Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
an old clearing I found several fine blue and black beetles of the genus Eupholus, which al-
most rival in beauty the diamond beetles of South America. Some cocoa-nut palms in blos-
som on the beach were frequented by a fine green floral beetle (Lomaptera papua), which,
when the flowers were shaken, flew off like a small swarm of bees. I got one of our crew to
climb up the tree, and he brought me a good number in his hand; and seeing they were valu-
able, I sent him up again with my net to shake the flowers into, and thus secured a large
quantity. My best capture, however, was the superb insect of the Buprestis family, already
mentioned as having been obtained from the natives, who told me they found it in rotten
trees in the mountains.
In the forest itself the only common and conspicuous coleoptera were two tiger beetles.
One, Therates labiata, was much larger than our green tiger beetle, of a purple black colour,
with green metallic glosses, and the broad upper lip of a bright yellow. It was always found
upon foliage, generally of broad-leaved herbaceous plants, and in damp and gloomy situ-
ations, taking frequent short flights from leaf to leaf, and preserving an alert attitude, as if
always looking out for its prey. Its vicinity could be immediately ascertained, often before it
was seen, by a very pleasant odour, like otto of roses, which it seems to emit continually,
and which may probably be attractive to the small insects on which it feeds. The other,
Tricondyla aptera, is one of the most curious forms in the family of the Cicindelidæ, and is
almost exclusively confined to the Malay islands. In shape it resembles a very large ant,
more than an inch long, and of a purple black colour. Like an ant also it is wingless, and is
generally found ascending trees, passing around the trunks in a spiral direction when ap-
proached, to avoid capture, so that it requires a sudden run and active fingers to secure a
specimen. This species emits the usual fetid odour of the ground beetles. My collections
during our four days' stay at Ké were as follow:—Birds, 13 species; insects, 194 species;
and 3 kinds of land-shells.
There are two kinds of people inhabiting these islands—the indigenes, who have the
Papuan characters strongly marked, and who are pagans; and a mixed race, who are nomin-
ally Mahometans, and wear cotton clothing, while the former use only a waist cloth of cot-
ton or bark. These Mahometans are said to have been driven out of Banda by the early
European settlers. They were probably a brown race, more allied to the Malays, and their
mixed descendants here exhibit great variations of colour, hair, and features, graduating
between the Malay and Papuan types. It is interesting to observe the influence of the early
Portuguese trade with these countries in the words of their language, which still remain in
use even among these remote and savage islanders. 'Lenço' for handkerchief, and 'faca' for
knife, are here used to the exclusion of the proper Malay terms. The Portuguese and Span-
