ly
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 _Papilionidae_ to the _Tineidae_, 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 rep