36 Singapore. 



these patches of forest, which were delightfully cool and sha- 

 dy by contrast with the bare open country we had to walk 

 over to reach them. The vegetation was most luxuriant, com- 

 prising enormous forest-trees, as well as a variety of ferns, cal- 

 adiums, and other undergrowth, and abundance of climbing 

 rattan palms. Insects were exceedingly abundant and very in- 

 teresting, and every day furnished scores of new and curious 

 forms. In about two months I obtained no less than 700 

 species of beetles, a large proportion of which were quite new, 

 and among them were 130 distinct kinds of the elegant longi- 

 coi-ns (Cerambycidse), so much esteemed by collectors. Al- 

 most all these were collected in one patch of jungle, not more 

 than a square mile in extent, and in all my subsequent travels 

 in the East I rarely if ever met with so productive a spot. 

 This exceeding productiveness was due in part no doubt to 

 some favorable conditions in the soil, climate, and vegetation, 

 and to the season being very bright and sunny, with sufficient 

 showers to keep every thing fresh. But it was also in a great 

 measure dependent, I feel sure, on the labors of the Chinese 

 wood-cutters. They had been at work here for several years, 

 and during all that time had furnished a continual supply of 

 dry and dead and decaying leaves and bark, together with 

 abundance of wood and sawdust, for the nourishment of 

 insects and their larvae. This had led to the assemblage of a 

 o-reat variety of species in a limited space, and I was the first 

 naturalist who had come to reap the harvest they had pre- 

 pared. In the same place, and during my walks in other di- 

 rections, I obtained a fair collection of butterflies and of other 

 orders of insect, so that on the whole I was quite satisfied with 

 these my first attempts to gain a knowledge of the natural 

 history of the Malay Archipelago. 



