The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

324 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.Phalfenopsis grancliflora, or a species closely allied to it. Thefreshness and vigour of the vegetation was very pleasing, andon such an arid, rocky surface was a sure indication of a perpetuallyhumid climate. Tall clean trunks, many of thembutti'essed, and immense trees of the tig family, with aei'ialroots stretching out and interlacing and matted together forfifty or a hundred feet above the ground, were the characteristicfeatures ; and there vras an absence of thorny shrubs and pricklyrattans, which would have made these wilds very pleasant toroam in, had it not been for the sharp honeycombed rocksalready alluded to. In damp places a fine undergrowth ofbroad-leaved herbaceous plants was found, about which swarmedlittle green lizards, with tails of the most "heavenly blue,"twisting in and out among the stalks and foliage so activelythat I often caught glimi:)ses of their tails onlj", when theystartled me by tlieir resemblance to small snakes. Almost theonly sounds in these primaeval woods proceeded from two birds,the red lories, who utter shrill screams like most of the parrottribe, and the large green nutmeg-pigeon, whose voice is eithera loud and deep boom, like two notes struck upon a very largegong, or sometimes a harsh toad-like croak, altogether peculiarand remarkable. Only two quadrupeds are said by the nativesto inhabit the island—a wild pig and a Cuscus, or Easternopossum, of neither of which could I obtain specimens.The insects were more abundant, and very interesting. Ofbutterflies I caught thirty-five species, most of them new to me,and many quite unkno^\^l in European collections. Amongthem was the fine yellow and black Papilio euchenor, of whichbut few specimens had been previously captured, and severalother handsome buttex'flies of large size, as well as some beautifullittle " blues," and some brilliant day-flying moths. The beetletribe were less abundant, yet I obtained some very fine and rarespecies. On tlie leaves of a slender slirub in an old clearing Ifound several fine blue and black beetles of the genus Eupholus,whicli almost rival in beauty the diamond beetles of SouthAmerica. Some cocoa-nut palms in blossom on the beach werefrequented by a fine green floral beetle (Lomaj^tera papua),which, when the flowers were shaken, fleAv ofl" like a smallswarm of bees. I got one of our crew to climb up the tree, andhe brought me a good number in his hand ; and seeing theywere valuable, I sent him up again with my net to shake theflowers into, and thus secured a large quantity. My bestcapture, liowever, was the sujDerb insect of the Buprestis family,already mentioned as having been obtained from the natives,wlio told me they found it in rotten trees in the mountains.In tlie forest itself the only common and conspicuous coleopterawere two tiger beetles. One, Therates labiata, was muchlarger than our green tiger beetle, of a purple black colour,with green metallic glosses, and the broad upper lip of a briglityellow. It was always found ui^on foliage, generally of broad-