458 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



TJlar Kapak Apl, the "Fire Axe Snake," whose bite pro- 

 duces a burning sensation; the Ular Kapak Ayer, the 

 " Water Axe Snake," which lives in marshes ; the Ular 

 Kapak Daun, or "Leaf Axe Snake," which is green, and 

 lives in trees ; the Ular Kapak Maids, or " Lazy Axe Snake," 

 which is too sluggish to get out of the way when the log 

 under which it sleeps during the day is overturned; the 

 Ular Kapak Lima Kend'ri, or " Five Kend'ri Axe Snake," 

 so called because the effects of its bite can be cured for the 

 sum of fifteen cents (five kend'ri) ; the Ular Kapak 'Blmau, 

 or " Tiger Axe Snake," whose body is conspicuously marked 

 with bars ; and there are many other axe snakes also, whose 

 names I do not know. Some are harmless, and a few are 

 venomous ; but they are all small, the majority being quite 

 minute. 



Malay names of animals are often very local. Thus, the 

 brilliant blue-and-coral snake Doliophis hivirgatus is known 

 in the Patani States as Ular Slna Mdta-Hdr% the " Sunbeam 

 Snake " ; but in Kelantan it is called Ular Tdngdn Bdju, or 

 " Coat-Sleeve Snake." In Ualor, Belalang Gdmhor (" Image 

 Grasshoppers ") are the Hooded Grasshoppers which belong 

 to the genus Capnoptera, and which exhibit a brilliantly- 

 coloured bladder behind the head on being alarmed ; but 

 when I asked for Belalang Gambor in Kelantan, the natives 

 invariably brought me specimens of the large locust Acridium 

 succingtum. 



Many Malay names of animals are derived from the sounds 

 they give forth. Thus, the Wa-wa {Hylobates lar) is so called 

 because it howls at sunset and sunrise like a person in tor- 

 ture. The term riang-riang is applied both to Cicadse and 

 to Melolonthid beetles, though it is obviously derived from 

 the noise which the latter produce when they fly ; as the 

 stridulation of the Cicadae does not at all resemble the name 

 they share. Both Cicadse and beetles — of which the com- 

 monest species is Lepidota sigma — stridulate in the evening, 

 and commence to do so about the same hour ; but I have 

 noticed on several occasions that the nightly chorus of the 

 insects is commenced by a single beetle, which buzzes 

 about for several seconds alone. The noise which these 



