102 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER 



stemmed, pinnate-leaved species, which recall the Uanassii (Attalea speciosa) of the Amazon, 

 but which I had hitherto rarely met with in the Malayan Islands." In like manner, he 

 found the number and variety of butterflies, spiders, and lizards — to say nothing of the 

 elegant and gorgeously coloured birds — greater than in any other part of the Archipelago. 

 He specially mentions (ii. p. 199), that he had taken about thirty species of butter- 

 flies in one day, being more than he had ever captured in the same time since leaving the 

 prolific banks of the Amazon. In another place (ii. p. 184) he says: — "The forests 

 of Kei produce magnificent timber, tall, straight, and durable, of various qualities, some of 

 which are said to be superior to the best Indian teak." Again (p. 189) : — " In the forests 

 of Kei arboreal Liliacese and Pandanacese abound and give a character to the vegetation 

 in the more exposed rocky places. Flowers were scarce, and there were not many orchids, 

 but I noticed the fine white butterfly orchis, Phalcenopsis grandiflora, or a species closely 

 allied to it. Tall, clean trunks, many of them buttressed, and immense trees of the fig 

 family, with aerial roots stretching out and interlacing and matted together for fifty or a 

 hundred feet above the ground, were the characteristic features ; and there was an absence 

 of thorny shrubs and prickly rattans, which would have made these wilds very pleasant to 

 roam in, had it not been for the sharp honeycombed rocks already alluded to. In damp 

 places a fine undergrowth of broad-leaved herbaceous plants was found, about which 

 swarmed little green lizards." 



Wallace spent the greater part of his time at Dobbo, in the small island of Wamma, 

 and describing (p. 208) his first visit to Wokan, " an island forming part of the mainland," 

 he says : — " I did not, however, expect in this excursion to see any decided difference in the 

 forest or its productions, and was therefore agreeably surprised. The beach was overhung 

 with the drooping branches of large trees, loaded with Orchideoe, ferns, and other epiphytal 

 plants. In the forest there was more variety, some parts being dry and with trees of a 

 lower growth, while in others there were some of the most beautiful palms I had ever seen, 

 with a perfectly straight smooth slender stem, a hundred feet high, and a crown of hand- 

 some drooping leaves. But the greatest novelty and the most striking feature to my eyes 

 were the tree-ferns, which, after seven years spent in the tropics, I now saw in perfection 

 for the first time. All I had hitherto met with were slender species, not more than twelve 

 feet high, and they gave not the least idea of the supreme beauty of trees bearing their 

 elegant heads of fronds more than thirty feet in the air, like those which were plentifully 

 scattered about this forest." 



Eespecting the physical geography Wallace says (p. 287) : — " The whole of Aru is low, 

 but by no means so flat as it has been represented, or as it appears from the sea. Most of 

 it is dry, rocky ground, with a somewhat undulating surface, rising here and there into 

 abrupt hillocks, or cut into steep and narrow ravines. Except the patches of swamp, 

 which arc found at the mouths of most of the small rivers, there is no absolutely level 

 ground, although the greatest elevation is probably not more than two hundred feet. The 



