the hollows, and is more or less spread over the plains and hill-sides. The forest vegetation is here of the most luxuriant character; ferns and palms abound, and the climbing rattans were more abundant than I had ever seen them, forming tangled festoons over almost every large forest-tree. The cottage I was to occupy was situated in a large clearing of about a hundred acres, part of which was already planted with young cacao-trees and plantains to shade them, while the rest was covered with dead and half-burnt forest-trees; and on one side there was a tract where the trees had been recently felled, and were not yet burnt. The path by which I had arrived continued along one side of this clearing, and then again entering the virgin forest, passed over hill and dale to the northern side of the island.

My abode was merely a little thatched hut, consisting of an open veranda in front, and a small dark sleeping-room behind. It was raised about five feet from the ground, and was reached by rude steps to the centre of the veranda. The walls and floor were of bamboo, and it contained a table, two bamboo chairs, and a couch. Here I soon made myself comfortable, and set to work hunting for insects among the more recently felled timber, which swarmed with fine Curculionidæ, longicorns, and Buprestidæ, most of them remarkable for their elegant forms or brilliant colors, and almost all entirely new to me. Only the entomologist can appreciate the delight with which I hunted about for hours in the hot sunshine, among the branches and twigs and bark of the fallen trees, every few minutes securing insects which were at that time almost all rare or new to European collections.

In the shady forest paths were many fine butterflies, most conspicuous among which was the shining blue Papilio ulysses, one of the princes of the tribe. Though at that time so rare in Europe, I found it absolutely common in Amboyna, though not easy to obtain in fine condition, a large number of the specimens being found, when captured, to have the wings torn or broken. It flies with a rather weak undulating motion, and from its large size, its tailed wings, and brilliant color, is one of the most tropical-looking insects the naturalist can gaze upon.

There is a remarkable contrast between the beetles of

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Amboyna and those of Macassar, the latter generally small and obscure, the former large and brilliant. On the whole, the insects here most resemble those of the Aru Islands, but they are almost always of distinct species, and when they are most nearly allied to each other the species of Amboyna are of larger size and more brilliant colors, so that one might be led to conclude that, in passing east and west into a less favorable soil and climate, they had degenerated into less striking forms.

Of an evening I generally sat reading in the veranda, ready to capture any insects that were attracted to the light. One night about nine o'clock I heard a curious noise and rustling overhead, as if some heavy animal were crawling slowly over the thatch. The noise soon ceased, and I thought no more about it, and went to bed soon afterward. The next afternoon just before dinner, being rather tired with my day's work, I was lying on the couch with a book in my hand, when, gazing upward, I saw a large mass of something overhead which I had not noticed before. Looking more carefully, I could see yellow and black marks, and thought it must be a tortoise-shell put up there out of the way between the ridge-pole and the roof. Continuing to gaze, it suddenly resolved itself into a large snake, compactly coiled up in a kind of knot; and I could detect his head and his bright eyes in the very centre of the folds. The noise of the evening before was now explained. A python had climbed up one of the posts of the house, and had made his way under the thatch within a yard of my head, and taken up a comfortable position in the roof-and I had slept soundly all night directly under him.

I called to my two boys who were skinning birds below and said, "Here's a big snake in the roof;" but as soon as I had shown it to them they rushed out of the house and begged me to come out directly. Finding they were too much afraid to do any thing, we called some of the laborers in the plantation, and soon had half a dozen men in consultation outside. One of these, a native of Bouru, where there are a great many snakes, said he would get him out, and proceeded to work in a business-like manner. He made a strong noose of rattan, and with a long pole in the other hand poked at

the snake, who then began slowly to uncoil itself. He then managed to slip the noose over its head, and getting it well on to the body, dragged the animal down. There was a

great scuffle as the snake coiled round the chairs and posts to resist his enemy, but at length the man caught hold of its tail, rushed out of the house (running so quick that the creature seemed quite confounded), and tried to strike its head against a tree. He missed however, and let go, and the snake got under a dead trunk close by. It was again poked out, and again the Bouru man caught hold of its tail, and running away quickly dashed its head with a swing against a tree, and it was then easily killed with a hatchet. It was about twelve feet long, and very thick, capable of doing much mischief, and of swallowing a dog or a child.

I did not get a great many birds here. The most remarkable were the fine crimson lory (Eos rubra), a brushtongued parroquet of a vivid crimson color, which was very abundant. Large flocks of them came about the plantation, and formed a magnificent object when they settled down upon some flowering tree, on the nectar of which lories feed. I also obtained one or two specimens of the fine racquettailed kingfisher of Amboyna (Tanysiptera nais), one of the most singular and beautiful of that beautiful family. These birds differ from all other kingfishers (which have usually short tails) by having the two middle tail-feathers immensely lengthened, and very narrowly webbed, but terminated by a spoon-shaped enlargement, as in the motmots and some of the humming-birds. They belong to that division of the family termed king-hunters, living chiefly on insects and small land-molluscs, which they dart down upon and pick up from the gronnd, just as a kingfisher picks a fish out of the water. They are confined to a very limited area, comprising the Moluccas, New Guinea, and Northern Australia. About ten species of these birds are now known, all much resembling each other, but yet sufficiently distinguishable in every locality. The Amboynese species, of which a very accurate representation is here given, is one of the largest and handsomest. It is full seventeen inches long to the tips of the tail-feathers; the bill is coral red, the under surface pure white, the back and wings deep purple, while the shoulders,