NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 485 



woods with its melody. A Kingfisher {Halcyon sacra) is constantly to he seen sitting 

 on dead twigs, ready to dart on its prey. Amongst the cocoanut trees a beautiful little 

 Swift (Collocalia spodiopygia) skims about with a constant twittering. It belongs to the 

 same genus as the species by which the edible birds' nests, the well known Chinese 

 luxury, are made, which, however, is a Swift and not a Swallow as it is commonly 

 called. These Tree-swifts are especially abundant about the villages, though they nest 

 in the crowns of the cocoanut palms. 1 In the thickest masses of foliage, a most beautiful 

 small Fruit Pigeon' (Ptilinopus porphyraceus) , of a bright green colour, with a patch of 

 the purest purple on its head, is to be heard cooing gently, and the Great Fruit Pigeon 

 (Carpophaga pacifica), the note of which is harsh and drawling, but still derivable from 

 a coo, is to be shot with ease by creeping up to the trees on the berries of which it feeds 

 at this season. There are two parrots known from Tonga, but they are very scarce. 

 One of them (Platycercus tabuensis) is found only in Tonga and in the neighbouring 

 island of Eooa, and is called the Pompadour Parrot, from the peculiar purple red of its 

 head and neck; the natives procure it alive from Eooa, where it is abundant, and one was 

 bought for a shilling in the port during the stay. The other is a Parroquet (Coriphilus 

 fringillaceus) ; neither of the parrots was seen in the wild condition. 



Lizards are abundant, but there are only two or three species. One of them is Mabouya 

 cyanura, while Otosaurus microlepis, one of the Scincidse, is peculiar to the group. On 

 the reefs occurs an Eel (Murcena), of a whitish yellow colour spotted with brown. It is 

 very snake-like in its movements, and it may easily be mistaken, when encountered in 

 the water, for the true Sea-snake (Pelamys bicolor), which also occurs here. Eight species 

 of land shells were collected, none of them, however, being new to science; Nanina tongana 

 is peculiar to these islands. 2 Rev. 0. P. Cambridge writes that the Arachnida collected 

 at Tongatabu included Epeira mangareva, Walck., Meta tuberculata, Keys, Nephila 

 viclorialis, L. Koch, Nephila nigritarsis, L. Koch, Argyrodes sp.1, Diaa septempunctata, 

 L. Koch, and immature examples of Tetragnatha, Dolomedes, and Icius. 



Among the insects collected by the Expedition, the following have been made types 

 of new species, viz., Neuroptera, 3 Diploic pacificus, Kirby ; Lepidoptera, 4 Hypolimnas 

 thomsoni, Butler, Hypolimnas moseleyi, Butler, Hypolimnas naresi, Butler, Terias 

 aprica, Butler ; Hymenoptera, 5 Schizaspidia murrayi, Kirby. 



A large Foraminifer (Orbitolites) is very common on the reefs. The specimens 

 collected were handed to Dr. W. B. Carpenter, C.B., F.B.S., who has written a special 

 memoir on the genus. 6 



1 For an account of the nesting of Collocalia, see Bernstein On the genus Collocalia, Acta Societatis Scientiaruia 

 Indo-Nederlandiae, vol. ii. For the nesting of the closely allied " Tree-swift ," Dendroclulidon, see Bernstein, 

 Habits of Javan Birds, Ibid., vol. iii. 



2 E. A. Smith, Proc. Zool. Soc. Land., p. 271, 1883. 



3 Kirby, W. F., Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist, set. 5, vol. xiii. p. 455, 1884. 4 Butler, A. G., Ibid., vol. xi. p. 402. 

 h Kirby, W. F, Ibid., vol. xiii. p. 403. 6 Zool. Chall. Exp., part xxi., 1883. 



