WE LE.iFE DORET. 



511 



3 Ueteromera, 1 Elater, and 1 Eupi-estis. Even on the 

 last day I went, out, I obtained Itj new species; so that 

 although I collected over a thousand distinct sorts of 

 beetles in a space not much exceeding a squai^e mile 

 during the three months of niy residence at Borey, I 

 cannot hclieve that this represents one half the species 

 really inliahiting the same spot, or a fourth of what might 

 he ohtaiiied in an area extending twenty mUcs in each 

 direction. 



On the 2 2d of July the schooner Bestefr Helma arrived, 

 and five days afterwards we bade adieu to Borey, without 

 much regret, for in no place which I have visited have 1 

 encountered more privations and annoyances. Continual 

 rain, continual sickness, little wholesome food, with a 

 plague of ants and ilies, surpassing aojrthing I had he fore 

 met with, required all a naturalisb*a ardonr to encounter ; 

 aiul when they were uncompensated hy great succesy in 

 collecting, hecanie all the more insupporiable. This lonir- 

 thoiight-of and moch-desired voyage to New Guinea Iiaa 

 realized none of my expectations. Instead of being far 

 better than the Aru Islands, it was in almost eveiything 

 ]tmch worse. Instead of producing several of the rarer 

 Paradise birds, I had not even seen one of them, and had 

 not obtained any one superlatively line bird or insect 

 I cannot deny, however, that Borey was very ricli in 

 imtg. One small black kind was excessively abundant 

 Almost every shrub and tree was wore or less infested 

 with it, and its large papery nests were everyw^xere to 

 he seen. They immediately took possession of my house, 

 building a large nest in the roof, and forming papery 

 tunnels down almost every post They swarmed on my 

 table as I was at work setting out my insects, carrying 

 them otr from under my very nose, and even tearing them 

 froni the cards on which they were gummed if I lett them 

 for an instant They crawled coutiunully over my hands 

 and face, got into my hair, and roimied at wiU over my 

 whole body, not producing much inconvenience till they 

 began to bite, which they would do on meeting with any 

 obstruction to their passage, and with a sharpness which 

 made me jump agahi and rush to undress and turn out 

 the otVender. They visited my bed also, so that night 



