344 ONCE A WEEK. [November 20, 1869.

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE might be expected from the comparative identity of the animals inhabiting the Asiatic EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO. continent and these islands, it may be men­ tioned that" all the wide expanse of sea which o all Europeans, except perhaps the divides Java, Sumatra, and Borneo from each T Dutch, there is scarcely any part of the either and from Malacca and Siam is so shallow globe regarding which less is known than the that ships can anchor in any part of it, since it Eastern or Malay Archipelago. It extends for rarely exceeds forty fathoms in depth." Hence more than 4000 miles in length, namely, from we should infer that the present configuration the Soloman Islands on the east, to the of this part of the globe is due to a compara­ Nicobar Islands on the west, and is about tively recent subsidence of intervening tracts 1300 miles in breadth from north to south, or of land consequent on the volcanic action from the Philippines to N orthem Australia; which is still going on in Sumatra and Java. and, as Mr. Wallace, in his delightful volumes Turning to the south-eastern portion of the on "The Malay Archipelago" tells us, it would Archipelago we find that all the islands from stretch over an expanse equal to that of all Celebes and Lombock, eastward, possess a Europe, from the extreme west far into central fauna more or less closely resembling that of Asia; or would cover the widest part of South Australia, which, as is well known, differs America, and extend far beyond the land into whollyin its animals from any other part of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. It includes the globe. Instead of cats, bears, wolves, three islands larger than Great Britain, and in deer, sheep, oxen, horses, and the other fa­ one of these, Borneo, the whole of the British miliar types of quadrupeds, it has marsupials, Isles might be included, with a goodly margin such as kangaroos and opossums ; while in to spare on most sides. New Guinea is sup­ birds it is almost as peculiar. Instead of posed to be larger even than Borneo, while woodpeckers and pheasants, families of which Sumatra is equal in size to Great Britain. exist in every other part of the world, it has In his first chapter, which treats of the "the mound-making brush-turkeys, the honey- Physical Geography of the Malay Archipelago, suckers, the cockatoos, and the brush-tongued Mr. Wallace brings forward strong arguments lories, which are found nowhere else upon the to show that it should be divided into an globe. All these striking peculiarities are Asiatic and an Australian region; or, in other found also in those islands which form the words that some of these islands were originally Austro-Malayan division of the Archipelago." parts of the Asiatic continent, while others As in the case of the other portion of the formed a portion of Australia. The evidence Archipelago, so also here we find that the sea on this point afforded by zoology is especially connecting New Guinea and some of the ad­ strong, and shows in a most striking manner jacent islands to Australia is uniformly shallow that the great islands of Java, Sumatra, and If our readers will take the trouble to glance Borneo, "must have once formed a part of the at a map of this part of the world they will continent, and conld only have been separated easily find a strait separating the island of at a very recent geological epoch. The Bali (which lies at the eastern extremity of elephant and tapir of Sumatra and Borneo, . Java) from that of Lombock. This narrow the rhinoceros of Sumatra, and the allied strip of water which is not more than fifteen species of Java, the wild cattle of Borneo miles across, separates two great divisions of and the kind long supposed tobe peculiar to the earth, which differ as essentially in their Java, are now all known to inhabit some part animal life as Europe does from America. or other of Southern Asia. None of these " In Bali we have barbets, fruit-thrushes, and large animals could possibly have passed over woodpeckers. On passing over to Lombock the arms of the sea which now separate these these are seen no more; but we here have countries, and their presence plainly indicates abundance of cockatoos, honey-suckers, and that a land connection must have existed since brush-turkeys, which are equally unknown in the origin of the species. Among the smaller Bali or any island further west." mammals a considerable portion are common I t is worthy of remark that there is nothing to each island and the continent. Birds and in the soil or in the climate to account for this insects illustrate the same view; for every difference. The great volcanic chain runs famiIy, and almost every genus, of these groups, through both parts, and exercises no apparent found in any of the islands, occurs also on the effect upon their productions. In the corres- Asiatic continent; and in a great number of ponding group of islands (as the Moluccas and cases the species are exactly identical." As the Philippines, Borneo and New Guinea, Bali November 20, 1869.] ONCE A WEEK. 345

and Timor, &c.), "constructed as it were after scientific world. We shall now proceed the same pattern, subjected to the same to glean from his delightful volumes some climate, and bathed by the same oceans, there of his most important natural history ob­ exists the greatest possible contrast when we servations and discoveries; and with them compare their animal productions." How is it we shall intermingle occasional observa­ that the fifteen miles of water which separates tions by two other travellers who have Bali from Lombock causes an incomparably recently followed more or less in Mr. Wallace's greater zoological difference than the hundred footsteps, viz., Mr. Bickmore, the author of miles which intervene between New Guinea "Travels in the East Indian Archipelago," and Australia? The difference is to be sought and Dr. Collingwood, the author of" Rambles in the different depths of the seas. The nar­ of a Naturalist on the Shores and Waters of row strait is of considerable depth, and a deep the Chinese Sea." By a strange coincidence sea is generally an old sea; while Torres all three of these works were published within Strait is a shallow sea, and consequently, in all a few months of one another. The two last probability, is of recent origin, and indicates named books, and especially Mr. Bickmore's, a recent land connexion. are very inferior, in a natural history point of The human inhabitants of the Malay Archi­ view, to Mr. Wallace's volumes. Long before pelago fall, like the other mammals and the he started for the east, Mr. Wallace had ob- birds, into two well marked divisions or types tained a first class place amongst men of the Malay or yellow, and the Papuan or black, science by his" Travels on the Amazon and which" differ radically in every physical, mental, Rio Negro;" while Dr. Collingwood and Mr. and moral character." The line which sepa- Bickmore make their first appearances as rates these races approximates to that which authors. The former is a graduate in medicine divides the zoological regions, but is somewhat of the University of Oxford, and his explora­ to the east of it ; which is readily accounted tions were made in 1866 and 1867 on board for by the fact that man can traverse straits her Majesty's vessels, Serpent and Scylla; impassable to other mammals; and the Malays, while the latter is an American professor, from their higher civilization and greater enter­ whose strong point is conchology, and who prise, have long encroached upon the terri­ undertook his eastern travels, which extended tories of their Papuan neighbours. from April, 1865, to May, 1866, mainly for the It may not be generally known that for purpose of searching for the shells figured by these and other researches which were con- Rumphius (a Dutch doctor, who lived for ducted during his eight years' wanderings many years at Amboyne), in his "Rariteit (from 1854 to 1862) in the Archipelago, Mr. Kamer," or" Chamber of Curiosities," which Wallace received, in 1868, from the Council of was published in 1705. the Royal Society, one of the two royal medals We shall commence with a sketch of some which are annually awarded, and are regarded of the most remarkable natural history pro­ as the highest scientific prizes in this country. ducts of the island of Singapore, which, as our Out of the somewhat limited scientific world read.ers doubtless recollect, is separated by a it is certainly not known that while on these narrow strait (at one point not more than half travels he sent, in 1858, an essay to the a mile broad) from the southern extremity of Linnaean Society" On the Tendency of Varieties the Malay Peninsula, and lies about a degree to depart indefinitely from the Original Types," north of the equator. It is not more than containing a distinct statement of the doctrine twenty-five miles long from east to west, and of natural selection which he had developed fourteen from north to south. In the small independently of Mr. Darwin. "Of Mr. Wal­ wood-crowned hills, which afford excellent lace and his many contributions to philoso­ sport to the entomologist, the inexperienced phical biology it is not easy (says Dr. Hooker, traveller must keep a sharp look-out for tigers, in his Presidential Address to the British Asso­ and, what are perhaps still more dangerous, ciation, in 1868) to speak without enthusiasm; tiger-pits. "These traps," says Mr. W allace, for, putting aside their great merits, he, " were carefully covered over with sticks and throughout his writings, with a modesty as leaves; and so well concealed, that in several rare as I believe it to be in him unconscious, cases I had a narrow escape from falling into forgets his own unquestioned claims to the them. They are shaped like an iron-furnace, honour of having originated, independently of wider at the bottom than at the top, and are Mr. Darwin, the theories he so ably defends." fifteen or twenty feet deep, so that it would be These remarks sufficiently attest the high almost impossible for a person unassisted to position which Mr. Wallace holds in the get out of oue. Formerly, a sharp stake was ONCE A WEEK. [November 20, 1869.

