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Alfred Russel Wallace and His Collections in the Malay Archipelago, with a Proposal for International Cooperation to Produce a Digital Catalogue

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Naturalists, Explorers and Field Scientists in South-East Asia and Australasia

Part of the book series: Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation ((TOBC,volume 15))

Abstract

During 8 years (1854–1862) spent in the Malay Archipelago, Alfred Russel Wallace’s main object was to acquire specimens of ‘natural history’ for his personal collections and for sale to museums and amateur enthusiasts. His final list amounted to 310 specimens of mammals, 8050 birds, 100 reptiles (a group in which he included amphibians), 7500 molluscan shells, 13,100 Lepidoptera, 83,200 Coleoptera and 13,400 other insects, totalling 125,660 “specimens of natural history”. His field records of these collections held by the libraries of the Natural History Museum and the Linnean Society of London have been digitised and are available on line, as is his Journal, a chronological record of his travels from Bali to Buru. As an alternative archive of Wallace’s achievement, this paper focuses on the origin and later history of his specimens, their impact on the scientific and naturalist community and their permanent significance in zoological nomenclature. His collecting practices and field skills are examined, along with the contribution of his assistants. His London agent Samuel Stevens played an important role in publicising Wallace’s achievements during his travels and, as his specimens arrived, in disposing of duplicates to wealthy buyers, while retaining the best for his personal collection. Many new scientific names were described in lists and catalogs by authors Including, in some instances, Wallace himself. Records are traced to confirm the present whereabouts of specimens that can be located and authenticated. These specimens are still valuable for regional and national policy-making in matters such as nature conservation and species protection, and useful for practical applications, e.g. in integrated pest management. A bold initiative is proposed to make this resource widely available where it is needed by providing digitised images of these specimens and making these available on the web. It is suggested that the Sarawak State government, in co-operation with the Natural History Museum, London, and Oxford University Museum, could take a lead, perhaps through ASEAN scientific cooperation. An exercise to compile and disseminate a comprehensive digitised catalog of Wallace’s Archipelago collections, with emphasis on the irreplaceable type specimens, would be a fitting centennial memorial for his indefatigable enterprise. It would also provide an invaluable asset for regional biologists, zoogeographers, conservationists and wildlife managers.

The main object of all my journeys was to obtain specimens of natural history, both for my private collections and to supply duplicates to museums and amateurs (Wallace 1869, Preface).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    From arrival at Singapore on 18th April 1854 to final departure on 8th February 1862.

  2. 2.

    Available online through the NHM Wallace Correspondence Project, http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/scientific-resources/collections/library-collections/wallace-letters-online/database.html

  3. 3.

    See also http://wallace-online.org

  4. 4.

    Z MSS 89, O WAL.

  5. 5.

    Linn Soc library ms 178a,b,c,d, referred to as the Malay Archipelago Journal.

  6. 6.

    Linnean-online.org. Wallace notebooks. 54017–54020. Where there are spelling changes, cross references were provided by Pearson (2005).

  7. 7.

    Wallace (1869: Preface): “I visited some islands two or three times at distant intervals, and in some cases had to make the same voyage four times over. A chronological arrangement would have puzzled my readers. They would never have known where they were; and my frequent references to the groups of islands classed in accordance with the peculiarities of the animal productions and of their human inhabitants, would have been hardly intelligible.” His itinerary has been summarised by Collar and Prys-Jones (2013).

  8. 8.

    British Library, Add. MS 46411.

  9. 9.

    Dillwyn and Motley cooperated in the production of the planned first (but in the event, sole) number. In 1854, Motley moved to Banjarmasin (from where he sent bird skins to Wallace), but here he was murdered, with his family, in 1860 during an event generally called the “Malay insurrection”.

  10. 10.

    After ARW’s death, this book was acquired from the sale of his library by Thomas Henry Riches who presented it, with the later index by Finsch (1865), to the Linnean Society, In its present state the book consists of both volumes, bound in brown buckram, with the title on the spine in gold lettering, simply CONSPECTUS/GENERUM AVIUM/BONAPARTE. It was repaired and re-backed in November 2008. Linnean library shelf mark 598.c BON.

  11. 11.

    Charles Martin Allen, was “a London boy, the son of a carpenter who had done a little work for my sister, and whose parents were willing for him to go with me and learn to be a collector” (Wallace 1905 i:340). ARW thought Charles was an under-sized 16-year-old, but in fact he was born June 1839–thus only 14 at the time (van Wyhe 2013: 41).

