384 A NATURALIST ON THE " CHALLENGER 



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Fern, a Sedge, and a Melastomaceous Plant grow. Besides these, 

 I found another flowering plant, growing in a crack in the midst 

 of a strongly snlphureons smoke which issued constantly from it. 

 The thermometer when laid on the surface of the ground where 

 this plant was growing showed a temperature of 100° Y. ; and at 

 a depth of one and a half feet below it the soil about the fissure 

 had a temperature of 220° F. 



At the summit of the mountain were numerous flying insects 

 of various kinds, although there was nothing for them to feed 

 upon, and large numbers of them lay dead in the cracks, killed 

 by the poisonous volcanic vapours. So numerous were they 

 that the Swallows had come up to the top of the mountain 

 to feed on them. 



I noticed similarly large numbers of insects at the summit 

 of the volcano of Ternate, at an altitude of more than 5,000 feet. 

 Insects are commonly to be seen being carried along before the 

 wind in successive efforts of flight. No doubt they are blown 

 up to the tops of these mountains, having towards the summits 

 no vegetation to hold on to. The winds pressing against the 

 mountains form currents up their slopes; and in the case of 

 volcanos, which are heated at the summits, no doubt there is 

 a constant upward draught towards their tops, caused by the 

 ascending column of hot air. 



I dwell on the accumulation of insects at the tops of these 

 mountains, because when blown off into the free air from these 

 great elevations by heavy winds, as no doubt they often are, the 

 insects are likely to fly and drift before the wind to very long 

 distances, and thus be aided in colonizing far-off islands. 



I found the skull of an Opossum (the Woolly Phalanger, 

 Cuscus) on the mountain. The animal is common in the Banda 

 Group. It occurs also in the Moluccas and elsewhere. Its 

 occurrence on the Banda Islands seems most easily accounted 

 for on the supposition that it escaped from confinement, having 

 been brought to the islands at some time by Malay voyagers. 

 Malays seem fond of keeping wild animals in confinement. 

 or taming them. There were several such pet animals about the 

 houses at Dobbo, at the time of our visit. 



At the base of the Banda Volcano, on the shores of the 