stuck erect in the bottom; but, after an unfor­ piercing them with a sharp stick, pass a string tunate traveller had been killed by falling on through them, and hang them in festoons at one, its use was prohibited. There are always the entrance of the plantation. a few tigers roaming about Singapore, and In all tropical regions there seems to be a they kill on an average a Chinaman every day, superabundance of ants-at all events so far as principally those who work in the gambir the personal comfort of travellers is concerned. plantations, which are always made in newly Singapore is no exception to this rule, for it cleared jungle." That there are tigers in abounds in different kinds, from the small Singapore is unquestionable. Mr. Wallace red ants only just visible to the eye, to gigantic himself heard a tiger roar once or twice in the black fellows (Formica Gigas) of an inch in evening; but Dr. Collingwood thinks that their length; while there are brown ants half an number is overrated, and that six or eight inch long, armed with formidable pincers, tigers would be a nearer estimate than the which they will freely use whenever they have twenty couple which Mr. Cameron (in "Our a chance. These brown ants make curious Malayan Possessions in Tropical India") sup­ nests of leaves, resembling a ball as large as poses to exist in the island. In an old guide­ the head, which are often found amongst the book it is stated that the tigers were so nume­ foliage of small trees. rous, that, on the arrival of the steamers, the In an excursion which Dr. Collingwood passengers used to see them coming down to took to the rocks on which the Horsburgh the water's edge to drink. Salt-water must Lighthouse stands, about twenty-eight miles obviously have been the favourite beverage of east of Singapore, he met with the remarkable these remarkable animals. The officers at animals known as leaping-fish (Periophthal- Fort Canning believe that in most cases in mus). They "were of a large size, and were which John Chinaman mysteriously disap­ pretty numerous; and it was amusing to see pears, the tiger is unjustly blamed. them climb up the steep and smooth sides of The Klings (a body of Mahometans from the rocks, by a series of jumps, assisted by a the Coromandel Coast of India, who, with the wriggling movement from side to side, so that Chinese, constitute the eastern residents in each time they alighted the tail was strongly Singapore) have a method of obtaining small curved on either side alternately." birds which, Dr. Collingwood thinks, might Still more wonderful perhaps was a curious prove useful to the practical ornithologist. little crab which was common on the sandy Armed with a straight tube about six feet long, beaches of the coast. Dr. Collingwood has and a piece of soft clay, the bird-catcher seats the credit of being the discoverer of this little himself beneath a banyan. Breaking off a animal, which he found not only at Singapore, morsel of the clay, he rolls it into a little ball but at Labuan and other places, and which between his hands, and placing it in the tube, has consequently been named the Sphaera- takes aim at a small bird singing in the poeia Collingwoodii, or Collingwood's Pill branches above him. He seldom misses, and maker. Immediately after the tide has gone the bird falls to the ground killed or stunned, down, the smooth beach presents numerous but with its plumage uninjured. holes of various sizes, from that of a small In about two months Mr. Wallace obtained pea to that of a large filbert, the former being no less than 700 species of beetles, a large pro­ the most common size. From these holes portion of which were quite new, and amongst there are minute radiating paths, amongst them were 130 distinct kinds of the elegant which are little balls or concretions of sand, Longicorns, so much prized by collectors. of a size proportionate to the calibre of the Almost all of these were collected in one patch holes. How the little animal makes these of jungle not more than a square mile in balls is not very clear from Dr. Collingwood's extent. The cocoa-nut, which of late years description. Kneeling down and remaining has been planted largely in Singapore, suffers motionless for a few minutes on a patch covered from two terrible enemies in the shape of with their holes, he noticed a slight evanescent beetles, which destroy thousands of nuts. One appearance, like a flash or bursting bubble, is a large Curculio, nearly as big as the English which the eye could scarcely follow. This stag-beetle, and is called by the inhabitants was produced by one or more of the crabs the red beetle, from a blood-like mark on the coming to the surface, and instantly darting thorax: while the other is an Oryctes (O. Rhino­ down again as if alarmed at his presence. ceros), so-called from its projecting horn. Seeing that he remained motionless they at Men ascend the trees in search of these ene­ length ventured to come out and set to work. mies, which they find in abundance; and, after Their most common size was that of a largish ONCE A WEEK. 347 pea. Each little crab, after coming to the of obtaining the juice is by cutting down the surface and seeing that all was apparently tree, and each tree does not afford an average safe, would venture about its own length from of more than twelve pounds of gutta percha. the mouth of the hole; and then rapidly In our next sketch we shall consider the taking up particles of sand in its claws, it most remarkable of the forms of animal life deposited them in a groove beneath the thorax. occurring in Borneo, "The Land of the " As it did so, a little ball of sand was rapidly Orang-utan." projected as though from its mouth, which it seized with one claw and deposited on one side, proceeding in this manner until the smooth beach was covered with these little pellets or pills corresponding in size to its own dimensions and powers. It was evidently its mode of extracting particles of food from the sand." These little crabs are so swift in their movements that they are not easily caught. It was only after repeated attempts that Dr. Collingwood secured two specimens, which immediately curled themselves up and feigned death; and one of these he lost, for putting it on the sand to see what it would do, " it rapidly sunk into the sand, and disappeared by a twisting and wriggling movement." It is not our intention in these sketches to enter, as a general rule, into any notice of the vegetable products of the Islands of the Eastern Archipelago. We must, however, make occasional exceptions, and Singapore produces some plants of so singular a cha­ racter that we cannot pass them over in silence. This island is one of the localities in which the Traveller's Tree (Urania Speciosa) is to be found. Its banana-like leaves spring, says Dr. Collingwood, from the opposite sides of the stem, the whole tree representing a gigantic fan. The rain falling on the leaves and leafstalks runs down a channel in the latter until it reaches the base, where a reservoir is formed by the sheathing petioles, which so closely embrace one another that it cannot escape. Hence, an incision through these sheaths produces a constant fountain of pure, refreshing fluid, of which the thirsty traveller may avail himsel£ Another tree, or rather shrub, found here, and described by Dr. Col­ lingwood, is the Face-leaved plant or Carica­ ture plant (Justicia Picta), every leaf of which exhibits a caricature resemblance to the human face. It is worthy of record that gutta percha was first introduced from Singapore. In con­ sequence of the great and sudden demand for this substance, the gutta percha tree (Iso­ nandria Gutta), which was formerly abundant, has now disappeared from the island. The forests of Johore in the adjacent peninsula yield a vast supply, although these must fail in time unless duly protected, since the method A WEEK. [December 18, 1869. 430 ONCE best to take the frightful beast alive in the dense forest half way to Landok. We forgot even to eat [what can more clearly express the intensity of a Dutchman's feelings !] so anxious were we not to let him escape. This game lasted from eight to four o'clock in the after­ noon, when we determined to shoot him, in which I succeeded very well, for the bullet THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE went just into the side of his chest. We got him EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO. into the prow still living and bound him fast, but next morning he died of his wounds." NO. II. His length from the head to the heel was his body was sent to NE of Mr. Wallace's chief objects in visit­ forty-nine inches ; and the ship O ing Borneo was to see the Orang-utan Europe in brandy, but unfortunately (or great man-like ape of the Eastern Archi­ was wrecked. the earliest authentic his­ pelago) in his native haunts; and with this This is probably hunt. There are few animals view he started in March, 1863, for the coal­ tory of an orang mode of life are so hard to works which were being opened near the whose habits and different kinds of man-like apes. Simunjon River, a small branch of the Sadong, study as the impregnated with jungle­ a river east of Sarawak which it enters about They inhabit regions for the most part by highly twenty miles up. In this region was abund­ fever, and bounded and as Professor Huxley ance of swamp, jungle, and virgin forest, and malarious coasts; :- the Orang-utan, or "Mias," as it is called by eloquently observes a generation a Wallace may be the natives, was reported to exist here in con­ "Once in mentally, and morally qua­ siderable numbers. found physically, unscathed through the tropical Those who wish to make themselves ac­ lified to wander America and of Asia; to form mag­ quainted with the natural history of the man­ wilds of collections as he wanders, and, withal, like apes, should study Professor Huxley's nificent out sagaciously the conclusions sug­ admirable essay upon this subject in " Man's to think his collections." Place in Nature." In this essay the Professor gested by all his physical qualifications Mr. gives an historical sketch of the knowledge of Even with explored only an infinitesimal quan­ these animals from 1598-when Pigafetta's Wallace great superficies of Borneo, as may " Description of the History of Congo" ap­ tity of the by a reference to the map of his travels; peared-to the present date, when we recog­ be seen what natural history wonders may be dis­ nise four distinct kinds, namely, the gibbons and when another Wallace arises and and the orangs of the East, and the chim­ covered fairly into the interior it is im­ panzees and the gorillas which are found only penetrates conceive. in Western Africa; a fact which it has taken possible to following is a very brief abstract of Mr. naturalists nearly two centuries to establish. The game-book, during his residence For a long time there was a great confusion Wallace's the Orang-utans. Just a week after between the apes of Africa and of the Eastern amongst at the coal-mines, as he was collect­ Archipelago - pongos, mandrills, boggoes, his arrival about a quarter of a mile from his pygmies, jockos, and orangs being regarded ing insects his first Mias. It was a large as more or less synonymous. house, he saw animal, hanging from the branches The first true orang that was ever brought red-haired under which he was standing. It alive to Europe was one that was sent of a tree on from tree to tree till it was lost in from Borneo to Holland in 1778. It was well passed On this occasion the traveller described and figured by Vosmaer, and after the jungle. to have had his gun with him. its death, which occurred in less than a year, it seems not fortnight afterwards he was told that was dissected by the famous Dutch anatomist, About a in a tree, in a swamp just be­ Camper. cine was feeding and got a shot at it, the second A couple of years later, M. Palm, the Dutch low his house, it to fall almost dead. It was resident at Rembang, gave a graphic de­ barrel causing half grown, and scarcely three scription of an orang hunt. After offering in a male about vain a hundred ducats to the natives for an feet high. when he was out with two orang of four or five feet high, he heard that On April 26th, another of about the same a live one had been seen in his neighbour­ Dyaks, he found fired, fell with a broken hood. "For a long time, indeed, we did our size, which, when he 431 December 18, 1869. ] ONCE A WEEK. arm and a wound in its body. The two neck and jaws! Yet he was still alive when Dyaks attempted to secure it alive; but even he fell." His skeleton and skin now adorn the in its wounded state, and although it was museum at Derby. only half-grown, " it was too strong for these Nearly a fortnight after this adventure (on young savages, drawing them towards its June 4th), some Dyaks killed a very fine full mouth, notwithstanding all their efforts, so grown male with spears and choppers, a few that they were obliged to leave go, or they miles from the mines. The animal seized would have been seriously bitten." It was its first assailant's arm in its mouth "making then shot through the heart. his teeth meet in the flesh above fhe elbow On May 2nd, he found one on the top which he tore and lacerated in a dreadful of a very high tree, and fired at but did not manner." kill it. On June 18th, Mr. Wallace shot another On May 12th, he secured a full-grown fine adult male in the act of feeding on an female, three feet six inches high, and with oval green fruit having a fine red arillus, like a width of arms of six feet six inches. She the mace which surrounds the nutmeg, and required five shots, but at last fell dead on a which alone he seemed to eat, biting off the fork of the tree, from whence she was brought thick outer rind, and dropping it in a con­ down by an agile Dyak. tinual shower. Only four days afterwards a rather large On the 21st, he secured an adult female: female was reported as seen, and was killed on the 24th, he killed a male of the largest after three shots. When preparing to carry it size, who, after an arm had been broken, home they found a young one face downwards "reached the very highest part of an im­ in the bog, and apparently unhurt. Of this mense tree, and immediately began break­ interesting baby we shall say more presently. ing off boughs all around, and laying them Exactly a week after its capture (on May across and across to make a nest, so that 23rd), Mr. Wallace succeeded in shooting a in a few minutes he had formed a compact full-grown male Orang-utan. The history of mass of foliage which entirely concealed him his capture occupies several pages, and it was from our sight." From this retreat he could not till he had received six shots that he fixed not be stirred by further shots, and it was himself on the branches of a tree, "in such a only after the lapse of acouple of months that position that he could not fall, and lay all in a two Malays brought down the dried remains, heap as if dead or dying." A messenger was when the skull was found much shattered by sent for two Chinamen with axes to cut down the balls. tree;. in his absence, a plucky Dyak climbed Three days later, he and his English assistant, towards the Mias, who then moved to a neigh­ Charlie, had a long chase after three small bouring tree, in the dense branches and creepers Orangs, who passed from tree to tree, at the of which he almost completely hid himself. rate of six miles an hour, so as to keep their The tree was luckily a small one, and when the pursuers on the run. One of these was killed, axes arrived its stem was soon cut through; but could not be secured. but it was so braced by jungle-ropes and For six weeks from this time the author was climbers to adjoining trees that it would not kept a prisoner in the house with an inflamed fall into more than a sloping position. At last a ulcer. long and strong pull at the creepers caused it He then proceeded up a branch of the to shake very much, " and when we had almost Simunjon River to Semabang, where Orangs given up all hopes, down he came with a crash were said to abound. On the fourth day after and a thud like the fall of a giant. And he his arrival he shot a full-grown male, of a was a giant; his head and body being full as different species from any he had previously large as a man's. His out-stretched arms seen. Finding no more Orangs here, he re­ measured seven feet three inches across, and turned to the mines, and went up another his height, measuring fairly from the top of branch of the river to a place called Menyille, the head to the heel, was four feet two where he was accommodated in the verandah inches. The body just below the arms was of a Dyak house, in which were several great three feet two inches round, and was quite as baskets of dried human heads. The very day long as a man's, the legs being exceedingly of his arrival he shot an adult male of the short in proportion. He had been dreadfully small Orang,* which fell dead, but was caught wounded; both legs were broken, one hip-joint and the root of the spine completely shattered, * Mr. Wallace met with two distinct species of and two bullets were found flattened in his Mias, one considerably larger than the other. He 432 ONCE A WEEK. [December 18, 1869. in the fork of a tree, which was tall, perfectly 3 feet 7.5 inches. From these measurements straight, and smooth barked, and without a Mr. Wallace is inclined to believe that" the branch for fifty or sixty feet. He tried to length and strength of the anns, and the width persuade two young Dyaks to cut down the of the face continue increasing to a very great tree, but they preferred climbing up it. They age, while the standing height, from the sole first went to a neighbouring clump of bamboo, of the foot to the crown of the head, rarely, and cut out one of the largest stems. From if ever, exceeds 4 feet 2 inches." this they chopped off about a foot, which they This was the last Mias that Mr. Wallace split, and thus made a couple of stout pegs, shot, making his sixteenth victim, and as nine which they sharpened at one end. With an of these were killed between April 24th and extemporised mallet they drove one of the June 27th, the sport must be regarded as de­ pegs into the tree, and tested its secureness by cidedly good. We give these details of his hanging their whole weight upon it. When successful sport in the hope that we may in­ about two dozen of these pegs were made, they duce some enterprising countryman to forego cut some very long and slender bamboo from his deer-stalking for a season, with a view of another clump, and prepared some cord from trying his hand at his "poor relations" in the bark of a small tree. "They now drove Borneo, where he will not only find a hearty in a peg very firmly at about three feet from welcome from the Dyaks, who regard the the ground, and bringing one of the long Mias as their natural enemy, but may succeed bamboos, stood (sic) it upright close to the in solving the problem referred to by Mr. tree, and bound it firmly to the two first pegs, Wallace as to the supposed existence of a by means of the bark-cord and small notches Bornean Orang as large as the gorilla. near the head of each peg. One of the Dyaks At first sight it appears inexplicable why now stood on the first peg, and drove in a the Mias should only be found in special parts third, about level with his face, to which he of Borneo and Sumatra; why, for example, it tied the bamboo in the same way, and then should be quite unknown in the Sarawak mounted another step, standing on one foot, Valley, while it is abundant in the valleys east and holding by the bamboo at the peg imme­ and west of Sarawak. The habits and mode diately above him, while he drove in the next of life of the animal explain this apparent one. In this manner he ascended about twenty difficulty. It requires a wide extent of un­ feet, when the upright bamboo becoming thin, broken and equally lofty virgin forest, where another was handed up by his companion, and the country is low, level, and swampy, for its this was joined on by tying both bamboos to comfortable existence. "Such forests form three or four of the pegs. When this was also their open country, where they can roam in nearly ended, a third was added, and shortly every direction, passing from tree-top to tree­ after the lowest branches of the tree were top without ever being obliged to descend to reached, along which the young Dyak the earth." These conditions exist where the scrambled, and soon sent the Mias tumbling Mias is found, while in Sarawak there is no headlong down." continuous forest, the soil being principally At this station he afterwards shot two occupied by the Nipa palm. adult females and two young ones; and on The following is a brief summary of Mr. his return down the stream he had the good Wallace's account of the habits and mode of fortune to secure, after a long chase, with life of the Mias when at home in his native the water of the flooded country up to his forests :- waist, a very old male Mias, which, when He may be seen walking deliberately along measured, turned out to be by far the largest the larger branches, in the semi-erect attitude specimen he had met with; for though the consequent on the great length of his anns standing height was the same as the others and the shortness of his legs; and thisdispro­ (4 feet 2 inches), yet the outstretched arms portion between the limbs is further increased were 7 feet 9 inches (which was 6 inches more by his walking on his knuckles and not on the than in the animal killed on May 23rd), while palms of the hands. He chooses branches the immense broad face was 13.5inches, which intermingle with an adjoining tree, and whereas the widest he had previously seen was seizing the opposing boughs, tries their strength only 11.5 inches, and the girth of the body was and quickly slings onwards; never jumping or springing, yet managing to get along at the rate of six miles an hour. The long and doubts the accuracy of the measurements of ob­ servers who have described Orangs more than five powerful arms are of the greatest use in en­ feet high. abling the animal to climb with ease the loftiest December 18 , 1869. ] ONCE A WEEK.

