lisiciis lo liis iiiiiMK' (if ;i(l<ruic.| In [)iot;mil v) iiKlul^in.u in a 

 nunibev of foolish and useless words. I'resently he proceeds 

 on hands and knees stealthily to where his property is lyiuj;. 

 and recovers it as best he can without attempting one of the 

 many vengeances he vowed against the wasps a few minutes 

 ago. From my own experiences I can say their stings are 

 severe for a shoi-t time. Althcmgh they do not last long and 

 leave a lump for- a few days, it is very annoying to find that 

 although I have retained hold of everything in my hands I 

 have while endeavouring to brush the insects off my face 

 knocked my concave spectacles fi-om my eyes. To recover 

 them I have had to return and hunt them up amongst the 

 dead leaves on the ground, perhaps to be attacked again. It 

 will happen sometimes that the insects will enter the ear or 

 nose and thus confined will sting three or four times, giving 

 great pain with swelling and inflammation. I have f(mnd 

 •'Bary's Tricophenms" vei-y useful in such cases. 



— ^Reptiles. — 

 The reptiles of the Am Islands are nol plentiful. S;na!l 

 lizards are the most abundant; of snakes there appears to be 

 few. T saw some very beautiful green ones with white mark- 

 ings, one seen was about five feet long; these are "Tree 

 Snakes*'. A good many marine serpents were observed in the 

 seas around the islands, but they were the same as found in 

 Australian waters. One curious large lizard seemed to be 

 fairly plentiful in the scrubs; it had a curious lappel under 

 the chin edged with spikes, also a comb-like piece on the head 

 also spiked. I have seen an allied species in Australia. 

 Several large lace lizards were brought in, beautifully speckled 

 with black and yellow. The natives brought frogs of gigantic 

 }>roportions, fine fellows that measured a foot to fifteen inches 

 from nose to toes. These were caught in the wet low country, 

 or the banks of the small streams, sometimes up trees, and like 

 the lizards were frequently shot with arrows. The frogs were 

 huge creatures of a dull livid colour, lacking that brightness 

 and vivacity some frogs possess, the ground colour was a 

 dull dirty orange and brownish yellow. The creatures were 

 brought tethered with a piece of rattan, and when placed in 

 file sun laid themselves out and died without a movement. 

 Some of the men ate them and pronounced them good. I am 

 under the opinion that there are a few turtles round the coast, 

 but none came to our share. The natives would not let turtle 

 pa.ss through their hands if they had it. 



