the myriads of insects in Ceylon form one of the characteristic features
of the island. In the solitude of the forests there is a perpetual music
from their soothing and melodious hum, which frequently swells to a
startling sound as the cicada trills his sonorous drum on the sunny bark
of some tall tree. At morning the dew hangs in diamond drops on the
threads and gossamer which the spiders suspend across every pathway; and
above the pool dragon-flies, of more than metallic lustre, flash in the
early sunbeams. The earth teems with countless ants, which emerge from
beneath its surface, or make their devious highways to ascend to their
nests in the trees. Lustrous beetles, with their golden elytra, bask on
the leaves, whilst minuter species dash through the air in circles,
which the ear can follow by the booming of their tiny wings. Butterflies
of large size and gorgeous colouring, flutter over the endless expanse
of flowers, and at times the extraordinary sight presents itself of
flights of these delicate creatures, generally of a white or pale yellow
hue, apparently miles in breadth, and of such prodigious extension as to
occupy hours, and even days, uninterruptedly in their passage--whence
coming no one knows; whither going no one can tell.[1] As day declines,
the moths issue from their retreats, the crickets add their shrill
voices to swell the din; and when darkness descends, the eye is charmed
with the millions of emerald lamps lighted up by the fire-flies amidst
the surrounding gloom.
[Footnote 1: The butterflies I have seen in these wonderful migrations
in Ceylon were mostly _Callidryas Hilariæ, C. Alcmeone_, and _C.
Pyranthe_, with straggling individuals of the genus _Euplæa, E. Coras_,
and _E. Prothoe_. Their passage took place in April and May, generally
in a north-easterly direction. The natives have a superstitious belief
that their flight is ultimately directed to Adam's Peak, and that their
pilgrimage ends on reaching the sacred mountain. A friend of mine
travelling from Kandy to Kornegalle, drove for nine miles through a
cloud of white butterflies, which were passing across the road by which
he went.]
As yet no attempt has been made to describe the insects of Ceylon
systematically, much less to enumerate the prodigous number of species
that abound in every locality. Occasional observers have, from time to
time, contributed notices of particular families to the Scientific
Associations of Europe, but their papers remain undigested, and the time
has not yet arrived for the preparation of an Entomology of the island.
What DARWIN remarks of the Coleoptera of Brazil is nearly as applicable
to the same order of insects in Ceylon: "The number of minute and
obscurely coloured beetles is exceedingly great; the cabinets of Europe
can as yet, with partial exceptions, boast only of the larger species
from tropical climates, and it is sufficient to disturb the composure of
an entomologist to look forward to the future dimensions of a catalogue
with any pretensions to completeness."[1] M. Nietner, a German
entomologist, who has spent some years in Ceylon, has recently
published, in one of the local periodicals, a series of papers on the
Coleoptera of the island, in which every species introduced is stated to
be previously undescribed.[2]
[Footnote 1: _Nat. Journal_, p. 39.]
[Footnote 2: Republished in the _Ann. Nat. Hist._]
COLEOPTERA.--_Buprestidæ; Golden Beetles_.--In the morning the
herbaceous plants, especially on the eastern side of the island, are
studded with these gorgeous beetles, whose golden wing-cases[1] are used
to enrich the embroidery of the Indian zenana, whilst the lustrous
joints of the legs are strung on silken threads, and form necklaces and
bracelets of singular brilliancy.
[Footnote 1: _Sternocera Chrysis; S. sternicornis_.]
These exquisite colours are not confined to one order, and some of the
Elateridæ[1] and Lamellicorns exhibit hues of green and blue, that rival
the deepest tints of the emerald and sapphire.
[Footnote 1: Of the family of _Elateridæ_, one of the finest is a
Singhalese species, the _Campsosternus Templetonii_, of an exquisite
golden green colour, with blue reflections (described and figured by Mr.
WESTWOOD in his _Cabinet of Oriental Entomology_, pl. 35, f. 1). In the
same work is figured another species of large size, also from Ceylon,
this is the _Alaus sordidus_.--WESTWOOD, l. c. pl. 35, f. 9.]
