[The Malay Archipelago by Alfred Russell Wallace]@TWC D-Link bookThe Malay Archipelago CHAPTER XXVII 17/20
This being case, the laws of Variation and Survival of the Fittest, will suffice to explain how the resemblance has been brought about, without supposing any voluntary action on the part of the birds themselves; and those who have read Mr.Darwin's "Origin of Species" will have no difficulty in comprehending the whole process. The insects of the Moluccas are pre-eminently beautiful, even when compared with the varied and beautiful productions of other parts of the Archipelago.
The grand bird-winged butterflies (Ornithoptera) here reach their maximum of size and beauty, and many of the Papilios, Pieridae Danaidae, and Nymphalidae are equally preeminent.
There is, perhaps, no island in the world so small as Amboyna where so many grand insects are to be found.
Here are three of the very finest Ornithopterae--priamus, helena, and remiss; three of the handsomest and largest Papilios--ulysses, deiphobus, and gambrisius; one of the handsomest Pieridae, Iphias leucippe; the largest of the Danaidae, Hestia idea; and two unusually large and handsome Nymphalidae--Diadema pandarus, and Charaxes euryalus.
Among its beetles are the extraordinary Euchirus longimanus, whose enormous legs spread over a space of eight inches, and an unusual number of large and handsome Longicorns, Anthribidae, and Buprestidae. The beetles figured on the plate as characteristic of the Moluccas are: 1.
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