302 ' Amboyna. 



the hollows, and is more or less spread over the plains and 

 hill-sides. The forest vegetation is here of the most luxuri- 

 ant character; ferns and palms abound, and the climbing 

 rattans were more abundant than I had ever seen them, 

 forming tangled festoons over almost every large forest-tree. 

 The cottage I was to occupy was situated in a large clearing 

 of about a hundred acres, part of which was already planted 

 with young cacao-trees and plantains to shade them, while 

 the rest was covered with dead and half-burnt forest-trees ; 

 and on one side there was a tract where the trees had been 

 recently felled, and were not yet burnt. The path by which 

 I had arrived continued along one side of this clearing, and 

 then again entering the virgin forest, passed over hill and 

 dale to the northern side of the island. 



My abode was merely a little thatched hut, consisting of 

 an open veranda in front, and a small dark sleeping-room 

 behind. It was raised about five feet from the ground, and 

 was reached by rude steps to the centre of the veranda. 

 The walls and floor were of bamboo, and it contained a table, 

 two bamboo chairs, and a couch. Here I soon made myself 

 comfortable, and set to work hunting for insects among the 

 more recently felled timber, which swarmed with fine Cur- 

 culionidfe, longicorns, and Buprestidae, most of them remark- 

 able for their elegant forms or brilliant colors, and almost 

 all entirely new to me. Only the entomologist can appreci- 

 ate the delight with which I hunted about for hours in the 

 hot sunshine, among the branches and twigs and bark of the 

 fallen trees, every few minutes securing insects which were 

 at that time almost all rare or new to European collections. 



In the shady forest paths were many fine butterflies, most 

 conspicuous among which was the shining blue Papilio ulys- 

 ses, one of the princes of the tribe. Though at that time so 

 rare in Europe, I found it absolutely common in Amboyna, 

 though not easy to obtain in flne condition, a large number 

 of the specimens being found, when captured, to have the 

 wings torn or broken. It flies with a rather weak undula- 

 ting motion, and from its large size, its tailed wings, and bril- 

 liant color, is one of the most tropical-looking insects the 

 naturalist can gaze upon. 



There is a remarkable contrast between the beetles of 



