆ, Wall.
Fam. DERMESTIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. BYRRHIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. HISTERIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. APHODIADÆ, Macl.
Fam. TROGIDÆ, Macl.
Fam. COPRIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. DYNASTIDÆ, Macl.
Fam. GECTRUPIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. MELOLONTHIDÆ, Macl.
Fam. CETONIADÆ, Kirby.
Fam. TRICHIADÆ, Leach.
Fam. LUCANIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. PASSALIDÆ, Macl.
Fam. SPHÆRIDIADÆ, Leach.
Fam. HYDROPHILIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. BUPRESTIDIE, Steph.
Fam. ELATERIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. LAMPYRIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. TELEPHORIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. CEBRIONIDÆ, Steph.
Fam. MERLYRIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. CLERIDÆ, Kirby.
Fam. PTINIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. DIAPERIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. TENEBRIONIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. OPATRIDÆ, Shuck.
Fam. HELOPIDÆ, Steph.
Fam. MELOIDÆ, Woll.
Fam. OEDEMERIDÆ, Steph.
Fam. MORDELLIDÆ, Steph.
Fam. ANTHICIDÆ, Wlk.
Fam. CISSIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. TOMICIDÆ, Shuck.
Fam. CURCULIONIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. PRIONIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. CERAMBYCIDÆ, Kirby.
Fam. LAMIDIÆ, Kirby.
Fam. HISPIDÆ, Kirby.
Fam. CASSIDIDÆ, Westw.
Fam. SAGRIDÆ, Kirby.
Fam. DONACIDÆ, Lacord.
Fam. EUMOLFIDÆ, Baly.
Fam. CRYPTOCEPHALIDÆ, Kirby.
Fam. CHRYSOMELIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. GALERUCIDÆ, Steph.
Fam. COCCINELLIDÆ, Latr.
Fam. EROTYLIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. ENDOMYCHIDÆ, Leach.

Order ORTHOPTERA, Linn.

Fam. FORFICULIDÆ, Steph.
Fam. BLATTIDÆ, Steph.
Fam. PHASMIDÆ, Serv.
Fam. GRYLLIDÆ, Steph.

Order PHYSAPODA, Dum.

Order NEUROPTERA, Linn.

Fam. SERICOSTOMIDÆ, Steph.
Fam. LEPTOCERIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. PSYCHOMIDÆ, Curt.
Fam. HYDROPSYCHIDÆ, Curt.
Fam. RHYACOPHILIDÆ, Steph.
Fam. PERLIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. SILIDÆ, Westw.
Fam. HEMEROBIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. MYRMELEONIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. PSOCIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. TERMITIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. EMBIDÆ, Hagen.
Fam. EPHEMERIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. LIBELLULIDÆ.

Order HYMENOPTERA, Linn.

Fam. FORMICIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. PONERIDÆ, Smith.
Fam. MUTILLIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. EUMENIDÆ, Westw.
Fam. CRABRONIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. SPHEGIDÆ, Steph.
Fam. LARRIDÆ, Steph.
Fam. POMPILIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. APIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. CHRYSIDÆ, Wlk.
Fam. DORYLIDÆ, Shuck.
Fam. ICHNEUONIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. BRACONIDÆ, Hal.
Fam. CHALCIDIÆ, Spin.
Fam. DIAPRIDÆ, Hal.

Order LEPIDOPTERA, Linn.

Fam. PAPILIONIDÆ, Leach.
Fam. NYMPHALIDÆ, Swain.
Fam. LYCÆNIDÆ, Leach.