Naliual'Hislory Collectors. 



6123 



the Hymenoptera, the species of Vespidae and Pompilida3 are gayer 

 than the allied species I have found in other countries ; a Laphria 

 and an Anthrax are larger than any Diptera I have yet found of the 

 same genera; while the Coleoptera include the gigantic Eucheirus 

 longimanus and a number of large and handsome Longicornes, 

 Buprestidae and Anthribidae : it may be easily imagined, therefore, 

 that Amboyna is a tempting place, well worth a thorough exploration, 

 and I shall probably return to it unless I shall be able to visit Ceramj 

 which I expect will contain almost all the Amboyna species, and pro- 

 bably many more, as is known to be the case with the birds. Though 

 everybody says this is the dry and hot season, yet the weather has 

 been terribly wet and windy, and during the twelve days I have now 

 resided in a little hut in the jungle I have not had a single hot sunny 

 day ; here, as everywhere in the East, there is no forest left for many 

 miles round the town, and there was the usual difficulty in finding a 

 locality and a home, and in conveying my baggage. In the town 

 I reside with Dr. Mohinke, the chief physician of the Moluccas, 

 a German, an entomologist, and a very learned and hospitable man ; 

 Jie has lived in Japan, made a voyage to Jeddo, ascended volcanoes, 

 and made collections: my pleasure may be imagined in looking over 

 his superb collection of Japanese Coleoptera, large and handsome 

 Longicornes and Lucani, tropical Buprestidae and northern Carabi : 

 he has also an extensive collection of Coleoptera made during many 

 years' residence in Sumatra, Java, Borneo and the Moluccas — a col- 

 lection that makes me despair ; such series of huge Prioni, Lamiae and 

 Lucani, Dynastidac and Eucheirus ! It is such collections that give, 

 and have always given, such an erroneous idea of Tropical Ento- 

 mology: these collections are made entirely by natives. Dr. Mohinke 

 has resided here in Amboyna, for example, Uvo years, and every native 

 in the island knows that large and handsome beetles will be pur- 

 chased by him ; he has, therefore, hundreds of eyes spread over 

 hundreds of square miles, and thus species which in ten years might 

 never once occur to a single collector, are inevitably obtained by him 

 in greater or less abundance, wliilst the smaller, more active, and much 

 more common species are never brought at all. The Eucheirus is evi- 

 dently rare, yet Dr. Mohinke has a fine series, obtained at intervals 

 from different localities; he also sends bottles and casks of arrack 

 to the Dutch officers resident in different islands, and though 

 he sometimes has them returned crammed full of a single species of 

 common Calandra or Passalus, yet he occasionally gets some mag- 

 nificent insects. I believe myself that, as a general rule, beetles are 



