120 A TOUR AMONG THE ISLANDS 



The shores generally are bordered by a thin growth of 

 bushes ; on the south side is a pretty bay backed by a 

 small cliff, at the foot of which bushes have apparently 

 been used as a nesting place by egrets for many years. 

 Birds were few on Dyavodemu ; no flycatchers, bee-eaters 

 or coucals were found, and especially noteworthy was the 

 complete absence of weavers, which had been found on 

 almost all islands examined hitherto. 



Abundant on this island was a lizard which had not 

 been seen in such number before : a short-legged, grey 

 species, longitudinally striped, with a bluish tint at the 

 base of the tail. 



Dyavodemu was emphatically a " spider island," not 

 only the large Nephila being abundant, but also a smaller, 

 reddish, thorny backed species with shorter legs being 

 much more abundant than on other islands where it had 

 been seen. Olossina was represented by an average of 

 101 per boy-hour. 



Butterflies were interesting (see p. 125). Papilio demo- 

 docus was seen ; Pierines were much more abundant in 

 individuals than on other isles. Catopsilia and a Beleyiois 

 were plentiful, and the latter could be seen in numbers 

 crossing over from the mainland. Only two Nymphalines 

 were found. Precis clelia and archesia ; Acraeines were 

 abundant in species as well as individuals ; the most 

 conspicuous, and so unusually plentiful as to be a feature 

 of the fauna, was the rosy pink A. natalica pseudegina ; 

 A. zetes was scarce, egina was not seen, encedon was in 

 some variety. Of Danaines, only D. chrysippus was met 

 with ; Lycaenids and Hesperids were few, both in species 

 and individuals. Other insular features were the great 

 numbers of Asilid flies, and of two species of beetles 

 (Cassididae). It is possible that abundance of the 

 predaceous flies, in the presence of multitudes of spiders, 

 corresponded with abundance of Mantidae on other 

 spider islands, for Mantidae were not found to be 

 numerous on Dyavodemu. 



