In a week I obtained no less than twenty-four species of birds, which I
had not found in the east of the island, and in a fortnight this number
increased to forty species, almost all of which are peculiar to the
Javanese fauna. Large and handsome butterflies were also tolerably
abundant. In dark ravines, and occasionally on the roadside, I captured
the superb Papilio arjuna, whose wings seem powdered with grains of
golden green, condensed into bands and moon-shaped spots; while the
elegantly-formed Papilio coon was sometimes to be found fluttering
slowly along the shady pathways (see figure at page 201). One day a boy
brought me a butterfly between his fingers, perfectly unhurt. He had
caught it as it was sitting with wings erect, sucking up the liquid from
a muddy spot by the roadside. Many of the finest tropical butterflies
have this habit, and they are generally so intent upon their meal that
they can be easily be reached and captured. It proved to be the rare and
curious Charaxes kadenii, remarkable for having on each hind wing two
curved tails like a pair of callipers. It was the only specimen I
ever saw, and is still the only representative of its kind in English
collections.
In the east of Java I had suffered from the intense heat and drought of
the dry season, which had been very inimical to insect life. Here I had
got into the other extreme of damp, wet, and cloudy weather, which was
equally unfavourable. During the month which I spent in the interior
of West Java, I never had a really hot fine day throughout. It rained
almost every afternoon, or dense mists came down from the mountains,
which equally stopped collecting, and rendered it most difficult to dry
my specimens, so that I really had no chance of getting a fair sample of
Javanese entomology.
By far the most interesting incident in my visit to Java was a trip to
the summit of the Pangerango and Gedeh mountains; the former an extinct
volcanic cone about 10,000 feet high, the latter an active crater on a
lower portion of the same mountain range. Tchipanas, about four miles
over the Megamendong Pass, is at the foot of the mountain. A small
country house for the Governor-General and a branch of the Botanic
Gardens are situated here, the keeper of which accommodated me with a
bed for a night. There are many beautiful trees and shrubs planted
here, and large quantities of European vegetables are grown for the
Governor-General's table. By the side of a little torrent that bordered
the garden, quantities of orchids were cultivated, attached to the
100