EIGHT MONTHS' COLLECTING IN THE SEYCHELLES ISLANDS, 1908—1909 27 



(Proctotrypidse) occasionally came to the light : also winged termites, which after 

 settling used vigorously to try and dispose of their wings, and finally to leave these 

 organs scattered near the lamp. A few specimens of other species were obtained at 

 light. At the Mare aux Cochons at about 9 or 10 p.m. I often examined the stems of 

 trees by the light of a lamp, and found various Coleoptera on them. In the same way, 

 I several times found considerable numbers of Coleoptera on the outside of the walls of 

 the hut, especially on rainy nights. 



III. MAHE. 



On September 30 I returned from Silhouette to Mahe, where I at first spent a week 

 in the town of Port Victoria, packing and preparing the material collected in Silhouette 

 for Prof. Stanley Gardiner to take to England. During this time Mr H. A. Pare, head 

 of the firm which owns the lighters used for cargo-lading, etc. in the harbour, called my 

 attention to the workings of a species of termite in the woodwork of some of the lighters. 

 I examined one lighter which was up on the stocks for repairs, and found that there were 

 in its bottom workings swarming with these insects, mostly between the ribs and planks. 

 Salt water to a depth of some inches collects in these lighters, so that the workings had 

 been submerged, as I was informed, for over a week at a stretch: only one very small 

 piece of them was above the level to which the water accumulates. This termite has 

 been determined by Dr Nils Holmgren as Coptotermes truncatus Wasmann : he considers 

 the fact of the insects being able to live thus, when the wood in which they are working 

 is submerged for prolonged periods, to be very interesting, and to affect possibly the 

 distribution of the species. 



On October 10 I left Port Victoria and, crossing the mountain-backbone of Mahe\ 

 took up my abode in an unoccupied planter's house at an elevation of about 800 feet, 

 near Morne Blanc, on the western side of the island. Here I remained till November 25, 

 excepting for a few short visits to Port Victoria, from which Morne Blanc is distant about 

 6tj miles. During this period the weather was on the whole fine and often calm, though 

 there were some very rainy days. Close to the house lay a considerable expanse of 

 vanilla-plantations, in which various native trees and other plants serve as supports for 

 the vanilla-vines. On either side of the road which leads back towards the central rido-e 

 of the island were patches of bush of a mixed character, composed partly of endemic 

 vegetation and partly of introduced trees, among which latter the cinnamon-tree 

 (Cinnamomum zeylanicum Nees) predominates. Collecting with a beating-stick and 

 umbrella among this kind of vegetation was well repaid. By beating the trees in the 

 vanilla-plantations various Coleoptera (Coccinellida?, etc.), Hemiptera, lacewin^s 

 (Chrysopides), etc. were obtained. Moreover by beating both in the " vanilleries " and 

 mixed jungle mentioned above, a large number of Psocida? were collected. They were 

 mostly minute scaly-winged forms of great beauty, and of which I found a considerable 

 number in the Seychelles. Some had already been obtained in Silhouette. 



There was a marshy hollow near the house, of a kind frequently seen in Mahe. It 

 was filled with a growth of long grass and bushes, among which stood some of the native 



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