1919.1 71 



in mist, and from January llth-February 15th twenty more or less very 

 wet days were recorded iii my diary. The best collecting-da3's here, in 

 point of number of species of Coleoptera obtained, were spent at a 

 clearing which my Dayaks made on a ridge at an elevation of about 

 2000 feet. On December 2^th, two days after making the clearing, we 

 took 87 species, and on the 25th 75 species ; and then the rains came, 

 and I never did ver}^ much more there, as it was too high and in the 

 mist. It is a sight not to be missed to see the Dayaks get to work to 

 make a clearing, with their small native axes. They start half cutting 

 through the number of trees they wish to fell, and then drop one giant 

 in such a way that it brings down the rest at once. It is heartbreaking 

 to hear the tearing of limbs and the terrific crash, but glorious to let the 

 sun into the gloom of the forest, and a clearing of this sort can be visited 

 every day in fine weather and new species taken all the time. 



On Febrviary 9th I at last found a flowering-tree which it was pos 

 sible to reach, growing on the edge of a clearing at an altitude of about 

 1000 feet — a decidedly difiicult thing to find in jungle-country. The tree 

 was Vernonia arhorea (Order Compositae), then covered with white 

 fluffy flowers. I worked this tree for five days, and it produced 80 species 

 I had not met with before, in spite of the weather being bad, and I had 

 already up to that date taken not less than 1040 species of Coleoptera. 

 It produced twenty-one Cetoniidae, the majority small but very inte- 

 resting Valcjinae, and a few species of Macronota — M. egregia Guer., 

 M. picta Guer., M. marmorata Wallace, and M. elongata G. & P. 

 I rigged up my net with a very long handle, and it was something like 

 hard labour wielding this from about 7.30 A.M.-3 p.m. A Dayak climbed 

 the tree to stir things up, as most of the interesting forms seemed to 

 frequent the top, and it Avas rather anxious work watching him, 

 brandishing his net walking about on the most appalling-looking 

 branches, and I was thankful there was no " Employers' Liability Act " 

 in Sarawak. The tree was alive with butterflies and bees, and I 

 captured a good number of Hymenopfera. What struck me most 

 was that not a single Buprestid was taken or seen, similar collecting in 

 Australia producing scores of Buprestidae, mostly Stigmodera, such 

 flowering-trees as Angophora, Eucalyptus, etc., being especially attrac- 

 tive there ; but I found later that the habits of the Bornean Biiprestidae 

 were quite different. Catoxantlia opulenta Gory, C rajah Gestro, 

 Demochroa lacordairei Thoms., Chrysochroa aicrotihialis Deyr., C.ful- 

 minans F., and their allies, were taken on young fresh foliage ; but the 

 species of the genera ChrysohotTiris, Belionota, and Philocteanus flew 

 about freshly-felled timber, being extremely active and impossible to 