_Scavenger Beetles_.--Scavenger beetles[1] are to be seen wherever the
presence of putrescent and offensive matter affords opportunity for the
display of their repulsive but most curious instincts; fastening on it
with eagerness, severing it into lumps proportionate to their strength,
and rolling it along in search of some place sufficiently soft in which
to bury it, after having deposited their eggs in the centre. I had
frequent opportunities, especially in traversing the sandy jungles in
the level plains to the north of the island, of observing the unfailing
appearance of these creatures instantly on the dropping of horse dung,
or any other substance suitable for their purpose; although not one was
visible but a moment before. Their approach on the wing is announced by
a loud and joyous booming sound, as they dash in rapid circles in search
of the desired object, led by their sense of smell, and evidently little
assisted by the eye in shaping their course towards it. In these
excursions they exhibit a strength of wing and sustained power of
flight, such as is possessed by no other class of beetles with which I
am acquainted, but which is obviously indispensable for the due
performance of the useful functions they discharge.
[Footnote 1: _Ateuchus sacer; Copris sagax; C. capucinus_, &c. &c.]
[Illustration: LONGHORN BEETLE (BATEROCERA RUBUS).]
_The Coco-nut Beetle_.--In the luxuriant forests of Ceylon the extensive
family of _Longicorns_[1] and _Passalidæ_ live in destructive abundance.
To the coco-nut planters the ravages committed by beetles are painfully
familiar.[2] The larva of one species of _Dynastida_, the _Oryctes
rhinoceros_, called by the Singhalese "_Gascooroominiya_," makes its way
into the younger trees, descending from the top, and after perforating
them in all directions, forms a cocoon of the gnawed wood and sawdust,
in which it reposes during its sleep as a pupa, till the arrival of the
period when it emerges as a perfect beetle. Notwithstanding the
repulsive aspect of the large pulpy larvæ of these beetles, they are
esteemed a luxury by the Malabar coolies, who so far avail themselves of
the privilege accorded by the Levitical law, which permitted the Hebrews
to eat "the beetle after his kind."[3]
[Footnote 1: The engraving on the preceding page represents in its
various transformations one of the most familiar and graceful of the
longicorn beetles of Ceylon, the _Batocera rubus_.]
[Footnote 2: There is a paper in the _Journ. of the Asiat. Society of
Ceylon_, May, 1845, by Mr. CAPPER, on the ravages perpetrated by these
beetles. The writer had recently passed through several coco-nut
plantations, "varying in extent from 20 to 150 acres, and about two to
three years old: and in these he did not discover a single young tree
untouched by the cooroominiya."--P. 49.]
[Footnote 3: Leviticus, xi. 22.]
Amongst the superstitions of the Singhalese arising out of their belief
in demonology, one remarkable one is connected with the appearance of a
beetle when observed on the floor of a dwelling-house after nightfall.
The popular belief is that in obedience to a certain form of incantation
(called _cooroominiya-pilli_) a demon in the shape of a beetle is sent
to the house of some person or family whose destruction it is intended
to compass, and who presently falls sick and dies. The only means of
averting this catastrophe is, that some one, himself an adept in
necromancy, should perform a counter-charm, the effect of which is to
send back the disguised beetle to destroy his original employer; for in
such a conjuncture the death of one or the other is essential to appease
the demon whose intervention has been invoked. Hence the discomfort of a
Singhalese on finding a beetle in his house after sunset, and his
anxiety to expel but not to kill it.
_Tortoise Beetles_.--There is one family of insects, the members of
which cannot fail to strike the traveller by their singular beauty, the
_Cassididæ_ or tortoise beetles, in which the outer shell overlaps the
body, and the limbs are susceptible of being drawn entirely within it.
The rim is frequently of a different tint from the centre, and one
species which I have seen is quite startling from the brilliancy of its
colouring, which gives it the appearance of a ruby enclosed in a frame
of pearl; but this wonderful effect disappears immediately on the death
of the insect.
ORTHOPTERA. _Leaf-insects_.--But in relation to the insects of Ceylon
the admiration of their colours is still less exciting than the
astonishment created by the forms in which some of the families present
themselves; especially the "soothsayers" (_Mantidæ_) and "walking
leaves." The latter[1], exhibiting the most cunning of all nature's
devices for the preservation of her creatures, are found in the jungle
in all varieties of hues, from the pale yellow of an opening bud to the
rich green of the full-blown leaf, and the withered tint of decay. So
perfect is the imitation of a leaf in structure and articulation, that
this amazing insect when at rest is almost undistinguishable from the
foliage around: not only are the wings modelled to resemble ribbed and
fibrous follicles, but every joint of the legs is expanded into a broad
plait like a half-opened leaflet.
