“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 Cicindelidae inhabit the plains or the coast country of Ceylon, and several of them are also found in Hindustan.

“Many of the species of Carabidae and of Staphylinidae, 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 Scydmaenid, Ptiliadae, Phalacridae, Nitidulidae, Colydiadae, and Lathridiadae the northern form is still more striking, and strongly contrasts with the tropical forms of the gigantic Copridae, Buprestidae, and Cerambycidae, and with the Elateridae, Lampyridae, Tenebrionidae, Helopidae, Meloidae, Curculionidae, Prionidae, Cerambycidae, Lamiidae, and Endomychidae.

“The Copridae, Dynastidae, Melolonthidae, Cetoniadae, and Passalidae are well represented on the plains and on the coast, and the species are mostly of a tropical character.

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

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

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

“The Prionidae and the two following families have been investigated by Mr. Pascoe, and the Hispidae, 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.