[Footnote 1:  Pamphila hesperia, &c.]

Conspicuous amidst these nocturnal moths is the richly-coloured Acherontia 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 conjectured to be produced by the friction of its thorax against the abdomen;—­Reaumur believed it to be caused by the rubbing of 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 bristles thrown out from each side of the inferior portion of the thorax.[1]

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

Moths.—­Among the strictly nocturnal Lepidoptera are some gigantic species.  Of these the cinnamon-eating Atlas, 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 is falcated, and the transparent spots are covered with a curious thread-like division drawn across them.

[Footnote 1:  Antheraea mylitta, Drury.]

Towards the northern portions of the island this valuable species entirely displaces the other, owing to the fact that the almond and palma Christi abound 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 to become 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 imported from China and the continent of India.