xxi] THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 351 



this family. All this is very miserable and discouraging to 

 one who has wandered in the forest-paths around Para or on 

 the sandy shores of the Amazon or Rio Negro. The only 

 group in which we may consider the two countries to be 

 about equal is that of the true Papilios(including Ornithoptera), 

 though even in these I think you have more species. In- 

 cluding Ornithoptera and Leptocircus, I have found as yet 

 only thirty species, five of which I believe are new. Among 

 these is the magnificent OrnitJwptera Brookeana, perhaps the 

 most elegant butterfly in the world. 



" To counterbalance this dearth of butterflies there should 

 be an abundance of other orders, or you will think I have 

 made a change for the worse, and compared with Para only 

 perhaps there is, though it is doubtful whether at Ega you 

 have not found Coleoptera quite as abundant as they are 

 here. But I will tell you my experience so far and then you 

 can decide the question, and let me know how you decide it. 

 You must remember that it is now just two years since I 

 reached Singapore, and out of that time I have lost at least 

 six months by voyages and sickness, besides six months of 

 an unusually wet season at Sarawak. However, during the 

 dry weather at Sarawak I was very fortunate in finding a 

 good locality for beetles, at which I worked hard for five or 

 six months. At Singapore and Malacca I collected about a 

 thousand species of beetles, at Sarawak about two thousand, 

 but as about half my Singapore species occurred also at 

 Sarawak, I reckon that my total number of species may be 

 about 2500. The most numerous group is (as I presume 

 with you) the Rhyncophora (weevils, etc.), of which I have at 

 least 600 species, perhaps many more. The majority of these 

 are very small, and all are remarkably obscure in their colours, 

 being in this respect inferior to some of our British species. 

 There are, however, many beautiful and interesting forms, 

 especially among the Anthribidae, of one of which — a new 

 genus — I send a rough sketch. The group next in point of 

 numbers and, to me, of the highest interest are the Longicorns. 

 Of these I obtained fifty species in the first ten days at 

 Singapore, and when in a good locality I seldom passed a 



