British Association. 309 
however, these re-appear in some small islands off its coast, and in New 
Britain, New Ireland, and the Solomon Islands, which contain active vol- 
canoes. The contrasts of vegetation and of climate in the Archipelago 
may be best considered together, the one being to some extent dependent 
on the other. Placed immediately upon the Equator, and surrounded by 
extensive oceans, it is not surprising that the various islands of the Archi- 
pelago should be almost always clothed with a forest vegetation from the 
level of the sea to the summits of the loftiest mountains. This is the 
general rule. Sumatra, New Guinea, Borneo, the Philippines, and the 
Moluccas, and the uncultivated parts of Java and Celebes, are all forest 
countries, except a few small and unimportant tracts, due perhaps, in 
some cases, to ancient cultivation or accidental fires. To this, however, 
there is one important exception in the island of Timor, and all the 
smaller islands opposite, in which there is absolutely no forest such as 
exists in the other islands, and this character extends in a lesser degree to 
Floris, Sumbawa, Lombock, and Bali. The changes of the monsoons 
and of the wet and dry seasons in some parts of the Archipelago are very 
puzzling ; and an accurate series of observations in numerous localities is 
required to elucidate them. Speaking generally, the whole south-western 
part of the Archipelago, including the whole range of islands from Sumatra 
to Timor, with the larger half of Borneo and the southern peninsula of 
Celebes, have a dry season from April to November, with the south-east 
monsoon. This same wind, however, bends round Borneo, becoming the 
south-west monsoon in the China Sea, and bringing the rainy season to 
Northern Borneo and the Philippines. In the Moluccas and New Guinea 
the seasons are most uncertain. In the south-east monsoon from April to 
November, it is often stormy at sea, while on the islands it is very fine 
weather. There is generally not more than two or three months of dry 
hot weather about August and September. This is the case in the northern 
extremity of Celebes and in Bouru, whereas in Amboyna, July and August 
are the worst months in the year. In Ternate, where I resided at inter- 
vals for three years, I never could find out which was the wet and which 
the dry season. The same is the case at Banda, and a similar uncertainty 
prevails in Menado, showing probably that the proximity of active vol- 
canoes has a great disturbing meteorological influence. In New Guinea 
a great amount of rain falls more or less all the year round. On the 
whole, the only general statement we can make seems to be, that the 
countries within about 3° on each side of the Equator have much rain 
and not very strongly contrasted seasons; while those with more south 
or north latitude have daily rains during about four months in the year, 
while for five or six months there is almost always a cloudless sky and a 
continual drought. He next considered the Malayan Archipelago in its 
geological and zoological relations to Asia and to Australia, mentioning 
the well-established fact, that one portion of it is almost as much Asiatic 
in its organic productions as the British Isles are European, while the 
remainder bears the same relation to Australia that the West India 
Islands do to America. 
** On the Irruption of Syrrhapies parcdozus.” By Mr A. Newron.— 
These birds, which are commonly known as Pallas’ sand grouse, and 
which are of Chinese origin, have made recent visits to this country, but 
have been rapidly exterminated or driven away. It appeared that about 
109 of these rare birds had been killed in the British Isles, of which 63 
were shot in Norfolk and Suffolk. 
“ On the Generic Characters furnished by the different Modes of Mining 
NEW SERIES.—VOL. XVIII. NO. I1,—OcTOBER 1863. 2k 
