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.
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