Notes from the Sarawak Museum
R.H. Shelford, curator of the Sarawak Museum, published this collection of four natural history notes in 1901, drawing on fieldwork conducted in the highlands of Sarawak (Mt. Penrissen and Mt. Matang) during the late 1890s. The article addresses a range of entomological and museum-administrative topics, from the description of a previously unrecorded dipterous larva to the formal adoption of a decimal cataloguing system for the museum’s zoological collections.
Summary
The first and most substantial note describes a pit-fall-hunting larva of the fly genus Vermileo (family Leptidæ), discovered in sand beneath overhanging cliffs on Mt. Penrissen. Shelford provides a detailed morphological account of the eleven-segmented larva, noting the chitinous comb on the fourth segment, the setigerous papillae on the ninth, and the four finger-like processes of the terminal segment. He then describes the larva’s hunting behaviour in considerable detail: the larva burrows head-first, uses its fixed tail as a pivot to excavate a conical pit by rapid curving and straightening motions, and then lies ventral-side up at the bottom with its anterior half exposed. When an ant enters the pit, the larva coils into a spiral, impaling the prey against the chitinous comb, before sinuously withdrawing beneath the sand with its capture. Shelford notes the snake-like striking behaviour and the python-like grip, and reports that several larvae brought alive to Kuching pupated but the pupae perished in the lowland heat (pp. 69–70).
The remaining two entomological notes are brief descriptions of butterfly specimens that fill gaps in the literature. A male of Purlisa giganteus (Lycaenidae), captured at 3,500 feet on Mt. Matang in March 1899, is described to resolve a long-standing uncertainty about the sex of Distant’s original 1885 type, which Shelford confirms was a female; the male is distinguished by a much reduced dark fuscous area on the hind-wing and a scent-hair fold on the inner margin (p. 70). A single female of Dodona elvira Staudinger, taken at 3,000 feet in June 1897, is described as larger than the male, with ochreous upperside, white-tinged fasciae on the underside, and an expanse of 48 mm (pp. 70–71).
The final note explains the rationale and mechanics of the decimal cataloguing system Shelford introduced to the Sarawak Museum’s zoological collections, adapting Melvil Dewey’s 1874 library classification to biological specimens. Each class is assigned a letter (Mammals A, Birds B, Reptiles C, Amphibia D, Fishes E), with families, genera, and species receiving successive decimal numbers. Shelford acknowledges the difficulty of interpolating newly described taxa into an existing series and proposes a fractional-numbering convention using the year of description as the denominator (p. 71).
Key Findings
- The Vermileo larva possesses 11 segments, a chitinous comb on the ventral surface of segment 4, and four finger-like terminal processes; it hunts by constructing a conical pit-fall and coiling around prey to impale it against the comb (p. 69).
- Purlisa giganteus male, described for the first time, was captured at 3,500 feet on Mt. Matang in March 1899; the male’s hind-wing fuscous area is reduced to a thin marginal line compared to the female, and the inner margin bears a fold of scent-hairs (p. 70).
- The female of Dodona elvira has an expanse of 48 mm and was taken at 3,000 feet, Matang, in June 1897; Shelford had captured over one hundred males but only this single female (p. 71).
- The Sarawak Museum’s cataloguing system assigns class letters (A–E) followed by decimal numbers for family, genus, and species; for example, Carcharias laticaudus is catalogued as E 1.1.1 (p. 71).
- Shelford’s interpolation method for new genera uses a fractional number whose numerator is the nearest ally’s number and whose denominator is the last two digits of the year of description (e.g., He 1⁄15) (p. 71).
Conclusion
Shelford’s notes collectively demonstrate the dual function of the Sarawak Museum as both a research station and a systematic collection: the entomological descriptions fill specific taxonomic gaps in the Bornean fauna, while the cataloguing note represents a deliberate effort to impose rational order on an expanding collection, anticipating the practical challenges of taxonomic revision that would confront all regional museums in the coming decades.
Context
- The article reflects the standard practice of colonial-era museum curators publishing short “notes” in society journals to describe new or previously undescribed specimens from their collections, serving both as formal taxonomic records and as evidence of the museum’s research output.
- The cataloguing discussion draws on Melvil Dewey’s 1874 system, which Shelford notes had received little attention in “England and her dependencies,” revealing the limited penetration of American library-science innovations into colonial administrative practice at the turn of the century (p. 70).