306 Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, ^c. 



Coleoptero and Butterflies I shall do better, though almost all are 

 the same as at Auiboyna. I am at present confined to the house 

 from the bites of an Acarus, which produces inflamed sores on 

 the legs, though it is invisibly small. My three best men have 

 all left me — one sick, another gone home to his sick mother, and 

 the third and best is married in Ternate, and his wife would not 

 let him go : he, however, remains working for me, and is going 

 again to the eastern part of Gilolo." 



" Passo, Island of Amboyna, Dec. 31, 1859, 

 " My letter was returned to me because I had not prepaid the 

 postage as far as Singapore. I now add a few lines. I have just 

 arrived here, being quite tired of the barrenness of Ceram. I 

 shall stay about three weeks, and then go to East Ceram and 

 Ke, if possible." 



"Passo, Feb. 14, 1860. 

 " I send you this via Marseilles, in order that you may get for 

 me, as soon as possible, three cheap small double-barrelled guns, 

 and send them overland to Ternate, to be ready for my next 

 yearns campaign to New Guinea. They are absolutely necessary 

 for me, as I have now with me Charles Allen, who went out with 

 me, and we must have a double quantity of tools to work with. 

 He is now starting from N. Ceram and Mysole, while I go to 

 E. Ceram and Ke. I expect to get some grand collections yet to 

 send you. I am now packing up my Ceram and Amboyna col- 

 lections to send you. In birds they are miserably poor — only one 

 being, I think, new, and very interesting from being a second 

 species of the Celebes' genus Basilornis. The few specimens of 

 Tanysiptera were only obtained by two men going out for a 

 month after nothing else ; and the beautiful Lorius domicella was 

 equally scarce, though domesticated specimens are abundant. 

 There is scarcely anything else of interest but the unique Platy- 

 cercus amboinensis (not found in Amboyna, however), which will 

 show that my Dorey Bird was a distinct species.'' 



Mr. Blyth writes from Calcutta, April 31st, as follows: — 

 " The Cassowary which I described to you (see ' Ibis,' 1860, 

 p. 193) is now more than half-grown, and in company with two 



