h of several inches, were
partially replaced in the excavation after being agglutinated to form
partitions between the eggs, as they are deposited within.

[Footnote 1: _Xylocopa tenuiscapa_, Westw.; X. _latipes_, Drury.]

_Ants_.--As to ants, I apprehend that, notwithstanding their numbers and
familiarity, information is very imperfect relative to the varieties and
habits of these marvellous insects in Ceylon.[1] In point of multitude
it is scarcely an exaggeration to apply to them the figure of "the sands
of the sea." They are everywhere; in the earth, in the houses, and in
the trees; they are to be seen in every room and cupboard, and almost on
every plant in the jungle. To some of the latter they are, perhaps,
attracted by the sweet juices secreted by the aphides and coccidae; and
such is the passion of the ants for sugar, and their wonderful faculty
of discovering it, that the smallest particle of a substance containing
it, though placed in the least conspicuous position, is quickly covered
with them, where not a single one may have been visible a moment before.
But it is not sweet substances alone that they attack; no animal or
vegetable matter comes amiss to them; no aperture appears too small to
admit them; it is necessary to place everything which it may be
desirable to keep free from their invasion, under the closest cover, or
on tables with cups of water under every foot. As scavengers, they are
invaluable; and as ants never sleep, but work without cessation, during
the night as well as by day, every particle of decaying vegetable or
putrid animal matter is removed with inconceivable speed and certainty.
In collecting shells, I have been able to turn this propensity to good
account; by placing them within their reach, the ants in a few days will
remove every vestige of the mollusc from the innermost and otherwise
inaccessible whorls; thus avoiding all risk of injuring the enamel by
any mechanical process.

[Footnote 1: Mr. Jerdan, in a series of papers in the thirteenth volume
of the _Annals of Natural History_, has described forty-seven species of
ants in Southern India. But M. Nietner has recently forwarded to the
Berlin Museum upwards of seventy species taken by him in Ceylon, chiefly
in the western province and the vicinity of Colombo, Of these many are
identical with those noted by Mr. Jerdan as belonging to the Indian
continent. One (probably _Drepanognathus saltator_ of Jerdan) is
described by M. Nie