INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



THERE is little to be said, from a bionomic point of view, on the 

 collection of Hymenoptera^ which Colonel Bingham 1 has been good 

 enough to report upon, except as regards the number of ants closely 

 resembled by other insects and spiders and the habits of Oecophylla 

 smaragdina. The species were collected quite indiscriminately, but it is 

 probable that the ants arc proportionately better represented than the other 

 divisions of the Aculeata. 



As regards distribution, more extensive collections will possibly show 

 that there is a marked difference between the Hymenopterous fauna of the 

 East and West Coasts of the Peninsula — a difference which finds its parallel 

 in the case of other groups. 



It may be noted, for instance, that Xylocopa oestuans, almost the com- 

 monest bee in the Patani States, is decidedly a rare insect in Perak and 

 Selangor ; whereas the larger species of Scolia and Sa/ius, such as Scolia procer 

 and Sa/ius duca/is, two of the most characteristic forest insects on the West 

 Coast, are of very sporadic occurrence in Patani. The differences are probably 

 correlated with rainfall, for in the latitude of Patani there are distinct wet and 

 dry seasons, while in Perak and the other Western States to the south of it 

 the wettest month of one year is not infrequently the dryest of the next. 



HERBERT C. ROBINSON 



Selangor State Museum 

 Kuala Lumpur 

 Federated Malay States 

 June 2, 1904 



1. The editors of Fasciculi Malayenses must express their special indebtedness to Colonel Bingham, who, in 

 their absence in different parts of the East, has kindly made arrangements regarding the plate and proofs. As some 

 confusion appears to have arisen on the point we may perhaps point out that the editors, not the author, of the 

 various reports in Fasciculi Malayenses are responsible for all statements enclosed between single inverted 

 commas. — Edd. 