  12. 12.

    ARW, Letter to Poulton March 15th 1896 (Oxford University Museum archive).

  13. 13.

    ARW was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in February 1854.

  14. 14.

    There is still a church and active community centre on the site, although the surrounding country no longer consists of hills topped by stands of virgin forest, “much frequented by wood-cutters and sawyers”, which offered excellent opportunities for collecting.

  15. 15.

    The Rajah was in Singapore from the end of August to 3rd December 1854, attending the Commission of Enquiry into his affairs, appointed by Parliament. The two Commissioners, the Advocate General of India, C. H. Prinsep, and a government agent H. N. Devereux, sat from 11th September to 21st November, and their final report was favourable to Brooke (Runciman 1960).

  16. 16.

    Letter ARW to Stevens, from Singapore, 10th March 1856: My Dear Mr Stevens, I have received your letter of Jan. 6th, announcing the arrival in good order of the Insects by the “Connubia”. At the same time I got the parcel of Books etc. which had been delayed a month as usual at Ceylon. The other shoes etc. do not send till I want something else. Do not send me more B.M. Catalogues, except new ones of Coleoptera, Birds, and Butterflies. The moths have scarcely 50 Indian species in it. I send in the box a pair broken spectacles. Get repaired at the makers, and get another pair exactly like to be sent in next parcel”.

  17. 17.

    In a letter to Stevens (29 October 1858) ARW proposed to send first specimens of his new bird of Paradise (Wallace’s Standardwing) by this route (van Wyhe 2013:265–266).

  18. 18.

    Criticised for collecting so few birds of Paradise in New Guinea, ARW called it “a horribly wild country” where he would have been totally unsafe outside the settlement of Dorey (Anonymous 1857: 113).

  19. 19.

    At Lombok in 1856: “After an early breakfast we went out to explore, taking guns and insect nets” (Journal #5).

  20. 20.

    ARW used this word in its true meaning of a person who loves his subject, rather than its modern, slightly derogatory sense of unprofessionalism.

  21. 21.

    Thus, the morning after arriving at Dobbo, Aru Is. (January 9th 1857): “I set off for the jungle … My day’s captures determined in my mind the success of my Aru journey in an Entomological view. I had taken 30 species of Lepidoptera, a larger number than I had captured since leaving the prolific banks of the Amazon, & my delight may be imagined on having among them some of the rare and handsome species only known by a few specimens form N. Guinea. … Of the other orders I was not so successful obtaining only 17 species of beetles & 20 of all other orders, with nothing remarkable among them except a pretty Longicorn beetle of the rare genus Tinestiterinis & a magnificent bug.” (Journal # 58). Again, in 1858, on a brief stop at Kaioa Is.: “I found a few interesting insects most however of forms & species I was already acquainted with from Ternate & Gilolo. One beautiful new beetle of the genus Eurycephalus was however a great prize to me. … on the felled and burnt logs … I found [a] host of interesting Buprestidae of six species only one of which however was new to me & the lot by no means so beautiful as those of Amboyna“. The following day, he obtained “about 70 species of beetles of which at least a dozen were new to me & many others rare & interesting” (Journal # 155).

  22. 22.

    At Dorey: Small black ants “swarm on my table and as I am at work setting out minute insects they carry them off from beneath my nose & even tear them from the cards on which they have been gummed”, and blow flies settle “in swarms on my bird skins when first put out to dry & filling their plumage with masses of eggs which if neglected the next day produced maggots. They would get under the wings or under the body of the bird where it rested on the drying board, sometimes raising it up half an inch by the mass of eggs deposited in a few hours all glued to the fibres of the feathers so as to make it a work of much time & patience to get them off without injuring the bird.” (ARW Journal #147).

  23. 23.

    In Ceram: “an inflammatory eruption, brought about by the constant attack of small acari-like harvest-bugs, for which the forests of Ceram are famous, and also by the want of nourishing food while in that island. At one time I was covered with severe boils. I had them on my eye, cheek, armpits, elbows, back, thighs, knees, and ankles, so that I was unable to sit or walk, and had great difficulty in finding a side to lay upon without pain. This continues for some weeks, fresh ones coming out as fast as others got well; but good living and sea-baths ultimately cured them” (MA).

  24. 24.

