360 L. de Niceville & Dr. L. Martin— Butterflies of Sumatra. [No. 3, 



Owing to the fortunate presence of an undrainable swamp on either side of 

 the little Diski river, it still possesses a patch of high forest of several 

 square miles in extent, in which many of the rarer species such as 

 Charaxes, Papilio hermocrates, Felder, and P. delessertii, Gruerin, have 

 found an asylum. The second, the often-mentioned Selesseh, lies at a 

 distance of six miles from Bindjei, and is on the border of tobacco cultiva- 

 tion and immediately to the west of the village of Selesseh, where there 

 is splendid continuous primeval forest which yields precious crops of 

 rare butterflies, especially on the banks of the large Wampoe river. 



Our collectors were usually Battaks from the two mountainous 

 zones ; to Selesseh, however, and other places in the plains we usually 

 sent two very clever Chinamen. The latter were most zealous if given 

 some advance of pay, which allowed them to buy some necessary 

 provisions and the never-to-be-omitted opium. On their return with 

 their bag of captured butterflies they received the balance of their 

 monthly salary, together with an extra bonus for any rarer spoil they 

 may have been fortunate enough to capture. The Battaks received 

 some rice and salt fish, enough to feed them for a fortnight, before 

 leaving for the mountains, but as they are inveterate gamblers, and 

 will not turn out of their villages till they had lost at some game of 

 hazard or another every cent they possess, no advance in cash was 

 given them. When all their money from the fruits of their last expe- 

 dition was lost, then they asked for a tin box, some butterfly papers 

 and a net, and moved ofi' with their provisions very slowly and reluc- 

 tantly southwards to the evergreen mountains. Being moreover very 

 lazy, it was impossible to grant them a fixed salary, so they were paid 

 solely by results, and by valuation of the captures they brought in. On 

 their return from the mountains after delivering the insects and re- 

 ceiving their dollars, they immediately set to gambling, and did not 

 appear again on the surface so long as a cent remained. All Battak 

 collectors, even the most intelligent and zealous, lose their interest in 

 the subject after a certain time, and would return with hardly any- 

 thing, or a few common and useless species, and in consequence had 

 to be discharged — a very great inconvenience, as it always takes a long 

 time to break in a native as a good collector. Of coarse there was 

 always lost or damaged many a rare and fine specimen through the 

 awkwardness of a new collector. A few Gayoe collectors also were 

 employed, who went farther away to the north and west to the Gayoe- 

 lands. They brought various species of Charaxes largely, Prioneris 

 cl< mantJie, Doubleday, Ixias ludekingii, Vollenhoven, Hebomoia borneeiisis, 

 Wallace, Papilio perses, de Niceville, and P. payeni, Boisduval, all of 

 which are very rare or do not occur at all on the Central Plateau. In 