trees, to pluck fruits for its food, and to gather nately fo r science-through perhaps we should leaves and branches with which to make its say fortunately for humanity and propriety­ nest. We have already described how it forms no credence can be attached to the stories of a nest when wounded, but it uses a similar the anthropoid apes carrying off native women one to sleep on; and each animal is said to to share their nests; otherwise we might in make a fresh one every night. If, however, this way have acquired some trustworthy in­ this were the case, Mr. Wallace thinks that formation regarding their manners and habits the deserted nests or their remains would be far of life. more abundant than is actually the case. The There is one topic of extreme interest to Dyaks say that when it is very wet, the Mias which Mr. Wallace briefly refers, regarding covers himself over, after he has gone to bed, which we are, at present, totally destitute of with leaves of pandanus or large ferns. He re­ information. Palaeontologists have clearly mains in bed till the sun has dried up the dew shown that the existing animals in different from the leaves. These animals feed all through parts of the world were, in preceding geolo­ the middle of the day ; their diet consisting al­ gical periods, represented by allied yet distinct most exclusively of fruit (which they prefer when and frequently much enlarged forms; or, as unripe, sour, and very bitter), with occasional Professor Owen definitely propounds it, that leaves, buds, and seeds. The celebrated Du­ " with extinct as with existing mammalia, par­ rian is a special favourite, and is eaten vo­ ticular forms were assigned to particular pro­ raciously wherever it grows surrounded by vinces, and that the same forms were restricted forest, but they will not cross clearings to get to the same provinces at a former (i. e., the at it. It is only in extreme cases-as when more recent tertiary) geological period, as they severely pressed by hunger or thirst-that they are at the present day." Thus-to give one or will descend to the ground. two striking illustrations of this remarkable According to the Dyaks, the only animals law-South America is the sole habitat of the ~ that ever venture to attack the Mias are the sloths and armadillos, and no fossil remains of crocodile and the python; and they always animals allied to these genera have yet been fall victims to their temerity. The only chance discovered anywhere but in that region, where which the crocodile has of attacking him is we find the fossil remains of gigantic sloths, when the Mias is driven to seek food on the measuring eighteen feet in length, and of mon­ banks of a river; but on trying to seize him, strous armadillos, nine feet long, belonging to the Mias springs on his enemy's back, and kills geological periods immediately preceeding our him by main strength, pulling open the jaws own; while, in Australia, the present kangaroos and ripping up the throat. One of Mr. were represented by a gigantic prototype­ Wallace's informants stated that he h ad seen the Diprotodon Australis of Owen-whose such a fight. What a splendid subject for a skull, a specimen of which is now in the picture by Landseer! British Museum, measures three feet in length. The habit which these animals have of Why then should not the Orang-utan, the throwing down branches upon their assailants, chimpanzee, and the gorilla, also have had has been doubted by some writers; but Mr. their forerunners? There are vast caverns in Wallace has seen it on at least three separate many parts of Borneo, which, when duly occasions, in all of which, however, it was a examined, will probably prove to be ossiferous; female who behaved in this way. and we may fairly entertain the hope that These animals exhibit no gregarious ten­ their contents may soon be revealed to us, for dencies. "I have never," says Mr. Wallace, a promising young geologist, Mr. Everett, is "seen two full-grown animals together; but now on his way to Borneo with the special view both males and females are sometimes ac­ of exploring some of these caves; and before companied by half-grown young ones, while, starting he did his best to complete his quali­ at other times, three or four young ones were fications for the task by spending two days in seen in company." Thankful as we are to Kent's Hole (the celebrated Torquay cavern, this distinguished traveller for the information which, with the neighbouring Brixham cavern, which he has been able to collect regarding has mainly contributed to settle the question of these hideous prototypes of man, we cannot the comparative antiquity of man), under the help feeling that there is much yet to learn re­ guidance of Mr. Pengelly, our highest authority garding their social life. "The Memoirs of in cave-researches. Even if Mr. Everett a Myas," written by himself, would fill up many should not have the good fortune to discover blanks which no human observer could ever the remains of a fossil Mias bearing the same have an opportunity of supplying. Unfortu- rehtions in point of size to the present species 434 ONCE A WEEK, [December 18, 1869. that Owen's fossil kangaroo bears to the exist­ figure of this remarkable animal), was ob­ ing species, we have no doubt that his explora­ served by Dr. Collingwood to alight upon a tions will be fruitful in good results. tree by the road-side. It flew quickly along, The length to which this article has already and straight, like a bird, without any butterfly­ run precludes us from giving more than a like fluttering, and suddenly settled upon the passing reference to Mr. Wallace's most amus­ bark, just as a creeper (Certhia) would do, for ing account of how he acted as dry nurse to which he at first mistook it. It then ran a the infant Mias, which he secured on the 16th little way up the trunk in a spiral direction; of May. For his account of how it held on after which it stood still, and, twisting its head by his beard as he was carrying it home in completely round, took a good look at its ob­ his arms-how, as he could not secure a wet server, "while its little conical pouch, which nurse, he made it a sucking bottle-how he hung flaccid beneath the throat, was from washed it, wiped it, and brushed its hair­ time to time momentarily distended, pointing how he made it a small gymnastic apparatus­ forward in a menacing manner, and then how he tried to make it happy by constructing falling again." Trying to make it fly, with an artificial mother of a piece of buffalo skin, the wish to observe its movements, he pelted it which nearly choked it-how he found it an with small bits of sticks, but only succeeded in agreeable companion in the shape of a young making it run higher up the tree. It is to be monkey, who sat upon its face and otherwise regretted that he failed in his attempt, because insulted it, although their friendship remained definite information regarding the use of its unbroken-and how, after he had kept it nearly membranous expansions is still a desideratum, three months, it sickened and died-we must the generally accepted view being that the refer our readers to Mr. Wallace's pages. We membranes, which can be expanded and cannot conceive a better subject for a penny folded up at will, serve merely, like a para­ reading than the history of this interesting chute, to break the little animal's fall when it orphan. springs from a height. Dr. Collingwood, in his rambles around The last animal we shall notice is the Sarawak, saw large numbers of flying squirrels flying frog, which is entirely new to science (Galeopithecus), and of flying foxes (Pteropus), and of special interest to Darwinians, "as and one little flying lizard (Draco volans). As showing that the variability of the toes, the galeopithecus (which, strictly speaking, is which have been already modified for pur­ a lemur rather than squirrel) is more abundant poses of swimming and adhesive climbing, in Sumatra than in Borneo, we shall postpone has been taken advantage of to enable an our remarks on that remarkable animal to our allied species to pass through the air like a next article, and shall proceed to a short notice flying lizard." of the two other animals described by Dr. Col­ This animal was brought to Mr. Wallace by lingwood. Every evening, about sunset, the a Chinese workman, who saw it come down air in the neighbourhood of the Sarawak River in a slanting direction from a high tree, as was alive with large bats or flying foxes. They if it flew. appeared with great regularity, a few stragglers "The toes were very long and fully webbed first coming, while in a quarter of an hour to their very extremity, so that when ex­ they might be seen all over the sky, flying just panded they offered a surface much larger out of gun-range, and all taking the same di­ than the body. The fore-legs were also bor­ rection, from N.E. to S.W. They might dered by a membrane, and the body was easily have been taken by a casual observer capable of considerable inflation. The back for rooks returning to their nests; but there is and limbs were of a very deep shining green a peculiar bat-like form of wing, which is very colour, the under surface and the inner toes observable when they are directly over head. yellow, while the webs were black, rayed with They spend the night in feasting in the forest yellow. The body was about four inches long, districts, and return home shortly before sun­ while the webs of each hind foot, when fully rise. They are very pugnacious, and if brought expanded, covered a surface of four square down with a broken wing are apt to bite inches, and the webs of all the feet together fiercely, and in this condition it is a common about twelve square inches. As the extremi­ sport to match them against a terrier. ties of the toes have dilated discs for adhesion, The little flying lizard, which, according to showing the creature to be a true tree-frog, it Professor Owen, seldom exceeds 110 grains in is difficult to believe that this immense mem­ weight (see his" Comparative Anatomy of the brane can be for the purpose of swimming Vertebrates," vol. i., p. 264, in which there is a only, and the account of the Chinaman that it December 18, 1869. ] ONCE A WEEK. 435 flew down from the tree becomes more credi­ ble." As we already know of a large Indian frog which can run along the surface of the water, nothing regarding the varieties of loco­ motion of these animals need astonish us. 55 6 ONCE A WEEK. [ January 22, 1870.

