s, on the 14th of March, I had collected in
the four preceding months, 320 different kinds of beetles. In less
than a fortnight I had doubled this number, an average of about 24 new
species every day. On one day 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 f