    In 1858, in New Guinea: “on the last day of June, I brought home no less than 95 distinct kinds of beetles…It was a fine hot day, and I devoted it to a search among dead leaves, beating foliage, and hunting under rotten bark, in all the best situations I had discovered in my walks. I was out from ten in the morning to three in the afternoon, and it took me six hours’ work at home to pin and set out all the specimens, and to separate the species. Although I had already been working on this spot daily for two months and a half, and had obtained over 800 species of Coleoptera, this day’s work added 32 new ones” (Wallace 1908:510).

  25. 25.

    The butterflies of Celebes were also hard to catch: “..they were so active & shy as to render it very difficult to capture them. Almost the only place where I could obtain them with any certainty was in the beds of the streams in the forests. Here at damp and muddy pools or even on the dry rocks all sorts of insects could be found. In the adjacent forests are some of the most beautiful butterflies in the world. Three species of the magnificent Ornithopterae measuring seven or eight inches across the wings & beautifully marked with spots or masses of intense satiny yellow on a black ground. They wheel through the thickets with a strong sailing flight & it is only occasionally that a specimen can be captured. About the damp places are to be seen swarms of the beautiful blue banded papilios, the superb metallic green peranthus and pretty little rare swallow tail, all of which, though very active I succeeded in getting very perfect specimens” (Journal #107).

  26. 26.

    On reaching England the new butterfly, Wallace’s Golden Birdwing, was formally named Ornithoptera croesus by G. R. Gray (1859c). It has a wing span exceeding 15 cm.

  27. 27.

    On Kaioa again: “When I sat down to work the house was surrounded with men women & children lost in amazement at my extraordinary & inexplicable operations, & when I proceeded to write the name of the place on small circular tickets & attach one to each insect, even the comparatively civilised old Kapala, the Mohamedan priest & some Malay traders could not repress signs of their astonishment” (Journal #155).

  28. 28.

    When in Sarawak, hunting orang-utans, “I got a shot at it, and the second barrel caused it to fall down almost dead, the two balls having entered the body” (MA).

  29. 29.

    In MA this story appears in a more florid version, naming “my boy Baderoon” (Wallace 1869 ii:221–222).

  30. 30.

    The account in MA ii: 40, gives credit to Ali for bringing in this new bird, and is elegiac by comparison with this first version. However, writing to Stevens shortly afterwards (29th Oct. 1858) ARW was exultant:”..a new Bird of Paradise! of a new genus!! quite unlike anything yet known, very curious and very handsome !!! When I get a couple of pairs I will send them overland to see what a new Bird of Paradise will really fetch. I expect £25 each ! … I consider it the greatest discovery I have yet made “(Raby 2001:143).

  31. 31.

    “On examination, we found he had been dreadfully wounded. Both legs were broken, one hip joint and the root of the spine completely shattered, and two bullets were found in his neck and jaws. … I was occupied with Charley the whole of the next day, preparing the skin and boiling the bones to make a perfect skeleton.”(MA).

  32. 32.

    Assistant in the Zoological Department of the British Museum.

  33. 33.

    Sharpe was appointed Assistant in the Zoological Department of the British Museum in 1872, in charge of the ornithological collection, in succession to G. R. Gray (who died in May of that year).

  34. 34.

    For instance, Habroptila wallacii from East Gilolo (Gould 1860) was not immediately accessioned, and the Museum had to wait until the type was acquired in 1873 with ARW’s personal collection.

  35. 35.

    Among other distinctions, Gould was a Vice-President of the Zoological Society of London.

  36. 36.

    Specimens from this consignment were exhibited by S. Stevens at the meeting of the Zoological Society held on 12th November, 1861.

  37. 37.

    http://decochan.net/index.php?p=5

  38. 38.

    Adolphe Boucard, a Frenchman, was more a trader than collector. His large collection went to the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris. His labels are easy to recognise, as they are written in violet ink and bear a large, red, stemless “B”. They are not very informative, since many of his skins came through the feather trade. Boucard used to write “type” on the labels of specimens which he considered as being typical of the species, possibly a trick to enhance their value. As he also described a few taxa, mostly hummingbirds, this led to considerable confusion (J-F. Voisin, in litt. 13th Jan 2014).

  39. 39.

    http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/birds

  40. 40.

    Keeper of Zoology at the British Museum, 1840–1875.

  41. 41.

    One of which was promptly named as a new species, Sciurus macrotis, by J.E. Gray (1856).

  42. 42.

    The attached label identifies this dramatic standing mount as: “The spm from which Wallace’s description was taken”. It has now been restored and is exhibited as part of the 2013 Wallace Trail in the Natural History Museum.

