During our two months' stay in the Bay of Manilla, we could only become acquainted with a small part of the natural productions, in which the large island of Luçon appears extremely rich, because it is difficult to procure them without travelling far into the interior; but the country round Manilla and Cavite being cultivated to the distance of several days' journey, the woods of the mountains alone remain in a state of nature. There dwell the gigantic snakes and crocodiles, of which every one has some tale to relate. A small Cercopithecus is found in great abundance; but we were not able to meet with a good drawing, or even a tolerable description of it. Skins of Galeopithecus were brought us; and we were assured that the animal allowed itself to be tamed, and would sit like a monkey, and take its food with the fore-feet. Two kinds of flying dogs, one of them apparently a Pteropus edulis, were shot and eaten in the neighbourhood. Two other animals, of the bat kind, belonged to the classes Hypexodon and Nycticejus. A Chelone, three feet long, was brought us, remarkable for seven shields on the middle of its back. Terrapene tricarinata is abundant. We obtained also a Basilicus, a large Tupinambis, and two Geckos, which do not as yet appear to have been described. Achrochordus fasciatus lives in the sea, and is frequently brought up in the nets of the fishermen; on land, it is unable to move from the spot on which it is placed.
In November and December, the months we passed at Manilla, all the insects had concealed themselves; and it was only by the assistance of several active Malays, who were all day long hunting them, that we were able to collect upwards of two hundred beetles. Upon the whole, the beetle Fauna agrees with that of Java, of which island many have already been made known. A Tricondyla we had ourselves the pleasure of catching on the trunk of a tree: the inhabitants did not bring them to us, as they suppose them to be large ants, and are apprehensive of being stung by them. We obtained three sorts of Catascopus, nineteen aquatic Scarabæus, six Hydrophilus, five Buprestis, five Melolontha, four Anomala. Scarabæus Gideon is found in great abundance in the thick bushes, where it climbs up the branches by means of its long legs and large claws. Of Oryctes nasicornis, a Malay one day brought us no less than sixty, taken out of some decayed wood. A green Cetonia, of the size and form of the chinensis, of a coppery brightness, is rare. Three small Lucanides, of those called by Mac Leay Nigidius and Figulus, are found in the wood of living trees.
Of wingless Heteromerides, we found only one Tagenia, and that under the dry bark of a tree. For Pimeliades the soil is unfavourable, there not being, as far as we could learn, in the country round Manilla, either stones, or low, broad-leafed plants, under which these animals can find shelter from the burning rays of the sun: they are found only under dry bark, and about the root of the Opatrum, Uloma, and similar plants. The Helopides, on the other hand, must be looked for on the dry branches in the tops of trees, but we obtained only six varieties. Of the twenty-six stag-beetles collected here, it is necessary to observe, that they are all essentially different from those found in South America.
Our passage through the Chinese Sea was rapid; and as we had constantly stormy weather in the Indian Ocean, we had no opportunities of observing marine animals. In the vicinity of the Cape, we caught some Salpæ, Physaliæ, and Velellæ; but in the Northern Atlantic, after reaching the region of the Sargassum natans, daily opportunities for interesting observations presented themselves. From the point at which the floating sea-weed was first noticed, (eighteen degrees north latitude, and about thirty degrees of longitude west of Greenwich,) to the coast of England, forty-three kinds of animals were observed, not noticed on our outward voyage. We were able to make a very exact examination of the whole system of the Beroe punctata. Three new varieties of Medusa were discovered, and an animal (Rataria N.) between Velella and Porpita: it has the flat form of the latter, but is provided with a sail, which it can draw in at will. We also caught the animal which Le Sueur has called Stephanomia uvæformis. Lastly, we had the good fortune to procure a specimen of an animal which appears to form a link between the Salpa and Pyrosoma. This species (called Anchinia) consists of a number of animalculæ of the Salpa form, which, by means of a stalk, are attached to a common body, all of them being turned to the same side.
In the course of less than three years, 2400 kinds of animals were either examined, or only collected, consisting of the following classes:—
| Species. | |
| Mammalia | 28 |
| Birds | 165 |
| Amphibia | 33 |
| Fishes | 90 |
| Annulides | 40 |
| Crustacea | 127 |
| Insects | 1400 |
| Arachnides | 28 |
| Cephalopodes | 20 |
| Gasteropodes | 162 |
| Acephali | 45 |
| Tunicati | 28 |
| Cirrhipedes | 21 |
| Echinodermates | 60 |
| Acalephi | 63 |
| Zoophytes | 90 |
| Fr. Eschscholtz. |
Dorpat, 7th January, 1828.
THE END.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY,
Dorset Street, Fleet Street.