136 A NATURALIST IN CANNIBAL LAND 



female had an olive brown back. I got there also 

 a fine series of Ornithoptera victoriae ranging from pale 

 copper to gold and brilliant green in colour. 



I came to the conclusion that those naturalists 

 were mistaken who imagined the larvae of the Troides 

 chimcera fed on the same creeper as all other species 

 of Troides, including the victoriae of the Solomons. 

 The chimcera I found to be quite unlike any other 

 Ornithoptera inasmuch as it keeps to the dense scrub 

 tree-tops and does not hover over the second growth 

 of old gardens as do all others. The larvae are totally 

 unlike any other larvae of the same family, inasmuch 

 as every spine has three other subsidiary spines at 

 right angles half-way up, but has the two white marks 

 as in the larvae of other Ornithoptera with the exception 

 of the larvae of the victoriae, which have red spines 

 with black tips, but all alike. I got a great number 

 of the young larvae of T. chimcera by squeezing eggs 

 from females, but could find no food plant on which 

 to rear them. There should be a new Ornithoptera 

 in the mountains of the Solomons, either at Guadal- 

 canar or Bougainville. But it is not so likely that 

 there will be new finds on any of the other islands, as 

 the mountains are not very high and start almost from 

 the coast. On the before-mentioned islands there 

 is, however, a big extent of flat country first, and the 

 mountains are very high, and rise more gradually. 

 In Bougainville, of course, it would be impossible to 

 work the mountains without the aid of a large armed 