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO.

NO. III. ROM Borneo, where we left him in our F last article, Mr. Wallace proceeded to J ava, where he spent about three months and a half, from July 18th to October 31st, 1861. Taking it as a whole, and surveying it from every point of view, he considers it as "pro­ bably the very finest and most interesting tropical island in the world." In area it is nearly equal to England. Its whole surface is magnificently varied with mountain and forest scenery. It possesses thirty-eight vol­ canic mountains, several of which are 10,000 or 12,000 feet high and some of which are in constant activity. "The animal productions, especially the birds and insects, are beau­ tiful and varied, and present many peculiar forms found nowhere else upon the globe." At Wonosalem, where he first settled, Mr. Wal­ lace obtained several specimens of the mag­ nificent Java peacock-which is a different species from that of India, the neck being covered with scale-like green feathers, and the crest of a different fonn. "It is," he observes, "a singular fact in geographical distribution, that the peacock should not be found in Sumatra or Borneo, while the superb Argus, Fire-backed, and Ocellated pheasants of those islands are equally unknown in Java. Exactly parallel-is the fact that in Ceylon and southern India, where the peacock abounds, there are none of the splendid Lophophori and other gorgeous pheasants which inhabit northem India. It would seem as if the peacock could admit of no rivals in its domains." In two of the peacocks which Mr. Wallace obtained here the tails were more than seven feet long. In the course of a month, he collected ninety-eight species of birds, including the rare green jungle-fowl (Gallus furcatus); six kinds of woodpeckers; four kingfishers; "the fine horn- bill (Bucerus lunatus), more than four feet long; and the pretty little lorikeet (Loriculus pusillus) scarcely more than as many inches." In November, 1861, we find Mr. Wallace at Lobo Raman, in the centre of the east end of Sumatra. Although it was so rainy that he could not do much in the way of collecting, he succeeded in working out a most marvellous butterfly problem. The male Papilio memnon is a splendid" butterfly of a deep black colour, dotted over with lines and groups of scales of a clear ashy hue. Its wings are five inches in expanse, and the hind wings are rounded with scalloped edges. The females not only January 22, 1870. ] ONCE A WEEK. 557

differ from the males but from one another, he could never detect it, till it suddenly flew and may be divided into two groups-those out and similarly disappeared. One day, which resemble the male in shape and only however, he saw the exact spot where the differ in colour, being often nearly white; and butterfly had settled, and although it was close those which have no resemblance to the male before his eyes, he was some time in discover­ in shape, the hind wings being lengthened out ing it, for" in its position of repose it so into spoon-shaped tails, no rudiment of which closely resembled a dead leaf attached to a is perceptible in the males or in the other twig as almost certainly to deceive the eye, group of females. These tailed females are even when gazing full upon it." For an ac­ remarkable for a peculiar ornamentation of count of the way in which it can effect this the surface of the hind wings with stripes and wonderful disguise that saves it from the patches of white or buff; and from this pecu- observations of birds and reptiles, we must liarity these females, when flying, closely refer our readers to pp. 204-7 of Mr. Wallace's resemble another butterfly of the same genus first volume. This is, perhaps, the most re­ -the Papilio coon. The use of this resem- markable case of protective imitation known, blance-which there are sound natural history but there are hundreds of similar resemblances reasons for our knowing not to be accidental- in nature. appears to be, that the butterflies imitated be- Some years afterwards, when studying the long to a section of the genus Papilio, which fauna of the Moluccas, Mr. Wallace first dis­ for some unknown cause are not attacked by covered an undoubted case of mimicry amongst birds; and by so closely resembling these in birds. If the Leaf butterfly, being a savoury form and colour, the female of the P. memnon morsel to birds, had closely resembled another escapes persecution. The most singular fact butterfly which was disagreeable to them, and connected with these distinct female forms is, therefore never eaten by them, it would be as that they are both the offspring of either form. well protected as if it resembled a leaf. A single brood of caterpillars is found to pro- These cases of almost exact resemblance of duce males as well as tailed and tailless one creature to quite a different one (as, for females; and forms intermediate in character example, the clear-winged moths in our own seem. never to occur. country, which resemble wasps and hornets) Mr. Wallace's quaint illustration will, per- were confined to insects, till he found two birds haps, make this strange story clearer to the in the island of Banda (one of the Moluccas) minds of our readers. "Let us suppose," he which he constantly mistook for each other, says, " a roaming Englishman in some remote although they belonged to two distinct and island to have two wives-one a black-haired somewhat distant families. One of these is a red-skinned Indian, the other a woolly-headed honeysucker, and the other a kind of oriole. sooty-skinned negress; and that instead of The oriole resembles the honeysucker in the the children being mulattoes of brown or following points: the upper and under surface dusky tints, mingling the characteristics of of both are exactly of the same tints of dark each parent in varying degrees, all the boys and light brown; the honeysucker has a large should be as fair-skinned and blue-eyed as bare black patch round the eyes, and this is their father, while the girls should altogether copied in the oriole by a patch of black resemble the mothers. This would be thought feathers. The top of the head of the former strange enough, but the case of these butter- has a scaly appearance that is imitated by the flies is yet more extraordinary, for each mother latter. The honeysucker has a pale ruff is capable not only of producing male offspring formed of recurved feathers on the nape like the father and female like herself, but also (whence the name of friar-birds to the whole other females like her fellow-wife, and alto- genus) and this ruff is represented in the gether different from herself!" oriole by a pale band. Lastly, the bill in both Another strange story, in which protective birds is round, with a protuberant keel, although resemblances of another kind come in play, is this condition is not common to the orioles told of the Leaf butterfly, which is of the generally. Hence, on a superficial examina­ same family and about the same size as our tion, the birds seem to be identical, although, Purple Emperor. Its upper surface is of a in reality, they have important structural rich purple, variously tinged with ash colour, differences, and cannot be placed near each and across its fore wings is a broad bar of other in any natural arrangement. deep orange, so that when on the wing it is In the adjacent island of Ceram, we find a very conspicuous; yet, though he often watched precisely parallel case. There is a species of it flying into a bush among dry or dead leaves, honeysucker in that island which is of an 558 ONCE A WEEK.

