888681-The-Malay-Archipelago-by-Alfred-Russell-Wallace

irds, the red lories, who utter shrill screams like most of the
parrot tribe, and the large green nutmeg-pigeon, whose voice is
either a loud and deep boom, like two notes struck upon a very
large gong, or sometimes a harsh toad-like croak, altogether
peculiar and remarkable. Only two quadrupeds are said by the
natives to inhabit the island--a wild pig and a Cuscus, or
Eastern opossum, of neither of which could I obtain specimens.
The insects were more abundant, and very interesting. Of
butterflies I caught thirty-five species, most of them new to me,
and many quite unknown in European collections. Among them was
the fine yellow and black Papilio euchenor, of which but few
specimens had been previously captured, and several other
handsome butterflies of large size, as well as some beautiful
little "blues," and some brilliant dayflying moths. The beetle
tribe were less abundant, yet I obtained some very fine and rare
species. On the leaves of a slender shrub in an old clearing I
found several fine blue and black beetles of the genus Eupholus,
which almost rival in beauty- the diamond beetles of South
America. Some cocoa-nut palms in blossom on the beach were
frequented by a fine green floral beetle (Lomaptera which, when
the flowers were shaken, flew off like a small swarm of bees. I
got one of our crew to climb up the tree, and he brought me a
good number in his hand; and seeing they were valuable, I sent
him up again with my net to shake the flowers into, and thus
secured a large quantity. My best capture, however, was the
superb insect of the Buprestis family, already mentioned as
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