. Sketches of the natural history of Ceylon; with narratives and anecdotes illustrative of the habits and instincts of the mammalia, birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, &c. including a monograph of the elephant ... Zoology; Elephants. Chap. XH.] BUGS. — FLEAS. 433 a head of dressed celery. These it moves without dis- persing 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 larvse of the Plata limbata, or of some other closely allied species ^ though I have not seen in Ceylon any of the wax pro- duced
. Sketches of the natural history of Ceylon; with narratives and anecdotes illustrative of the habits and instincts of the mammalia, birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, &c. including a monograph of the elephant ... Zoology; Elephants. Chap. XH.] BUGS. — FLEAS. 433 a head of dressed celery. These it moves without dis- persing 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 larvse of the Plata limbata, or of some other closely allied species ^ though I have not seen in Ceylon any of the wax pro- duced by the flata. Hemipteea. 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 ex- perience will teach him to limit his examiaation to a respectful view of its attitudes ; it is one of a numerous family of bugs, (some of them most attractive ^ in their colouring,) which are inoffensive if unmolested, but if touched or irritated, exhale an odour that, once endured, is never afterwards forgotten. Aphanipteea. 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 pre- viously kindled; and here prone on the white ashes, ' Amongst the specimens of this order which I brought from Ceylon, two proved to he new and imdescribed, and have been named hy Mr. A. White Midiptera Emersoniana and Pixciloptera Ten- nentina. ' Such as Cantuo ocellatus, Lep- toscelis Marginalis, Callidea Stoc- Jcerivs, &c. &e. Of the aquatic species, the gigantic Belostoma In- dicum cannot escape notice, attain- ing a size of nearly three inches. F F ELIDIPTEBA Please note that these i
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