earthy brown colour, washed with ochre-ish the verandah of a friend's house, at Sarawak, yellow, with bare orbits, dusky cheeks, and the declares that they can glide from near the top usual recurved nape-ruff; and accompanying of one high tree to the lower branches of it is a species of oriole which is absolutely another tree about 150 yards distant. This identical with it, so far as a superficial seems almost a mechanical impossibility, and examination can show. Here then we have we prefer accepting Mr. Wallace's figures. two species of orioles which seem to have Before leaving Sumatra, he had the good departed from the gay yellow tints so com­ fortune to obtain a family of the large horn­ mon amongst their allies, in order to imitate bill, known as Bucerus bicornis. As he was the normal colour of the honeysucker family. sitting at breakfast, his hunters brought in a The orioles are clearly the mimics in these fine large male, which was shot while in the cases, and it is not difficult to see the advan- act of feeding the female, who was shut up in tage they obtain from the imitation. The the hole of a tree. The size of this specimen orioles are weak birds, with small feet and is not mentioned, but the full-grown bird claws, while the honeysuckers are very strong usually is fully four feet in length. The tree was active birds, with powerful claws and long at once visited,and, "at a height of about twenty sharp beaks. Hence the smaller birds of prey, feet, appeared a small hole, and what looked in all probability, mistake the weaker orioles like a quantity of mud which had been used in for their strong and pugnacious friends, and stopping up the large hole." The harsh cry of respect them accordingly. "The laws of the bird inside was soon heard, and she was Variation and Survival of the Fittest," says Mr. seen to put out the white extremity of her bill. Wallace, "will suffice to explain how the A rupee was in vain offered to anyone who resemblance has been brought about, without would ascend the tree and secure the bird, supposing any voluntary action on the part of with the egg or young one; and, with a sad the birds themselves." heart, he returned to his breakfast. In about The reader who wishes to learn more on an hour afterwards, a tremendous hoarse this interesting subject may be referred to an screaming was heard, and the bird, together article by Mr. Wallace, published in the West- with a young one, which had been found in the minster Review for 1867, entitled" Mimicry hole, was triumphantly brought in. If the and other Protective Resemblances among young bird was at all like its picture, which animals." may be seen at page 212 of Mr. Wallace's first A very curious animal which he met with volume, it must have been a most remarkable in Borneo, but which is more abundant object. It was" as large as a pigeon, but with­ in Sumatra, is the Galeopithecus, or flying out a particle of plumage on any part of it. It lemur. This creature has a broad membrane was exceedingly plump and soft, and with a extending all round its body, to the ex­ semi-transparent skin, so that it looked more tremities of the toes, and to the point of the like a bag of jelly, with head and feet stuck on, tail, and enabling it to pass obliquely through than like a real bird." This extraordinary habit the air, from one tree to another. During the on the part of the male in plastering up the day, it is sluggish, and rests clinging to the female, with her egg, and feeding her, not only trunks of trees; and as its olive or brown fur during incubation, but till the young one is closely resembles the colour of the mottled fledged, has been long known to be common bark, it readily escapes observation. "Once," to several of the larger hornbills. says Mr. Wallace, "in a bright twilight, I saw Lombock was the first island in his journey one of these animals run up a trunk in a rather eastward on which our author met with the open place, and then glide obliquely through strange bird known as the mound-maker the air to another tree, on which it alighted (Megapodius gouldii), which is also found in near the base, and immediately began to Australia, the Philippines, and north-west ascend. I paced the distance from the one tree Borneo, and a species of which has just been to the other, and found it to be seventy yards; reported as discovered in the New Hebrides. and the amount of descent I estimated at not The Megapodidae (so called from their large more than thirty-five or forty feet, or less than feet) are allied to the gallinaceous birds, but one in four. This, I think, proves that the differ from these and other birds in never sit­ animal must have some power of guiding itself ting upon their eggs, which they bury in sand, through the air, otherwise it would have little earth, or rubbish, and leave to be hatched by chance of alighting exactly upon the trunk." the heat of the sun or of fermentation. Their Dr. Collingwood, who had a good opportunity large feet terminate in long curved claws, of observing the habits of these animals, from with which they rake and scratch together January 22, 1870 ] ONCE A WEEK. 559

dead leaves, sticks, earth, rotten wood, &c., of the turkey, long and pointed at both ends, till they form a large mound often six feet and of a brownish-buff colour. He observes high and twelve feet across, in the middle of that the young are highly developed when they which they bury their eggs. The natives can leave the shell, at once running freely on their tell whether the mounds contain eggs-which large, strong feet, and capable of using their are as large as those of a swan, of a brick-red wings in a few hours. colour, and highly esteemed by them as food. Lombock abounds with beautiful birds. A number of birds combine to make a nest, in Large green pigeons, brilliant kingfishers, the which forty or fifty eggs may be found. The Australian bee-eaters, splendidly coloured species found in Lombock is about the size of ground thrushes, grass-green doves, little a small hen, and of a dark olive or brown crimson and black flower-peckers, large black colour. I t is a very miscellaneous feeder cuckoos, metallic king-crows, golden orioles, eating fruits, worms, snails, and centipedes; and fine jungle-cocks-the origin of all our but its flesh, when properly cooked, is white domestic breeds of poultry-were some of the and well flavoured. most valuable treasures which he secured in Mr. Wallace subsequently found these birds this comparatively small island. very abundant in the Moluccas, where they From Lombock he sailed to Macassar, in the were generally of a dark ashy or sooty southern region of Celebes, and on proceeding colour. to occupy a house that had been assigned him On the jungles along the sea-shore, where by a friendly Rajah in a village where a sticks, sheils, sea-weed, leaves, &c., abound, European had never previously been seen, he they were seen by our author in the act of found himself an object of universal terror. constructing their nests, which were often six "Wherever I went, dogs barked, children or eight feet high and twenty or thirty feet in screamed, women ran away, and I was stared diameter, by running a few steps backwards, at as though I were some strange and terrible grasping a quantity of loose material in one cannibal monster." Even the pack horses on foot and throwing it a long way behind them. the roads would rush into the jungle on his The eggs were found in these large mounds at approach; while the buffaloes that he met a depth of two or three feet. It is not easy " would rush away helter-skelter as if a demon to understand how the young birds, when were after them;" so that when he saw these hatched, can work their way to the surface; animals coming to the village with packs he but they seem to do so without any external was obliged to turn into the jungle and hide aid. They come out of the egg covered with himself. thick downy feathers, and have no tail, but the Mr. Bickmore's experience regarding the wings are fully developed; and in this state buffaloes is similar to that of Mr. Wallace. they run off at once into the forest. Mr. He observes in his notices of these useful Wallace had the good fortune to discover animals in different parts of his extensive a new species, which is named after him, travels, that while they are usually so docile Megapodius wallacei. It is the handsomest that Malay children can drive them," they of the group, and, instead of making a mound, dislike the appearance of a European, and burrows into the sand on the sea-shore to the have a peculiar mode of manifesting their depth of about three feet, obliquely down­ aversion by breathing heavily through the wards, and deposits its eggs at the bottom. nose." He was often requested by the owners It then loosely covers up the mouth of the to get out of their way, lest he should be hole, and is said to obliterate its own foot­ attacked. steps by making scratches and tracks over From this inhospitable district Mr. Wallace them. subsequently proceeded to Menado, a pretty Mr. Bickmore, when staying in Buru,obtained little town in the north-eastern extremity of a specimen of the Megapodius wallacei, which Celebes, known as Minahasa. To all who was caught by a native while she was crawling take an interest in the civilization of savage up from her hidden nest. She lived" for some races we would strongly recommend the care­ time" (which is a very vague expression for a ful study of Mr. Wallace's remarks on the professed naturalist to use), "but after laying system of government now adopted by the an egg more than one-third as large as her Dutch in their eastern possessions generally, whole body she died." and especially in Celebes, where" the people Dr. Collingwood observed another species are now the most industrious, peaceable, and in the jungles at Labuan, which, although less civilized in the whole Archipelago." (Vol. i., than a guinea-fowl, laid eggs as large as those pp. 397-40 1.) February 26, 1870.] ONCE A WEEK. 75

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO.

