480 i Insects. 



to preserve balance and prevent slipping, not at all compatible with 

 the capture of active tropical insects. The small clearing in which 

 our houses are situated also furnishes me with many good insects 

 among the trunks and stumps, and other decaying timber. Half a 

 mile further on in the jungle, on the hill side, is another clearing, 

 where coal levels are to be opened ; and, lastly, the jungle is being cut 

 down to form a road or railway, and which, as it progresses, I expect 

 will offer me very fine collecting-grounds. Having now been here 

 nearly a month I can offer some opinion on its entomological capa- 

 bilities. Imagine ray delight in again meeting with many of my 

 Singapore friends, — beautiful longicorns of the genera Astathes, 

 Glenea and Clytus, the elegant Anthribidae, the pretty little Perical- 

 lus and Colliuris, and many other interesting insects. But my plea- 

 sure was increased as I daily got numbers of species, and many genera 

 which I had not met with before. Longicorns I think are more 

 abundant than at Singapore, and more than half of them are new to 

 me. The species, too, run a size larger. Some of the scarcest there 

 are here the most abundant, while many of the commonest of that 

 locality seem to be altogether absent from this. Curculionidae are 

 about equal in number, and there is a fair proportion of novelty. 

 Two or three species closely allied to the Mecocerus Gazella are 

 abundant, and many curious Brenthidae. I am paying much atten- 

 tion to the most minute species, and can safely promise abundance of 

 novelty for Mr. Waterhouse. Carabidse are hardly so abundant as at 

 Singapore, but I have some beautiful new Therates, Catascopus and 

 Colliuris, and the curious Thyreoptera also occurs sparingly under 

 Boleti. The Cleridae seem very similar to those of Singapore, but 

 scarcely so numerous. The Buprestidae I am happy to say are very 

 fine ; not that the species run very large, but they are tolerably 

 abundant. One of the most beautiful I make out to be Belionota 

 sumptuosa, about an inch long, and of the richest golden copper- 

 colour ; it flies with the greatest rapidity, making a loud bee-like hum, 

 and settles on timber only in the hottest sunshine. There are also 

 many smaller species of a dark green, variously marked with lighter 

 green or golden spots (Chrysobothris sp. ?). Also several slower fly- 

 ing kinds, which when fresh are clothed with a yellow powder, like 

 the Euchroma gigantea? of Brazil, which, however, seldom reaches 

 England in that condition, as it is difficult to capture and kill the 

 insect without injuring its delicate covering. I have also some very 

 curious minute species, making altogether thirty-six species of this 

 interesting family collected in Borneo. 1 also pay much attention to 



