CH. V FAUNA OF TALIS SE 99 



Concerning the invertebrate land fauna of the island, I 

 have but few notes of interest to record, as the greater part 

 of my collections was destroyed by insect pests after my 

 hurried departure from the islands. The butterflies that 

 fly about in the island at all seasons of the year are not 

 distinguished by any very striking beauty of colouration or 

 form. The most beautiful butterfly I captured in Celebes 

 was the handsome swallow-tailed PcqAlio Blumei, a large 

 swallow-tailed species distinguished bj- its extremely brilliant 

 blue and green metallic wings and body. ' This very fine 

 species comes nearest to Papilio dadalus from Luzon, 

 Philippine Islands, but is much larger in size, and is con- 

 spicuous by its brilhantly-coloured tails ' (81). I could not 

 find this species in TaHsse nor other coast places of the 

 mainland ; the only specimen I obtained was at Kelelonde, 

 3,000 feet above the sea. 'When I first arrived in Talisse 

 in September, the commonest butterflies were the large 

 white Pieridse. They flew about in great numbers round 

 the hibiscus shrubs and other flowering plants in the 

 neighbourhood of the settlement. They are slow and 

 clumsy flyers, and were consequently easily caught by 

 Manuel, who was told off to entomological pursuits during 

 my absence in the 'Flying Fish.' At first he brought me 

 nothing but the ' whites,' thinking, I suppose, that I was 

 a dealer in quantity rather than in quality. They were 

 usually considerably damaged, partly by insectivorous birds 

 before their capture, and partly by the clumsy fingers of 

 the collector. There was another very good reason that 

 Manuel caught me only whites at first : the whites were at 

 that season by far the commonest Lepidoptera on the 

 island, and when I first set seriously to work to collect 

 other kinds, I found it by no means so easy as I ex- 

 pected. The first Papilio I caught was at the beginning 

 of November, near a little pool of water in the bed of an 



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