Zoological Names and Theories of the Malays. 457 



Pasir, or " Sand Lizard ")'; Calotes and its allies, sumpdh- 

 sumpdh) : some beetles are classed as " grubs " (uldt), some 

 as rldng-Hdng, and many have only specific names. 



In all those animals which are recognised as belonging to 

 a definite class, the name of that class is prefixed to their 

 proper designations, if proper designations are recognised for 

 them. But, in some classes, proper names are rare ; thus I 

 have only heard one among the spiders — Labd-ldhd Lotong, 

 or Monkey Spiders, the gigantic burrowing forms belonging 

 to the Mygalidae. {Lotong is the Malay name for the Spec- 

 tacled Monkey, Semnopithecus ohscurus.) l^o distinctions are 

 made between different butterflies, except that the larger 

 species of the Papilionidse, which have much black in their 

 coloration, are known as kwpu-kupu lang, or " hawk butter- 

 flies." All mammals and birds, however, the vast majority 

 of fish, snakes, frogs, and tortoises, as well as those grass- 

 hoppers, ants, or Hemiptera that are at all conspicuous or 

 peculiar — and some that are not conspicuous or peculiar 

 also — have proper names. 



It is possible to distinguish between the rudiments of 

 a binominal, or rather trinominal, classification in Malay 

 zoological terminology. As a simple case, we may take the 

 name ulat chdlowa, which is applied to Peripatus, to several 

 slugs, and, according to some Malays, to land planarians. 

 Ulat chalowa Udvi, the " Black Chalowa Grub," is a species 

 of slug ; Ulat Chaloiva Pitteh^ the '* White Chaloioa Grub," is 

 another ; but Ulat Chalotca Berkdhi, the " Chalowa Grub 

 with Feet," is Peripatus. The most complete instance of 

 this kind of nomenclature that I know is that of the Ular 

 Kdfok} or *' Axe Snakes " — an assemblage of small snakes, 

 which, though they are not related in reality, yet exhibit a 

 certain indefinable likeness to one another : the majority of 

 them are distinguished by a white " collar," not unlike that 

 of our own Ring Snake. If a collection of snakes was put 

 before me, I would have no hesitation in picking out those 

 which the Malays would class as " axe snakes." There is the 



^ For the identification of the different "Axe Snakes," see Mr F. F. 

 Laidlaw's paper on the reptiles of the Skeat Expedition. 



VOL. XIV. 2 H 



