They Assemble Together In Groups And Small Flocks, And
They Haw A Very Loud Bawling Note Which Can Be Heard At A Great
Distance, And Serves To Collect A Number Together In Time Of
Danger.
They are very plentiful and very pugnacious, frequently
driving away crows and even hawks, which perch on a tree where a
few of them are assembled.
It is very probable, therefore, that
the smaller birds of prey have learnt to respect these birds and
leave them alone, and it may thus be a great advantage for the
weaker and less courageous Mimetas to be mistaken for them. This
being case, the laws of Variation and Survival of the Fittest,
will suffice to explain how the resemblance has been brought
about, without supposing any voluntary action on the part of the
birds themselves; and those who have read Mr. Darwin's "Origin of
Species" will have no difficulty in comprehending the whole
process.
The insects of the Moluccas are pre-eminently beautiful, even
when compared with the varied and beautiful productions of other
parts of the Archipelago. The grand bird-winged butterflies
(Ornithoptera) here reach their maximum of size and beauty, and
many of the Papilios, Pieridae Danaidae, and Nymphalidae are
equally preeminent. There is, perhaps, no island in the world so
small as Amboyna where so many grand insects are to be found.
Here are three of the very finest Ornithopterae - priamus, helena,
and remiss; three of the handsomest and largest Papilios -
ulysses, deiphobus, and gambrisius; one of the handsomest
Pieridae, Iphias leucippe; the largest of the Danaidae, Hestia
idea; and two unusually large and handsome Nymphalidae - Diadema
pandarus, and Charaxes euryalus. Among its beetles are the
extraordinary Euchirus longimanus, whose enormous legs spread
over a space of eight inches, and an unusual number of large and
handsome Longicorns, Anthribidae, and Buprestidae.
The beetles figured on the plate as characteristic of the
Moluccas are: 1. A small specimen of the Euchirus longimanus, or
Long-armed Chafer, which has been already mentioned in the
account of my residence at Amboyna (Chapter XX.). The female has
the fore legs of moderate length. 2. A fine weevil, (an
undescribed species of Eupholus,) of rich blue and emerald green
colours, banded with black. It is a native of Ceram and Goram,
and is found on foliage. 3. A female of Xenocerus semiluctuosus,
one of the Anthribidae of delicate silky white and black colours.
It is abundant on fallen trunks and stumps in Ceram and Amboyna.
4. An undescribed species of Xenocerus; a male, with very long
and curious antenna, and elegant black and white markings. It is
found on fallen trunks in Batchian. 5. An undescribed species of
Arachnobas, a curious genus of weevils peculiar to the Moluccas
and New Guinea, and remarkable for their long legs, and their
habit of often sitting on leaves, and turning rapidly round the
edge to the under-surface when disturbed. It was found in Gilolo.
All these insects are represented of the natural size.
Like the birds, the insects of the Moluccas show a decided
affinity with those of New Guinea rather than with the
productions of the great western islands of the Archipelago, but
the difference in form and structure between the productions of
the east and west is not nearly so marked here as in birds. This
is probably due to the more immediate dependence of insects on
climate and vegetation, and the greater facilities for their
distribution in the varied stages of egg, pupa, and perfect
insect. This has led to a general uniformity in the insect-life
of the whole Archipelago, in accordance with the general
uniformity of its climate and vegetation; while on the other hand
the great susceptibility of the insect organization to the action
of external conditions has led to infinite detailed modifications
of form and colour, which have in many cases given a considerable
diversity to the productions of adjacent islands.
Owing to the great preponderance among the birds, of parrots,
pigeons, kingfishers, and sunbirds, almost all of gay or delicate
colours, and many adorned with the most gorgeous plumage, and to
the numbers of very large and showy butterflies which are almost
everywhere to be met with, the forests of the Moluccas offer to
the naturalist a very striking example of the luxuriance and
beauty of animal life in the tropics. Yet the almost entire
absence of Mammalia, and of such wide-spread groups of birds as
woodpeckers, thrushes, jays, tits, and pheasants, must convince
him that he is in a part of the world which has, in reality but
little in common with the great Asiatic continent, although an
unbroken chain of islands seems to link them to it.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
MACASSAR TO THE ARU ISLANDS IN A NATIVE PRAU.
(DECEMBER, 1856.)
IT was the beginning of December, and the rainy season at
Macassar had just set in. For nearly three months had beheld the
sun rise daily above the palm-groves, mount to the zenith, and
descend like a globe of fire into the ocean, unobscured for a
single moment of his course. Now dark leaden clouds had gathered
over the whole heavens, and seemed to have rendered him
permanently invisible. The strong east winds, warm and dry and
dust-laden, which had hitherto blown as certainly as the sun had
risen, were now replaced by variable gusty breezes and heavy
rains, often continuous for three days and nights together; and
the parched and fissured rice stubbles which during the dry
weather had extended in every direction for miles around the
town, were already so flooded as to be only passable by boats, or
by means of a labyrinth of paths on the top of the narrow banks
which divided the separate properties.
Five months of this kind of weather might be expected in Southern
Celebes, and I therefore determined to seek some more favourable
climate for collecting in during that period, and to return in
the next dry season to complete my exploration of the district.
Fortunately for me I was in one of the treat emporiums of the
native trade of the archipelago.
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