ON ACULEATE IITMEN O PTE11 A AND ICIINEUMONI J)J]. 



285 



A Catalogue of the Aculeate Hymenoptera and Ichneumormhe oi' 

 India and the Eastern Archipelago. By F. Smith, with In- 

 troductory Eemarks by A. 11. Wallace. (Communicated by 

 W. W. Saunders, Esq.) 



[Read December 16, 18G9.] 



1. Introduction. By A. R. Wallace. 



As almost all the insects in this catalogue which inhabit the 

 Malayan archipelago were collected by me, I have been requested 

 to make a few observations on them. In doing so I would wish 

 to state that, though I collected all orders of insects, my time was 

 too much occupied with those branches of natural history in 

 which I was more especially interested, to pay much attention to 

 the habits or economy of the Hymenoptera. All, therefore, I 

 can hope to do, is to give a few superficial observations on their 

 habits and distribution, and on the nature of the localities in 

 which they most abound. As the present is the first of a series 

 of works on the eastern Insects collected by me, it may be well to 

 say a few words on the different places in which I made my 

 collections. 



I reached Singapore at the end of April 1854, and spent six 

 months between that island and the district of Malacca. In 

 Singapore I chiefly collected at a spot about the centre of the 

 island, where the low hills are crowned with patches of the lofty 

 virgin forest that a few years before extended over the whole 

 island. I also spent a week on the small island of Pulo-ubim, in the 

 strait to the north of Singapore. The richness of these localities 

 may be estimated from the fact that in nine weeks I collected 

 about 700 species of Coleoptera, of which 130 were Longicornes. 

 Other orders were equally abundant ; but the novelty and beauty 

 of the beetles and butterflies attracted my attention chiefly, and 

 I only obtained about 70 species of Hymenoptera, though I have 

 little doubt that an assiduous collector might have doubled that 

 number. The peninsula of Malacca is equally rich ; but it is 

 necessary to discover good localities in the neighbourhood of 

 virgin forests. Some of the Malay villages near Mount Ophir 

 would repay a collector for a long visit. The total number of 

 Aculeate Hymenoptera collected by me at Malacca and Singa- 

 pore was 136 species. 



I next visited Borneo, and spent fifteen months in the territory 

 of Sarawak. From October till February was the wet season, 



LINN. JOURN. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. XT. 21 



