520 Mr. A. R. Wallace's Catalogue 



myself. During eight years most assidvious search, in 

 about thirty different localities, I only obtained 85 

 species, or considerably less than half the number now 

 known. Compare this with other families. I collected 

 about a thousand species of Longicorns, and I feel certain 

 that the additional species from the Malayan region 

 either described or existing in English collections could 

 not exceed four hundred. So in the Buprestidce, the 

 355 species collected by me must form a very large 

 proportion of all that are known from the region, for 

 Lacordaire's work does not indicate more than 50 species 

 from the same countries. In the Paiyilionidce, out of 

 123 known species I collected myself no less than 92; 

 and of PieridcG 121 out of a total of 169. 



The CetonicB of the Malayan islands are neither so 

 large, so varied, nor so numerous as those of the con- 

 tinent of Asia. The fine horned GoNathince of the Hima- 

 layas are represented only by two species of Mycteristes 

 and a few small Heterorhince, and there is nothing to 

 make up for this deficiency. Lomaptera, ChaJcothea, and 

 Macronota, are the most charateristic Malayan genera, 

 and contain many beautiful siDCcies, but none exceed the 

 middle size. The number of species found in any one 

 locality seems to be influenced, first, by proximity to the 

 continent, and next, by the mass of the island. The 

 Peninsula of Malacca, though but very partially ex- 

 plored, has 44 species ; Java, the best known by far of 

 all the Eastern Islands, has 46 ; but some of these are 

 book species which may have been already included 

 under other names, and even if they were all distinct, 

 the number is really less in proportion than that of 

 Malacca, when we consider that the whole svirface of 

 Java is more or less known, and that the whole island 

 has been for more than a century in the possession of 

 Europeans, while in the Malay Peninsula small collec- 

 tions have been made only in a very few limited loca- 

 lities. Further from the continent, we find the whole 

 group of the Philippines Avith 32 species ; further still, 

 Celebes with 19; Coram and Amboyna with 11 ; the Aru 

 Islands with 9, and the great Island of New Guinea with 

 12, — the slightly increased number being due to its 

 large area, and very many more species remaining to 

 be discovered there. The same diminution in receding 

 from the continent is visible if we divide the Indian 

 from the Australian regions of the Archipelago, the 