[Footnote 1: Phyllium siccifolium.]
[Illustration: STICK INSECT AND MANTIS]
It rests on its abdomen, the legs serving to drag it slowly along, and
thus the flatness of its attitude serves still further to add to the
appearance of a leaf. One of the most marvellous incidents connected
with its organisation was exhibited by one which I kept under a glass
shade on my table, it laid a quantity of eggs, that, in colour and
shape, were not to be distinguished from _seeds_. They were brown, and
pentangular, with a short stem, and slightly punctured at the
intersections.
[Illustration]
The "soothsayer," on the other hand (_Mantis superstitiosa._ Fab.[1]),
little justifies by its propensities the appearance of gentleness, and
the attitudes of sanctity, which have obtained for it the title of the
"praying mantis." Its habits are carnivorous, and degenerate into
cannibalism, as it preys on the weaker individuals of its own species.
Two which I enclosed in a box were both found dead a few hours after,
literally severed limb from limb in their encounter. The formation of
the foreleg enables the tibia to be so closed on the sharp edge of the
thigh as to amputate any slender substance grasped within it.
[Footnote 1: _M. aridifolia_ and _M. extensicollis_, as well as _Empusa
gongylodes_, remarkable for the long leaf-like head, and dilatations on
the posterior thighs, are common in the island.]
_The Stick-insect_.--The _Phasmidæ_ or spectres, another class of
orthoptera, present as close a resemblance to small branches or leafless
twigs as their congeners do to green leaves. The wing-covers, where they
exist, instead of being expanded, are applied so closely to the body as
to detract nothing from its rounded form, and hence the name which they
have acquired of "_walking-sticks_." Like the _Phyllium_, the _Phasma_
lives exclusively on vegetables, and some attain the length of several
inches.
Of all the other tribes of the _Orthoptera_ Ceylon possesses many
representatives; in swarms of cockroaches, grasshoppers, locusts, and
crickets.
NEUROPTERA. _Dragon-flies_.--Of the _Neuroptera_, some of the
dragon-flies are pre-eminently beautiful; one species, with rich
brown-coloured spots upon its gauzy wings, is to be seen near every
pool.[1] Another[2], which dances above the mountain streams in Oovah,
and amongst the hills descending towards Kandy, gleams in the sun as if
each of its green enamelled wings had been sliced from an emerald.
[Footnote 1: _Libellula pulchella_.]
[Footnote 2: _Euphæa splendens_.]
_The Ant-Lion._--Of the ant-lion, whose larvæ have earned a bad renown
from their predaceous ingenuity, Ceylon has, at least, four species,
which seem peculiar to the island.[1] This singular creature,
preparatory to its pupal transformation, contrives to excavate a conical
pitfall in the dust to the depth of about an inch, in the bottom of
which it conceals itself, exposing only its open mandibles above the
surface; and here every ant and soft-bodied insect which curiosity
tempts to descend, or accident may precipitate into the trap, is
ruthlessly seized and devoured by its ambushed inhabitant.
[Footnote 1: _Palpares contrarius_, Walker; _Myrmeleon gravis_, Walker;
_M. dirus_, Walker; _M. barbarus_, Walker.]
_The White Ant_.--But of the insects of this order the most noted are
the _white ants_ or termites (which are ants only by a misnomer). They
are, unfortunately, at once ubiquitous and innumerable in every spot
where the climate is not too chilly, or the soil too sandy, for them to
construct their domed edifices.
These they raise from a considerable depth under ground, excavating the
clay with their mandibles, and moistening it with tenacious saliva[1]
until it assume the appearance, and almost the consistency, of
sandstone. So delicate is the trituration to which they subject this
material, that the goldsmiths of Ceylon employ the powdered clay of the
ant hills in preference to all other substances in the preparation of
crucibles and moulds for their finer castings: and KNOX says, "the
people use this finer clay to make their earthen gods of, it is so pure
and fine."[2] These structures the termites erect with such perseverance
and durability that they frequently rise to the height of ten or twelve
feet from the ground, with a corresponding diameter. They are so firm in
their texture that the weight of a horse makes no apparent indentation
on their solidity; and even the intense rains of the monsoon, which no
cement or mortar can long resist, fail to penetrate the surface or
substance of an ant hill.[3] In their earlier stages the termites
proceed with such energetic rapidity, that I have seen a pinnacle of
moist clay, six inches in height and twice as large in diameter,
constructed underneath a table between sitting down to dinner and the
removal of the cloth.