NO. IV. EARING that the north-eastern extremity H of Celebes, between the islands of Banca and Limbe, abounded in the remarkable birds known as Maleos (Megacephalon rubripes), Mr. Wallace proceeded there with the view of secu­ ring specimens; and he was accompanied by two European friends who hoped to hunt wild pigs, Babirusa, &c., in the locality. The Maleos deposit their eggs in a loose hot black sand of volcanic origin, just above high-water mark. They come down in pairs from the interior to this, and one or two other favourite spots, in the months of August and September. The male and female co-operate in making a hole three or four feet deep, in which the female deposits one large egg, which she covers with about a foot of sand, and then returns to the forest. At intervals of about ten days, she returns to the same spot and lays another egg, till at length six or eight are deposited and the process is completed. The male always comes down and returns with the female. Many birds lay in the same hole, for a dozen eggs are often found together; and these are so large that it is not possible for the body of the bird to contain more than one fully-developed egg at the same time. In confirmation of this view it may be mentioned, that in all the female birds that were shot on their way to the shore there was one large egg, and eight or nine others not exceeding peas in size. After the eggs are deposited in the sand, no further attention is paid them by the parent birds; ONCE A WEEK. February 26, 1870.

and, considering the great distances they come fully mixed up with fiction. The late Mr. from the interior (often ten or fifteen miles), Broderip, in an excellent article upon them, this at first sight seems strange. As, however, which originally appeared in the Penny Cyclo­ the eggs are deposited by a number of hens in paedia, states that "from one fabulist to succession in the same hole, it would be im­ another came the tradition that these 'gay possible for each bird to distinguish its own creatures of the element' passed their whole property; and as the food (consisting entirely existence in sailing in the air, where all the of fallen fruit) necessary for such large birds, can functions of life were carried on, even to the only be obtained by roaming over an extensive production of their eggs and young. The dew district, it is clear that if the number of birds and the vapours were said to be their only which come down to a single beach in the food; nor were they ever supposed to touch breeding season were obliged to remain in the earth till the moment of their death; the vicinity of their nests, many would perish never taking rest except by suspending them­ from hunger. Moreover, both in the Maleos selves from the branches of trees by the shafts and the Mound-makers, the fact of only one of the two elongated feathers which form a egg being laid after a considerable interval (of characteristic of their beautiful race. The thirteen days, according to the natives) neces­ appellations of Lufft-Vogel, Paradyss-Vogel, sitates a long period of two or three months, Passeros de Sol, Birds of Paradise, and God's between the laying of the first and the last Birds, kept up the delusion that originated in egg, assuming that each bird lays six or the craft of the inhabitants of the eastern eight eggs; "Now," says Mr. Wallace, "if countries in which they are found; for the these eggs were hatched in the ordinary man­ natives scarcely ever produced a skin in ner, either the parents must keep sitting con­ former times from which they had not care­ tinually for this long period, or if they only fully extirpated the feet. Nor was it only the began to sit after the last egg was deposited, extreme elegance and richness of their feathers the first would be exposed to injury by the that caused these birds to be sought as the elements, or to destruction by the large plume for turbans of oriental chiefs; for he lizards, snakes, and other animals which who wore that plume, relying implicitly on abound in the district. The males and females the romantic account of the life and habits of differ little in appearance, and when walking the bird, and impressed with its sacred names, on the beach the birds present a very hand­ believed that he bore a charmed life, and that some appearance. The glossy black and rosy he should be invulnerable, even where the fight white of the plumage, the helmeted head and raged most furiously." John van Linschoten, elevated tail, like that of the common fowl, who wrote in 1598, gives the above names, and give a striking character, which their stately adds, that they have neither feet nor wings, and somewhat sedate walk renders still more and that no one has seen them alive, "for remarkable." The colour of the egg-shell is a they live in the air, always turning towards pale brick red, or, very rarely, pure white; and the sun." its dimensions are from four to four and a half Pigafetta, who is supposed to have been the inches long, by about two and a half wide. first who made these birds known in Europe, The eggs are esteemed so great a delicacy represented them with legs; and although he that the natives come for fifty miles round to was supported in the leg-question by several obtain them. They are richer than hen's eggs, eminent Dutch naturalists, fiction was too and of a fine flavour; each one completely strong for him, and he was charged by Aldro­ fills an ordinary tea-cup, and forms with bread vandus, and others, with falsehood. Linnaeus, or rice a very good meal. in 1760, only described two species, to one of As one of the great objects, if not the greatest, which, in commemoration of the fable of the of Mr. Wallace's numerous journeys in the want of feet, he gave the name of Apoda. Malay Archipelago was to obtain specimens Since then nine or ten others have been named, of the Birds of Paradise, and to learn some­ all of which were described from more or less im­ thing of their habits and distribution-and perfect skins; and now Mr. Wallace gives us a being (as far as he is aware) the only English­ list of eighteen species, with the places they man who has seen these wonderful birds in are believed to inhabit (see vol. ii., pp. 4I9, their native forests, and obtained specimens of 420). During a residence of many months in many of them- itis not surprising that a large the Aru Islands, New Guinea, and Waigiou, proportion of his second volume should be -their most abundant habitats,-Mr. Wallace devoted to their consideration. obtained five species; while his assistant, Mr. The early history of these birds is wonder- Allen, did not find a single additional species; February 26, 1870. ] ONCE A WEEK. 77

but as they had both been told of a place wings, were little tufts of greyish feathers called Sorong, on the mainland of New about two inches long, terminating in a band Guinea, where all the kinds they desired could of intense emerald green, and capable of being be obtained, Mr. Allen was sent, with a lieu­ raised at will and spread out into a pair of ele­ tenant and two soldiers, to this favoured spot gant fans, when the wings are elevated "-and to obtain supplies of these rare creatures. that the two middle feathers of the tail are Native jealousies, however, stood in the way, in the form of slender wires about five inches the chiefs of the coast-valleys having a mono­ long, diverging in a beautiful double curve, and poly in this department of commerce; and at about an inch from the end, curving spirally Mr. Allen found that so many difficulties were inwards, so as to form a pair of glittering thrown in his way, that, after a month, he had metallic-green buttons, hanging five inches to return almost empty-handed. From the below the body and at some distance apart. strange fact that during five years' residence "These two ornaments," says Mr. Wallace, in the land of the Birds of Paradise, Mr. -" the breast-fans and the spiral-tipped tail Wallace was unable to purchase skins of half wires-are altogether unique, not occurring in the species which Lesson forty years ago any other species of the eight thousand dif­ obtained during the voyage of the Coquille in ferent birds that are known to exist upon the the course of a few weeks, it may be safely in­ earth." ferred that all, except the common species of We can heartily enter into the emo­ commerce, are daily becoming more hard to tions excited in the mind of the enthusiastic obtain. Of the eighteen species enumerated by naturalist wandering in a forest hitherto tra­ Mr. Wallace, eleven inhabit New Guinea, and versed only by savages, and far from the busy eight of these are entirely confined to that haunts of civilized man, when he gazed upon country and the hardly separated island of this "thing of beauty." He soon afterwards Salvatty; and as, in consequence of the obtained another equally beautiful specimen, shallow intervening seas, the Aru Islands and and had the opportunity of, to a certain degree, Waigiou were probably once united with it, seeing a little of the habits of both it and a we shall find that no less that fourteen of the larger species, the Great Bird of Paradise. Paradise birds belong to that region, while of As the spring merges into early summer, the the remaining four, three inhabit the north­ plumage of the great birds increases in bril­ east of Australia, and. one the Moluccas. liancy, and they commence a series of dancing Hence New Guinea is essentially "the land parties in certain trees having spreading of the Bird of Paradise." In March, 1857, he branches and large scattered leaves, which arrived at the Aru Islands, where he stayed give free space for the birds to play and ex­ for two months, mainly in search of these hibit their plumes. The following is Mr. birds. The natives, who were in the habit of Wallace's account of a dance. "On one of shooting them, informed him that they used a these trees a dozen or twenty full-plumaged bow and arrow; the latter terminating in a male birds assemble together, raise up their conical wooden cap as large as a tea-cup, wings, stretch out their necks, and elevate which kills the bird without injuring the skin their exquisite plumes, keeping them in a or feathers. As the trees frequented by these continual vibration. Between whiles they birds are very lofty, the hunters construct a fly across from branch to branch in leafy hut amongst the branches into which great excitement, so that the whole tree is they enter before daylight and remain there all filled with waving plumes in every variety of day. This was all he could learn from the attitude and motion. The wings are raised natives, except that it was too early to obtain vertically over the back, the head is bent down birds of good plumage. After two or three and stretched out, and the long plumes are thoroughly wet days in which he got nothing, raised up and expanded, till they form two and just as he was beginning to despair, his magnificent golden fans, striped with deep red boy returned with a small bird rather less than at the base, and fading off into the pale brown a thrush, which amply repaid him for months tint of the finely divided and softly waving of delay. It was the King Bird of Paradise points. The whole bird is then overshadowed (Paradisea regia). We will not attempt to de­ by them, the crouching body, yellow head, and scribe its beauty further than to observe that emerald green throat forming but the founda­ "the greater part of its plumage was of an in­ tion and setting to the golden glory which tense cinnabar red, with a gloss as of spun waves above. When seen in this attitude, the silk," and that "springing from each side of Bird of Paradise really deserves its name, and the head, and ordinarily concealed under the must be ranked as one of the most beautiful ONCE A WEEK. [February 26, 1870. and most wonderful of living things." In the little hut that served for cooking purposes, frontispiece to his second volume Mr. Wallace and a bench roofed over, where his men could depicts these gorgeous birds, which are of sit and skin birds and animals. For the first about the size of our common crow, in the full ten days it generally rained every afternoon, enjoyment of their dance; but as is ever the and all night; in the intervals of fine weather, case in all terrestrial happiness, however, he and his men secured many beau­ Medio de fonte leporum tiful birds, but only the common Bird of Surgit amari aliquid. Paradise, the finer species being brought for The picture,alas! also shows two natives, under sale from Amberbaki, a hundred miles west. umbrella-like coverings amongst the leaves, Here he procured four distinct species of a aiming at their prey, while a third is seen col­ group of horned flies, belonging to a genus lecting the victims as they fall ! previously undiscovered, and to which the Mr. Wallace's visit to these almost unknown term Elaphomia, or "deer flies," has since Aru Islands, extended from January to the been given. The horns spring from beneath beginning of July, 1857, when he sailed with a the eye, and seem to be a prolongation of the convoy of praus to Macassar, accomplishing lower part of the orbit. In the largest species the voyage of more than a thousand miles in they are nearly as long as the body, and have nine and a-half days. He describes his ex­ two branches. These appendages are peculiar pedition to these islands as eminently success­ to the male insects. ful, and so it certainly was; for, notwithstanding On board the Dutch steamer, Etna, which much illness and many other drawbacks, he waited for some weeks in the harbour for coal, brought away more than 9000 specimens of Mr. Wallace saw a pair of those rare animals, about 1600 distinct species; he enjoyed the the tree-kangaroos, alive. They differ, he tells rare delights of exploring one of the most re­ us, from the ground-kangaroo in having a markable and least-known faunas in the world, more hairy tail, not thickened at the base, and and succeeded in the main object of his jour­ not serving for a third leg or support; and in ney-namely, in securing fine specimens of the having powerful claws on the fore-feet by Birds of Paradise, and observing them in their which they grasp the bark and branches, native forests. By this success he was stimu­ and seize the leaves on which they feed. They lated to continue his researches for five years seem to have gradually undergone these modi­ longer in the far east; and we will now fol­ fications to enable them to feed ont he foliage low him to New Guinea-a country in which in the forests of New Guinea. no naturalist had ever previously resided, and This long-desired expedition to a vast, un­ which is supposed to contain more strange and explored country unfortunately turned out a beautiful natural history objects than any other complete failure. "Continual rain, continual part of the globe. sickness, little wholesome food, with a plague Starting from Ternata on the 25th of of ants and flies surpassing anything I had March, 1858, in a Dutch trading schooner, before met with, required," says Mr. Wallace, with four servants, Mr. Wallace proceeded on "all a naturalist's ardour to encounter, and his long projected voyage to New Guinea; when they were not compensated by great and as he knew that he should have to build success in collecting, became all the more in­ his own house at Dorey, on the north coast of supportable;" and so, after a three months' the island, where he was to be landed, he took residence, he bade adieu to Dorey, with intense with him eighty waterproof mats, made of disappointment. Instead of obtaining several Pandanus leaves, to protect his baggage on of the rarer Birds of Paradise, Mr. Wallace first landing, and to form the roof of his resi­ never saw even one of them, and he did not dence. On the 11th of April he arrived at secure anyone superlatively fine bird or insect. Dorey, and for the first three days was fully Although he never returned to the main-land, occupied from morning to night in building a he subsequently spent three months of the house, with the assistance of a dozen Papuans summer of 1860 in Waigiou, an island on the and his own men. On the next day the north-western extremity of New Guinea. He schooner left for the more eastern islands, and made Muka, a village on the south-east of Mr. Wallace found himself" fairly established the island, situated about fifteen miles south of as the only European inhabitant of the vast the equator and in east long. 131°, his head island of New Guinea," and the proprietor of a quarters, and, as at Dobbo, at once proceeded wooden house, twenty feet long by fifteen to build a house. Here he very soon succeeded broad, with a bamboo floor, a single door of in obtaining specimens of the rare red Bird of thatch, and a large window. Outside was a Paradise (Paradisea rubra» which is found February 26, 1870.] ONCE A WEEK. 81

