I collected 76 different kinds, of which 34 were new to me. By the end of April I
had more than a thousand species, and they then went on increasing at a slower
rate, so that I obtained altogether in Borneo about two thousand distinct kinds, of
which all but about a hundred were collected at this place, and on scarcely more
than a square mile of ground. The most numerous and most interesting groups of
beetles were the Longicorns and Rhynchophora, both pre-eminently wood-
feeders. The former, characterised by their graceful forms and long antenna,
were especially numerous, amounting to nearly three hundred species, nine-
tenths of which were entirely new, and many of them remarkable for their large
size, strange forms, and beautiful colouring. The latter correspond to our weevils
and allied groups, and in the tropics are exceedingly numerous and varied, often
swarming upon dead timber, so that I sometimes obtained fifty or sixty different
kinds in a day. My Bornean collections of this group exceeded five hundred
species.
My collection of butterflies was not large; but I obtained some rare and very
handsome insects, the most remarkable being the Ornithoptera Brookeana, one
of the most elegant species known. This beautiful creature has very long and
pointed wings, almost resembling a sphinx moth in shape. It is deep velvety
black, with a curved band of spots of a brilliant metallic-green colour extending
across the wings from tip to tip, each spot being shaped exactly like a small
triangular feather, and having very much the effect of a row of the wing coverts
of the Mexican trogon, laid upon black velvet. The only other marks are a broad
neck-collar of vivid crimson, and a few delicate white touches on the outer
margins of the hind wings. This species, which was then quite new and which I
named after Sir James Brooke, was very rare. It was seen occasionally flying
swiftly in the clearings, and now and then settling for an instant at puddles and
muddy places, so that I only succeeded in capturing two or three specimens. In
some other parts of the country I was assured it was abundant, and a good many
specimens have been sent to England; but as yet all have been males, and we are
quite unable to conjecture what the female may be like, owing to the extreme
isolation of the species, and its want of close affinity to any other known insect.
One of the most curious and interesting reptiles which I met with in Borneo
was a large tree-frog, which was brought me by one of the Chinese workmen. He
assured me that he had seen it come down in a slanting direction from a high
tree, as if it flew. On examining it, I found the toes very long and fully webbed
to their very extremity, so that when expanded they offered a surface much
larger than the body. The forelegs were also bordered by a membrane, and the
body was capable of considerable inflation. The back and limbs were of a very