  43. 43.

    In marginal annotations to the summary tabulation of his collection of orang-utans in the Species Registry, Wallace noted two purchases by the BM: firstly, for £46 altogether, a female and infant, probably the subjects of the sad tale repeated in several places: in a letter home (NHM WP1/3/34), Wallace (1856b, MA, 1905: 343–345); and, secondly, for £50, a ‘small’ male from Semabang (Cranbrook et al. 2005: Table 3). The last of these has not been rediscovered in the Natural History Museum.

  44. 44.

    Reg. no. F.P.M.31a, a skull only, taken from a lost mounted specimen 85a, and 18.3.57.5, ♂, skin and skull. The skull of the latter specimen, which is a juvenile, has been halved by a longitudinal cut.

  45. 45.

    Among the mammals, the flying squirrel is still mounted, and the condition of some other skins suggest that they have been dismounted. Further research is needed to clarify the matter.

  46. 46.

    After his return, in 1864 ARW was elected a Vice President of the Entomological Society.

  47. 47.

    One shilling (s.) = 12 pence (d.). 20s. = one pound sterling (£1) = approx. 5 Straits dollars at that time.

  48. 48.

    By comparison, each number of the Journal of the Linnean Society: Zoology, in which many of these collections were listed, cost 2s., for approximately 50 pages.

  49. 49.

    W. Wilson Saunders was an underwriter at Lloyd’s of London. President of the Entomological Society from 1841–1842 to 1856–1857; Treasurer of the Linnean Society of London 1861–1873; Fellow of the Royal Society from 1853.

  50. 50.

    Carl Eduard Adolph Gerstäcker (1828–1895) was Curator of the Zoological Museum of Humboldt University, Berlin, from 1857 to 1876.

  51. 51.

    Frederick Smith. Born 1805. Curator of the Collections and Library of the Entomological Society of London 1841–1850; Assistant in the Zoological Department, BM 1850–1875; Assistant Keeper of Zoology 1875 until his death in 1879.

  52. 52.

    Major Frederick J.S. Parry specialised in the stag beetles, Lucanidae.

  53. 53.

    See http://wallace-online.org

  54. 54.

    ARW (1878) Tropical nature and other essays. London, Macmillan and Co.

  55. 55.

    ARW also chose this occasion to let the Museum have 27 hawks and owls from his Amazonian collection (Sharpe 1906).

  56. 56.

    Henry Seebohm (1832–1895) was a member of a prominent Quaker family involved in a variety of businesses, including banking, steel-making, and the wool trade. A respected amateur ornithologist, his publications included A History of British Birds (1883), The Geographical Distribution of the family Charadriidae (1887), The Birds of the Japanese Empire (1890), and (posthumously) A Monograph of the Turdidae (1898) and The birds of Siberia (1901).

  57. 57.

    When Sharpe was appointed to succeed G.R. Gray in 1872, obeying “the rule of the Civil Service, which very properly prohibits the keeping of private collections of any group to the custody of which an officer is appointed” (Sharpe 1906: 481), he added his existing bird collection to the British Museum.

  58. 58.

    Among other distinctions, the co-founder of the British Ornithologists’ Union, publishers of the periodical Ibis.

  59. 59.

    Among other posts, Newton held a travelling fellowship of Magdalene College, Cambridge.

  60. 60.

    “The actual number of species and types was never estimated, but when we regard the twenty volumes of Reeve’s ‘Conchologia Iconica’, the five volumes of Sowerby’s ‘Thesaurus Conchyliorum’, and the numerous papers by Pfeiffer, Broderip, H. and A. Adams, Dehayes and others, all descriptive of this collection, we get some idea of the interest attaching to it. This collection of shells was the main object of Mr. Cuming’s life. He not only devoted several years of personal collecting to its formation, but he purchased largely, and obtained very many species by exchange with foreign museums and private collectors in all parts of the world” (Smith 1906:710)

  61. 61.

    “Westwood, having but a small amount for purchases, used to buy damaged specimens at a low price & patch them up. He did this very cleverly, but you must have come across some.” ARW, Letter to Poulton, 26 March 1896 (Oxford Museum archive).