[Footnote 1: It becomes an interesting question whence the termites
derive the large supplies of moisture with which they not only temper
the clay for the construction of their long covered ways above ground,
but for keeping their passages uniformly damp and cool below the
surface. Yet their habits in this particular are unvarying, in the
seasons of droughts as well as after rain; in the driest and least
promising positions, in situations inaccessible to drainage from above,
and cut off by rocks and impervious strata from springs from below. Dr.
Livingstone, struck with this phenomenon in Southern Africa, asks: "Can
the white ants possess the power of combining the oxygen and hydrogen of
their vegetable food by vital force so as to form water?"--_Travels_, p.
22. And he describes at Angola, an insect[A] resembling the _Aphrophora
spumaria_; seven or eight individuals of which distil several pints of
water every night.--P. 414. It is highly probable that the termites are
endowed with some such faculty: nor is it more remarkable that an insect
should combine the gases of its food to produce water, than that a fish
should decompose water in order to provide itself with gas. FOURCROIX
found the contents of the air-bladder in a carp to be pure
nitrogen.--_Yarrell_, vol. i. p. 42. And the aquatic larva of the
dragon-fly extracts air for its respiration from the water in which it
is submerged. A similar mystery pervades the inquiry whence plants under
peculiar circumstances derive the water essential to vegetation.]
[Footnote A: _A. goudotti?_ Bennett.]
[Footnote 2: KNOX'S _Ceylon_, Part i, ch. vi, p.24.]
[Footnote 3: Dr. HOOKER, in his _Himalayan Journal_ (vol. i. p. 20) is
of opinion that the nests of the termites are not independent
structures, but that their nucleus is "the debris of clumps of bamboos
or the trunks of large trees which these insects have destroyed." He
supposes that the dead tree falls leaving the stump coated with sand,
_which the action of the weather soon fashions into a cone_. But
independently of the fact that the "action of the weather" produces
little or no effect on the closely cemented clay of the white ants'
nest, they may be daily seen constructing their edifices in the very
form of a cone, which they ever after retain. Besides which, they appear
in the midst of terraces and fields where no trees are to be seen: and
Dr. Hooker seems to overlook the fact that the termites rarely attack a
living tree; and although their nests may be built against one, it
continues to flourish not the less for their presence.]
As these lofty mounds of earth have all been carried up from beneath the
surface, a cave of corresponding dimensions is necessarily scooped out
below, and here, under the multitude of miniature cupolas and pinnacles
which canopy it above, the termites hollow out the royal chamber for
their queen, with spacious nurseries surrounding it on all sides; and
all are connected by arched galleries, long passages, and doorways of
the most intricate and elaborate construction. In the centre and
underneath the spacious dome is the recess for the queen--a hideous
creature, with the head and thorax of an ordinary termite, but a body
swollen to a hundred times its usual and proportionate bulk, and
presenting the appearance of a mass of shapeless pulp. From this great
progenitrix proceed the myriads that people the subterranean hive,
consisting, like the communities of the genuine ants, of labourers and
soldiers, which are destined never to acquire a fuller development than
that of larvæ, and the perfect insects which in due time become invested
with wings and take their departing flight from the cave. But their new
equipment seems only destined to facilitate their dispersion from the
parent nest, which takes place at dusk; and almost as quickly as they
leave it they divest themselves of their ineffectual wings, waving them
impatiently and twisting them in every direction till they become
detached and drop off, and the swarm, within a few hours of their
emancipation, become a prey to the night-jars and bats, which are
instantly attracted to them as they issue in a cloud from the ground. I
am not prepared to say that the other insectivorous birds would not
gladly make a meal of the termites, but, seeing that in Ceylon their
numbers are chiefly kept in check by the crepuscular birds, it is
observable, at least as a coincidence, that the dispersion of the swarm
generally takes place at _twilight_. Those that escape the _caprimulgi_
fall a prey to the crows, on the morning succeeding their flight.