nowhere except in this island. Fancy the de­ gap ore, two adult males of the true Paradise light of a naturalist who, when quietly sipping Birds; and as they appeared to be healthy his coffee by the open window in the early and fed voraciously on rice, bananas, and morning, can watch these gorgeous creatures cockroaches, he determined on purchasing settling on the top branches of an adjacent them and attempting to bring them to England lofty fig-tree, and flying from branch to branch. by the overland route. Their price was one This fig-tree only yielded him two male birds, hundred pounds! At Bombay he stayed a as they soon ceased visiting it, either from ,a week to lay in a fresh stock of bananas. On sense of danger or from the fruit becoming board the steamer he set traps for cockroaches, scarce. From Muka he proceeded to a village which were rare in those well-appointed ves­ called Bessir, lying some miles westward, sels; but at Malta, where he stayed a fort­ where there are a number of Papuans, who night, he procured a large supply from a bake­ catch and preserve these birds. Here he re­ house. Notwithstanding the sharp frost they sided for six weeks in a residence offered to experienced between Marseilles and Paris, the him by the chief. It was just eight feet square, birds arrived in London in perfect health. One raised on posts, so that the floor was four and of them lived for a year, and the other for two a half feet above the ground, and the highest years, in the Zoological Gardens, and they part of the roof only five feet above the floor. often displayed their beautiful plumage. "It Mr. Wallace, who is more than six feet high, is evident, therefore," he observes, "that the was just able, by bending double and carefully Paradise Birds are very hardy, and require air creeping in, to sit on his chair with his head just and exercise rather than heat; and I feel sure clear of the ceiling. Having explained to the that if a good sized conservatory could be de­ bird-catchers the price he would give, in voted to them, or if they could be turned loose advance, for fresh skins, in hatchets, beads, in the tropical department of the Crystal &c., he found only one who ventured to take Palace, or the great palm house at Kew, they goods equivalent to two birds: the rest being would live in this country for many years." suspicious of the white stranger; but when they Mr. Wallace's opinion that with moderate care found that their companion was fairly dealt these birds may be kept in slight confinement with, six others took away goods, for from one is corroborated by the observations made by to six birds each. As the birds were caught a Mr. Bennett more than thirty years previous. long way off in the forest, they did not care to This eminent naturalist, in his" Wanderings return with one, but would tie it by the leg to in New South Wales, Batavia, Singapore, and a stick till they caught another. The birds, China," published in 1834, describes a live thus tied, injured or destroyed themselves in specimen of the great Bird of Paradise that struggling to escape. "One had its beautiful had lived in Mr. Beale's possession at Macao head all defiled by pitch from a dammar for nine years. He was enclosed in a large torch; another had been so long dead that its and roomy cage, and for all we know to the stomach was turning green." He had there­ contrary may have survived Mr. Bennett's visit fore to insist on the birds being brought alive, many years. Mr. Beale was very desirous and a large bamboo cage, fitted up with troughs of obtaining a living female, but there is no for food and water, was constructed to keep evidence that he was successful. them alive, if possible. The birds were not The methods employed by the natives for only supplied with their favourite fruits, but securing these birds are various. The red indulged freely in grasshoppers, and drank birds are in general noosed by the leg as plenty of water; and yet on the second day they come to eat a favourite fruit, while ac­ they always showed less activity, while on the cording to Mr. Bennett, they are also caught morning of the third day they were almost with birdlime made from the pulpy juice yielded always found dead without any apparent cause. by the trunk of the bread-fruit tree. The "Some of them," says Mr. Wallace, "ate native mode of preparing the birds for the boiled rice, as well as fruits and insects; but market is to cut off the wings and feet, and then after trying many in succession not one in ten skin the body up to the beak, taking out the lived more than three days. I tried immature skull. A short stick is then run up through the as well as full-plumaged birds, but with no specimen, coming out at the mouth. Round better success, and at length gave it up as a this some leaves are stuffed, and the whole is hopeless task, and confined my attention to wrapped up in a palm spathe, and dried in the preserving specimens in as good a condition smoky huts. By this plan the head and body as possible." On his return home, in 1862, he are much reduced, and the greatest prominence was, however, so fortunate as to find, at Sin- is given to the flowing plumage. March 19. 1870. ] ONCE A WEEK. 139

acid, nor sweet, nor juicy, yet one feels the THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE want of none of these qualities, for it is perfect EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO. as it is. In fact to eat durians is a new sensa­ tion, worth a voyage to the East to expe­ NO. v. rience." For so delicious a fruit as this, need OR much interesting matter regarding the we wonder at Dr. Collingwood's statement that F Birds of Paradise; into which we have at Singapore fifty dollars are given for the not space to enter, we may refer to the thirty­ produce of a single tree? eighth chapter of Mr. Wallace's second volume, Mr. Bickmore, on the other hand, finds in which is devoted to these birds; and many the durian "a pale, yellow, salvy, half-rotten details regarding their habits not noticed by substance having an odour of putrid animal our author wiII be found in the third chapter of matter. Its simple odour is generally quite Mr. Bennett's second volume. enough for most Europeans." These articles would be incomplete without In his remarks on the true bread-tree, or some reference to the most important fruit-trees bread-fruit, Mr. Wallace is much more enthu­ of the Eastern Archipelago-such as the bread­ siastic than Mr. Bickmore. It grows in fruit, jack, dookoo, mangusteen, pine-apple, several parts of the Archipelago, and has been plantain, rambootan, custard-apple, mango, largely cultivated around Amboyna, where Mr. guava, and durian; which, with many others, Wallace first tasted it. "It is generally about are found in Singapore, and in many of the the size of a melon, a little fibrous towards cultivated parts of Borneo, Java, &c. Dr. the centre, but everywhere else quite smooth Collingwood, from whose book (see p. 271), we and puddingy [we thank Mr. Wallace for this extract the above list, observes with regard to expressive term], something in consistence the durian, that it is a great favourite with between yeast-dumplings and batter-pudding. some, and detested by others; and in Mr. It is baked entire in the hot embers, and the Wallace and Mr. Bickmore we have the two inside scooped out with a spoon. I compared parties very decidedly represented. When it to Yorkshire pudding; Charles Allen said brought into a house, the smell of this fruit is it was like mashed potatoes and milk. In no so offensive that some persons can not even be way is it so good as simply baked. With made to taste it. This was Mr. Wallace's own meat and gravy it is a vegetable superior to case when he first tried it at Malacca; but in any I know, either in temperate or tropical Borneo he found a ripe fmit on the ground, and climates. With sugar, milk, butter, or treacle, eating it out of doors, he at once became a con­ it is a delicious pudding, having a very slight firmed durian-eater. The fruit is round, as and delicate, but characteristic flavour, which, large as a good-sized cocoa-nut, of a green like that of good bread and potatoes, one colour, and covered all over with short stout never gets tired of." Considering the high spines, the bases of which touch each other; character assigned by Mr. Wallace to this and it is thus so completely armed, that if the fruit, it is no wonder that he suggests that we stalk is broken off, it is not easy to raise it should try to acclimatise it in our West India from the ground. The rind is so thick that islands; and, as the fruit will keep some time from whatever height the fruit falls, it is never after being gathered, we might then be able to broken. From the base to the apex are five faint obtain this tropical luxury in Covent Garden lines, where, with a heavy knife and a strong Market. Mr. Bickmore states that the Arto­ hand, the fruit may be divided. These sections carpus incisa, which we presume is the species divide the interior into five cells, each of which referred to by Mr. Wallace, has already been has a satiny white lining, and is filled with an introduced from the Pacific Islands into the oval mass of cream-coloured pulp in which are West Indies * and tropical America; but, so far two or three seeds about the size of chesnuts. from endorsing his enthusiastic views regard­ "This pulp," says Mr. Wallace, "is the eatable ing its culinary value, states that "it tastes part, and its consistence and flavour are inde­ somewhat like a potato, except that it is very scribable. A rich butter-like custard highly fibrous." flavoured with almonds, gives the best general * Many of our readers will, doubtless, recollect idea of it, but intermingled with it come that the main object of the voyage of the Bounty, wafts of flavour that call to mind cream-cheese, in 1787, under the command of Captain Bligh, was onion-sauce, brown sherry, and other incon­ to discover whether the bread-fruit tree could be transplanted from Otaheite, and cultivated in the gruities. Then there is a rich glutinous sub­ West Indies with success. The well-known mutiny stance in the pulp, that nothing else possesses, that occurred shortly after the Bounty left Otaheite, but which adds to its delicacy. It is neither of course, stopped the experiment. 140 ONCE A WEEK. [March 19, 1870.