  62. 62.

    http://wallacefund.info/wallace-specimens

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Acknowledgments

Cranbrook is grateful to the Natural History Museum authorities who have given him access to the magnificent library where the duty officer has invariably been helpful. For assistance in examining the collections, much help was also received from George Beccaloni, leading scholar and protector of Wallace’s legacy, from Roberto Portelo-Miguez (mammals) and Robert Prŷs-Jones (birds). Daphne Hills has kindly made available her full list of Wallace’s mammal specimens in the Natural History Museum. Successive Librarians of the Linnean Society of London, Gina Douglas and Lynda Brooks, have provided ready help. At the Liverpool Museum, Clemency Fisher kindly made available Wallace specimens in this collection, notably orang-utans. Jenny Cripps kindly provided the full list of ARW’s bird skins in the Dorset County Museum, and Ben Marks kindly abstracted a list of bird skins in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.

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Appendices

Appendix A: ARW Skins in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago. Information Provided by Ben Marks, Curator of Ornithology

FMNH 98708 – Megalaima henricii henricii – A R Wallace – 1859 – skin

FMNH 98995 – Dicrurus hottentottus bimaensis – A R Wallace – skin

FMNH 304574 – Pycnonotus finlaysoni finlaysoni – A R Wallace – 1862 – skin

FMNH 304584 – Pycnonotus plumosus plumosus – A R Wallace – 1854 – skin

FMNH 304585 – Pycnonotus plumosus plumosus – A R Wallace – 1854 – skin

FMNH 304613 – Hypsipetes malaccensis – A R Wallace – 186? – skin

FMNH 304647 – Chloropsis sonnerati zosterops – A R Wallace – skin

FMNH 304651 – Chloropsis sonnerati zosterops – A R Wallace – 1854 – skin

FMNH 305166 – Copsychus pyrropygus – A R Wallace – skin

FMNH 409589 – Ptilinopus perlatus zonurus – A R Wallace – skin

FMNH 303452 – Dinopium javanense javanense – A R Wallace – skin

FMNH 280815 – Paradisaea apoda apoda – A R Wallace – skin

FMNH 310220 – Semioptera wallacei wallacei – A R Wallace – skin

Appendix B: Birds from the Malay Archipelago in the Alfred Russel Wallace Bird Collection at the Dorset County Museum

Date

Name

 

Place

Acc no

0

Black-headed Pitta

Pitta novae-guineae/? Pitta soldida

Celebes (Sulawesi)

V1055

0

Blue-faced Parrot-finch

Erythrura trichora

Ternate

V1054

0

Vernal Hanging Parrot

Coriculus vernalis

Sula Is.?

V1070

1854

Many-coloured Barbet

Megalaima rafflesii

Malacca

V1075

1854

Red-breasted Bee-eater

Nyctiornis amicta

Malacca

V1074

1856

Blue-winged Pitta

Pitta brachyura/ Pitta moluccensis

Lombok

V1067

1856

Rainbow Bee-eater

Merops ornatus

Lombok

V1063

1858

Beautiful Paradise Kingfisher

Tanysiptera galeata

Gilolo (Halmahera)

V1082

1858

Pied Butcherbird

Cracticus nigrogularis

Dorey, New Guinea

V1053

1859

Great Pitta

Pitta maxima

East Gilolo

V1065

186?

Oriole

Oriolus frontalis

Soella (Sula Is.)

V1069

1860

Crinkle-coloured Manucode

Manucodia chalybatus

Misool (Mysol)

V1080

1861

? Starling

Gracula pectoralis

New Guinea

V1060

1861

Blue-capped Dove

Ptilinopus monacha

Gilolo (Halmahera)

V1083

1861

Crested Jay

Platylophus galericulatus

Sumatra

V1079

1861

Fairy Bluebird

Irena puella

Malacca

V1076

1861

Grey-headed Fruit Dove

Ptilinopus hyogastra

Gilolo (Halmahera)

V1084

1861

Little Friarbird

Philemon citreogularis

Gilolo (Halmahera)

V1062

1861

Little Green Pigeon

Treron olax

Sumatra

V1077

1861

White-collared Kingfisher

Halcyon chloris

Sula

V1071

1861

Perfect Lorikeet

Trichoglossus euteles

E.Timor

V1087

1861

Racquet-tailed Treepie

Crypsirina temia

E. Java

V1068

1861

Rail Babbler

Eupetes macrocerus

Malacca

V1073

1861

Trumpet Bird

Phonygammus keraudrenii

New Guinea

V1059

1862

Black and Red Broadbill

Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos

Sumatra

V1078

1862

Black and Yellow Broadbill

Eurylaimus ochromalus

Malacca

V1072

1862

Olive-backed Sunbird

Nectarinia jugularis

Flores

V1066

1862

Timor Sunbird

Nectarinia solaris

Flores

V1056

Appendix C: ARW Specimens in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Compiled by Darren Mann, Head of Life Collections