The strange peculiarity of the omnivorous ravages of the white ants is
that they shrink from the light; in all their expeditions for providing
food they construct a covered pathway of moistened clay, and their
galleries above ground extend to an incredible distance from the central
nest. No timber, except ebony and ironwood, which are too hard, and
those which are strongly impregnated with camphor or aromatic oils,
which they dislike, presents any obstacle to their ingress. I have had a
case of wine filled, in the course of two days, with almost solid clay,
and only discovered the presence of the white ants by the escape from
the corks. I have had a portmanteau in my tent so peopled with them in
the course of a single night that the contents were found worthless in
the morning. In an incredibly short time a detachment of these pests
will destroy a press full of records, reducing the paper to fragments;
and a shelf of books will be tunnelled into a gallery if it happen to be
in their line of march. The timbers of a house when fairly attacked are
eaten from within till the beams are reduced to an absolute shell, so
thin that it may be punched through with the point of the finger: and
even kyanized wood, unless impregnated with an extra quantity of
corrosive sublimate, appears to occasion them no inconvenience. The only
effectual precaution for the protection of furniture is incessant
vigilance--the constant watching of every article, and its daily removal
from place to place, in order to baffle their assaults.
They do not appear in the hills above the elevation of 4000 or 5000
feet. One species of white ant, the _Termes Taprobanes_, was at one time
believed by Mr. Walker to be peculiar to the island, but it has recently
been found in Sumatra and Borneo, and in some parts of Hindustan.
There is a species of Termes in Ceylon (_T. monoceros_), which always
builds its nest in the hollow of an old tree; and, unlike the others,
carries on its labours without the secrecy and protection of a covered
way. A marching column of these creatures may be observed at early
morning in the vicinity of their nest, returning laden with the spoils
collected during their foraging excursions. These consist of comminuted
vegetable matter, derived, it may be, from a thatched roof, if one
happens to be within reach, or from the decaying leaves of a coco-nut.
Each little worker in the column carries its tiny load in its jaws; and
the number of individuals in one of these lines of march must be
immense, for the column is generally about two inches in width, and very
densely crowded. One was measured which had most likely been in motion
for hours, moving in the direction of the nest, and was found to be
upwards of sixty paces in length. If attention be directed to the mass
in motion, it will be observed that flanking it on each side throughout
its whole length are stationed a number of horned soldier termites,
whose duty it is to protect the labourers, and to give notice of any
danger threatening them. This latter duty they perform by a peculiar
quivering motion of the whole body, which is rapidly communicated from
one to the other for a considerable distance: a portion of the column is
then thrown into confusion for a short time, but confidence soon
returns, and the progress of the little creatures goes on with
steadiness and order as before. The nest is of a black colour, and
resembles a mass of scoriæ; the insects themselves are of a pitchy
brown.[1]
[Footnote 1: For these particulars of the _termes monoceros_, I am
indebted to Mr. Thwaites, of the Roy. Botanic Garden at Kandy.]
HYMENOPTERA. _Mason Wasp_.--In Ceylon as in all other countries, the
order of hymenopterous insects arrests us less by the beauty of their
forms than the marvels of their sagacity and the achievements of their
instinct. A fossorial wasp of the family of _Sphegidæ_,[1] which is
distinguished by its metallic lustre, enters by the open windows, and
converts irritation at its movements into admiration of the graceful
industry with which it stops up the keyholes and similar apertures with
clay in order to build in them a cell. Into this it thrusts the pupa of
some other insect, within whose body it has previously introduced its
own eggs. The whole is surrounded with moistened earth, through which
the young parasite, after undergoing its transformations, gnaws its way
into light, to emerge as a four-winged fly.[2]
[Footnote 1: It belongs to the genus _Pelopæus, P. Spinolæ_, of St.
Fargean. The _Ampulex compressa_, which drags about the larvæ of
cockroaches into which it has implanted its eggs, belongs, to the same
family.]
[Footnote 2: Mr. E.L. Layard has given an interesting account of this
Mason wasp in the _Annals and Magazine of Nat. History_ for May, 1853.
"I have frequently," he says, "selected one of these flies for
observation, and have seen their labours extend over a period of a
fortnight or twenty days; sometimes only half a cell was completed in a
day, at others as much as two. I never saw more than twenty cells in one
nest, seldom indeed that number, and whence the caterpillars were
procured was always to me a mystery. I have seen thirty or forty brought
in of a species which I knew to be very rare in the perfect state, and
which I had sought for in vain, although I knew on what plant they fed.
"Then again how are they disabled by the wasp, and yet not injured so as
to cause their immediate death? Die they all do, at least all that I
have ever tried to rear, after taking them from the nest.