In these hard times, and with all the olden Chili peppers and a few grains of coarse salt, cheap quarters-such as the Isle of Man, the ground up between two flat stones. Formerly Channel Islands, &c.-over-peopled, it may it appears to have been the custom to broil be worth while mentioning that Mr. Wallace the human flesh, for Mr. Marsden states that, has discovered a country where a person may in December, 1780, a native of Nias, who live luxuriously, in so far as his food is con­ stabbed a Batta at Batang Taroh, the river I cerned, for twelve shillings a year; and as crossed on the suspension bridge, was seized this happy land, the island of Ceram, lies at six one morning, and without any judicial within three degrees of the equator, the ex­ process, was tied to a stake, cut in pieces with penses of dress need hardly equal those of the utmost eagerness while yet alive, and food. For his most interesting account of eaten on the spot, partly broiled but mostly how to make sago bread and cakes, with little raw." labour or preparation, from a tree-trunk twenty "The Battas," he adds, "certainly do not eat feet long and five in circumference, we must human flesh for lack of food, nor wholly to refer to pages 216-222 of his second volume; satisfy revenge, but chiefly to gratify their and the food is not to be despised. " The hot appetites. The governor at Padang informed cakes are very nice with butter; and when me that these people gave him this odd origin of made with the addition of sugar and grated their cannibal customs :-Many years ago one cocoa nut are quite a delicacy. They are of their rajahs, committed a great crime, and soft, and something like corn-flour cakes, but it was evident to all that, exalted as he was, have a slight characteristic flavour, which is he ought to be punished, but no one would lost in the refined sago we use in this take upon himself the responsibility to punish country." a prince. After much consultation, they at There is unfortunately an article of diet last hit upon the happy idea, that he should be occasionally enjoyed in the Malay Archipelago put to death, but they would all eat a piece of that is not yielded by the vegetable kingdom­ his body, and in this way all would share in namely human flesh. Mr. Wallace gives us no punishing him. During this feast each one, to information on the subject further than hinting his astonishment, found the portion assigned at the dangerous character of the savages in­ him a most palatable morsel, and they all habiting the best Bird of Paradise localities. agreed that whenever another convict was to Mr. Bickmore, however, speaks very decidedly be put to death they would allow themselves regarding cannibalism being still practised by to gratify their appetites again in the same the Battas-a hill tribe inhabiting the central manner, and thus arose the custom which has parts of Sumatra, and quite distinct, as a race, been handed down from one generation to from the Malays. He spent (we are happy to another to the present day" (p. 446). say, safely) some time in a Batta village, where From this demoniacal feature of human there were two German missionaries one of nature, let us turn to a lovely scene beneath whom stated "that he knew of a Batta who the waters, for the sketch of which we are had been guilty of stealing an article of only very indebted to Dr. Collingwood. The scene that little value, according to their ideas of wealth, he so vivedlydepicts occurred on the Fiery Reef, yet he was seized, his arms extended at full length in the China sea; and he dropt, as it were, upon it and fastened to a bamboo, a sharpened prop while on a voyage to Labuan. "The surface of placed under his chin, so that he could not the sea was perfectly smooth and glass-like, so move his head, and in this condition he was that at the depth of sixty or seventy feet we bound fast to a tree. The knife was then handed could see the anchor lying at the bottom tothe native who had lost the article, and hewas among blocks of coral as distinctly as if it had ordered to step forward and cut out of the been but six feet from the surface. Taking a living man what piece he preferred. This he boat, with a couple of rowers, I left the ship did promptly; the rajah took the second choice and steered in search of the shallowest portions and then the people finished the cold-blooded of the coral-strewn sea. A short row brought butchery, and thus their victim died. This us upon a two fathom patch, over which I revolting feast, he assures me, took place but a allowed the boat to drift slowly; and leaning short distance from the village where he over the side and looking down into the resides. The parts that are esteemed the mirror-like sea I could admire at leisure the greatest delicacies are the palms of the hands, wonderful sight, undistorted as it was by the and, after them, the eyes. As soon as a piece slightest ripple. Glorious masses of living coral is cut out it is dipped, still warm and steaming, strewed the bottom; immense globular mad­ in sambal, a common condiment of red or repores, vast overhanging mushroom-shaped March 19, 1870.] ONCE A WEEK. 141 expansions, complicated ramifications of inter­ seen to discharge six of these fishes from its weaving branches, mingled with smaller and interior or digestive cavity. There are at least more delicate spec les-round, finger-shaped two anemone-inhabiting fishes in these seas; horn-like, and umbrella-form-lay in wondrous the second species having black and cream- confusion: and these painted with every shade colollred vertical bands, instead of orange and of delicate and brilliant colouring-grass­ white. Dr. Collingwood observes that the green and deep blue, bright-yellow, pure white, nature and object of the connection yet remains rich buff, and more sober brown-altogether to be proved. Mr. Peach, if we rightly re- forming a kaleidoscopic effect of form and collect, suggests that, in the case of the jelly- colour unequalled by anything I had ever seen. fish, the fishes swim under the umbrella-like Here and there was a large clam shell (chama) disc for shelter from their enemies. We should wedged in between masses of coral, the gaping be glad if some of our readers who are dwellers zigzag mouth covered with the projecting on the sea-side would turn their attention to mantle of the deepest Pruss ian blue; beds of dark purple, long spined echini, and the thick this singular subject. sailing homewards, in black bodies of sea cucumbers (Holothuriae), June, in the Atlantic (lat. 13° S. long. 22° W.), varied the aspect of the sea bottom. In and he fell in with numbers of splendid Physaliae, out of these coral groves, like gorgeous birds or Portuguese men-of-war, the largest having in a forest of trees, swarm the most beautifully the well-known bladder 8 in. long and 21 in. coloured and grotesque fishes, some of an above water, while the greatest vertical circum- intense blue, others bright red, others yellow, ference was 10 1/2 in. Eachof these magnificent black, salmon-coloured, and every colour of creatures, as it floated by, had beneath it a the rainbow, curiously barred and banded and peculiar appearance, which was found to be bearded, swarming everywhere in little shoals due to a shoal of fishes from 2 in. to 6 in. which usually included the same species, long, and looking precisely like the pilot-fish, though every moment new species, more accompanying the man-of-war, under the pro- striking than the last, came into view" tection of its vertical appendages. Under (p. 147). small Physaliae the fishes were small, while In his observations on this naturalist's under large species the fishes were com- paradise, Dr. Collingwood made "the dis­ paratively large. Considering the intensely covery of some Actiniae of enormous size, and irritating properties of the tentacles, it is strange of habits no less novel than striking." The that fishes should choose such a harbour of habits are not so novel as our author supposes; refuge. similar habits having been observed and re­ And now it is full time that we should bid our corded by Mr. Peach, regarding the common adventurous travellers farewell. They have jelly-fish* of our own coasts. In a shallow all done well in their respective departments; spot he saw a large and beautiful convoluted but, as we observed in our first article, Mr. mass of a deep blue colour, which, at first, he Wallace stands facile princeps. supposed to be a coral. On placing his hand We are not informed as to the number of upon it, the peculiar tenacious touch of the specimens brought home by Dr. Collingwood. sea-anemone revealed its true nature, shreds of Mr. Bickmore tells us that he fully succeeded the tentacles adhering to his hand. When in accomplishing the object of his voyage, fully expanded it measured fully two feet in (which was to re-collect the shells figured by diameter. While standing in the water, ad­ Rumphius) and gives us a list of the birds which miring this beautiful creature, he noticed a he collected on the island of Buru; while pretty little fish about six inches long, and Mr. Wallace's eastern collections included no beautifully banded, vertically, with alternate less than 125,660 specimens of natural his- white and orange rings, hovering just over the tory, of which 310 were mammals, 100 rep­ anemones, and remaining there so long as to tiles, 8,050 birds, 7,500 shells, and 109,700 excite Dr. Collingwood's suspicion that some insects. In so far as new animals are con- connection existed between the two. This cerned, it is in the insect world that he has suspicion was subsequently confirmed on a reef made the most discoveries; in illustration of off Labuan, where the same sea-anemone was which we may mention that he has brought back, at least, nine hundred species of * The sea-anemones and jelly-fishes are so far Longicorn beetles, and two hundred of ants allied that they are both included in the sub­ kingdom, Coelenterata, the former belonging to new to European cabinets. Mr. Wallace is the class Anthozoa (known also as Polyps or coral still a comparatively young man, and we animals), and the latter to the class Hydramedusae. heartily trust that his travels are not yet over.