204 SHORT NOTES. 
against the average 75.17 inches) and to this comparative 
drought perhaps may be indirectly attributed the abnormal num- 
bers of this butterfly—Cirrochroa bajadeta. That the monsoon 
has been an exceptionally favourable one for insects is shewn 
also by the following occurrences :—(1) The number of swarms 
of social wasps and bees has been greater than usual during the 
past 3 months. (2) Captain A. Balser of the s.s. “ Rajah of 
Sarawak’ reports that on the 20th January ult., a swarm of 
dragon flies came aboard his ship when about 50 miles west 
of the island of St. Pierre ; the wind was very unsteady at the 
time ; the insects appeared to be maxing their way North. (3) 
Mr. H. B. Crocker, officer-in-charge at Paku, Upper Sarawak, 
informs me that on January 27th ult., he noticed a swarm of some 
Pierine butterflies (species not identified, probably Catopsilia ero- 
cale, Cram.) flying in a solid phalanx some 20 fathoms long by 
8 fathoms wide in a westerly direction. 
R. Shelford. 
Work on Sakais by Messrs. Skeat and Blagden. 
Ina letter from Mr. Blagden lately received he states 
that the important work onthe wild tribes of the Malay penin- 
sula by Mr. W. D. Skeat and himself will shortly be out. It is an 
attempt to combine in one work ali that is of any permanent 
value in previous publications both books and periodicals, as 
well as Mr. Skeat’s own independently collected matter collected 
during the Cambridge Exploring Expedition, in the Northern.States 
of the Peninsula and in Selangor, Mr. Blagden’s own notes, and 
the various information collected by Mr. D. F. A. Hervey, Hugh 
Clifford, Vaughan Stevens and others. The book which will be 
well illustrated will be found to be as complete as it is possible to 
make it, and should prove of the greatest interest toall Huropeans 
in the Malay peninsula. It is unnecessary to point out that in 
many cases the language and customs of these most interesting 
tribes are gradually disappearing so that a good record of 
them is of the greatest importance, and the names of the authors 
are a guarantee of the excellence of the work. 
id Nie 
Jour. Straits Branch 
