IN SUMATRA. 137 



later, it is believed, be followed by the visitation of a setan in 

 the form of a sickness or misfortune. If a setan be supposed to 

 reside in any spot, not an individual Avill be found brave 

 enough to approach it, however great profit might accrue to 

 the venturer. 



In these forests I added to my collection some of the fairest 

 of the feathered tribes — orange and scarlet-crested woodpeckers, 

 green barbets, blue and bronze doves, green and scarlet twitter- 

 ing LoricuU ; and on dead snags of the lonely outliers large 

 hawks and falcons. Of mammalian animals my most interesting 

 <',apture was the Sciuropierus, a flying squirrel with large 

 gentle lemur-like eyes, soft fur, and black margined parachute 

 expansions. 



The neighbourhood of this village I found to be an excellent 

 locality for butterflies; for there were abundance of paths 

 among second-growth forests, many open clumps of flowering 

 shrubs, and hot sandy and pebbly banks along a broad and 

 shallow stream unobstructed by bushes, sunny corners, and 

 shady nooks innumerable. Almost every walk I took is 

 indelibly and most delightfully memorable by the finding of 

 some gay or remarkable form. Especially numerous were 

 those interesting species, which have the gift of the slippers of 

 invisibility to rescue them in dangerous moments. Frequent- 

 ing the dense thickets they would flit out into more open 

 spots, displaying for a few seconds the rich brilliancy of the 

 cobalt of the upper sides of their wings, then settling either 

 on a dry leaf, or more commonly on the ground among fallen 

 foliage and twigs, whose colour, exactly matching their closed 

 wings, concealed them beyond power of detection. Of these 

 I obtained Amathusia ametliystus, Coelites epiminthia, C. eupty- 

 cMoides and Eurytela castelnaui. 



Few butterflies can compare with another of my captures 

 here, the Amhlypodia eumolpus, the upper sides of whose 

 wings are of the most sparkling emerald. A less brilliant but 

 very chaste species of Cyrestes (G. periander) fell also to my 

 lot only after great difficulty, for it loves the dense thickets, 

 flitting with short flights from the under side of one leaf to 

 the under side of another, where, spreading itself flat out, it 

 disappears and is not easy to find. If with my hunters I 

 sat down for a rest in an open sunny spot after a hot chase, we 



