CHAP. IV,] 



BEETLES. 



37 



that were brought me, I obtamecl from the Dyaks aiid the 

 Chinamen many fine locusts and Phasmidse, as well as 

 numbers of handsome beetles. 



When I arrived at the mines, on the 14th of March, 

 I had collected in the four preceding months, 320 different 

 kinds of beetles. In less than a fortnight I had doubled 

 this number, an average of about 24 new species every 

 day. On one day I collected 7fi ditTeit^nt kinds, of which 

 34 w^ere new to me. By the end of April I had more than 

 a thousand species, and they then went on increasing at a 

 slower rate ; so tliat I obtained altogether in Borneo about 

 two thousand distinct kinds, of which all but about a 

 bundled were collected at this place, and on scarcely more 

 than a sc^uare mile of ground. The most numerous and 

 most interesting groups of beetles were the Longicoros and 

 Kbynchophora, both pre-eminently wood-feeders. Tlie 

 former, characterised V>y their graceful foi-ms and long 

 antenna3, were especially numerous, amounting to nearly 

 three hundred species, nine-tenths of wliich were entirely 

 new, and many of them remarkable for their large size, 

 strange forms, and beautiful colouring. The latter corre- 

 spond to our weevils and allied groups, and in the tropics 

 aj e exceedingly numerous and varied, often swarming upon 

 dead tind)er, so that I sometimes obtained fifty or sixty 

 dilTerent kinds in a day. ily Boriiean collections of this 

 group exceeded five hmi<ired species. 



My collection of butterflies was not large ; but I obtained 

 some rare and veiy handsome insects, the most remarkable 

 being the Oruitbojitera Brookeana, one of the most elegant 

 species known. This beautiful creature has very long imd 

 pointed wings, almost resembling a sidiinx moth in shape. 

 It is deep velvety black, with a curved band of spots of a 

 brilliant metivllic-green colour extending across the wiugs 

 from tip to tip, each spot being shaped exactly like a small 

 triangular feather, and having very much the effect of a 

 row of tlie wing coverts of the Mexican trogon laid upon 

 black velvet. The only other marks are a broad neck- 

 collar of vivid crimson, and a few delicate white touches on 

 the outer margins of the hind wings. This species, which 

 was then (^uite new and which I named after Sir James 

 Brooke, was very rare. It was seen occasionally Hying 