1858 20 diurnal Lepidoptera from Celebes. Purchased from Stevens by F.W. Hope

1858 Insects from Sarawak and the Aru Islands. Purchased from Stevens by F. W. Hope

1859. Insects from Borneo, Amboyna, Dorey, Batchian, Ternate, and Gilolo. Purchased from Stevens by F. W. Hope

1860. Insects from Sarawak. Purchased from Stevens by F. W. Hope

1862. Insects from Mysol and Waigiou. Purchased from Stevens

1863. Two larvae and one pupa of Mormolyce phyllodes. Presented by J.O. Westwood

1863. Insects from Sumatra, New Guinea, and Mysol. Purchased from S. Stevens

1865. Entire private collection of Melolonthidae, Rutelidae, Trogidae, Aphodiidae, and genus Valgus (514 specimens) from the Malayan Archipelago, also his private collection of Eumorphidae (201 specimens), Pselaphidae, and Scydmaenidae (29 specimens), from the same islands (£28. 16s)

1866. Private collection of Clavicorn Coleoptera made in the Malayan Archipelago (£10)

1866. Three specimens of Iridotania from Kaisa, Ternate, and New Guinea (through W. W. Saunders)

1866. Entire private collection of Cleridae formed in the Malayan Archipelago containing 697 specimens, also Staphylinidae containing 523 specimens, purchased £35

1867. Purchased from Mr. Walker (on acct of W. W. Saunders) 73 Diptera, 29 Homoptera from the Malayan Archipelago collected by A. R. Wallace and described by Messrs. Walker and Stil, from Mr. Saunders Collection and 15 Cercopidae from ditto (at 10d each)

1868. Various insects from Wallace collection. Purchased from Mr Higgins, purchased £2 7s, 7s, 12s, £1, 12s, 3s, 4s

1869. Private collection of Heteromerous Coleoptera, purchased £32 10s

1871. 271 butterflies. Purchased from Mr Hewitson from collection of A. R. Wallace, £26 14s

1871. Assorted insects selected from Wallace collection. Purchased from Mr. Higgins, £8 19s 9d

1874. Malay collection: three Sospita, two Mycalesis, and 40 small butterflies chiefly Polyommatus. Purchased from Mr Hewitson, £1.4s

1874. A few Coleoptera amongst specimens purchased from W. W. Saunders

1876. His private Collection of the following families of Malayan Coleoptera. Price £40.0.0. Anthribidae 1,080 specimens, Brenthidae 605, Malacodermata 909+ 35 half eaten individuals, Hydrophilidae &c. 107, Passalidae 86, Coprides 199, Dynastidae 19 Oryctes-68 other genera. Total 3,073

1877. 104 Carabidae from Malay Archipelago, included in lot 345 purchased at sale of Edwin Brown’s collection

1896. Butterflies from Malay Archipelago in Godman-Salvin collection

Appendix D: Bird Skins Collected by A. R. Wallace in the Collection of the Oxford Museum of Natural History, Compiled by Darren Mann

Ref no

Name

Sex

Age

Locality

Collector

Method of acquisition

Acquisition

06385

Aplonis panayensis strigata

Adult

Sarawak

Wallace

Pascoe collection

1909

14731

Coracina papuensis melanolora a

?

Adult

Gilolo (Halmahera, Moluccas)

Wallace

British Trust for Ornithology Collections, Tring, obtained for O.U.M. and presented by Dr. C.M. Perrins, Edward Grey Institute, Oxford

09 Dec 1969

11525

Pitohui ferrugineus ferrugineus

?

Adult

Misol Isl.

Wallace

C.M.N. White collection

1950

12362

Nectarina solaris b

Adult

Flores

Wallace

Pascoe collection

1909

  1. a Campephaga melanolora G.R. Gray
  2. bWallace AR (1863) A list of birds inhabiting the Islands of Timor, Flores and Lombok with descriptions of the new species p 486. Most likely collected by Charles Allen, as Wallace did not visit Flores

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Earl of Cranbrook., Mann, D.J. (2016). Alfred Russel Wallace and His Collections in the Malay Archipelago, with a Proposal for International Cooperation to Produce a Digital Catalogue. In: Das, I., Tuen, A. (eds) Naturalists, Explorers and Field Scientists in South-East Asia and Australasia. Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation, vol 15. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26161-4_2

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