147 
removal of grubs with a piece of bent wire from young coconut trees, 
although at the time I did not examine the hole sufficiently to note the 
actual work of the larve. 
However, it is. not to be doubted that these same insects find a suitable 
place in heaps of decaying vegetable matter, as the grubs have been found 
in such locations in all stages of growth. In connection with this ques- 
tion, Father Stanton, formerly of the Manila Observatory,’ makes the 
following observations : 
We have found several live pup in a partly decayed stump of Pithecolobium 
saman that had been lying on an old wood pile for months; at another time we 
discovered one in a neat oval earthen cell within a broken bottle lying in a heap 
of refuse near a stable; and on one occasion, in a single heap of earth and 
manure, within a space of 1 cubic yard, we gathered dozens of larve in all 
stages of development from specimens 1 centimeter in length to those of 12 
centimeters just about to transform to pupe together with half a dozen pup 
and as many perfect beetles with their elytra still rather soft, as though the 
insects had just emerged from the pupal envelope. In this latter case, at least, 
it appears quite evident that the whole cycle of the metamorphoses of the insect 
took place right in this small pile of manure or very near to it. For, as many 
of the larve were very young, they could not well have migrated from the interior 
of a coconut or buri palm, seeing that there was not a single one of these trees 
in the whole neighborhood. It is evident then that 0. rhinoceros does sometimes 
pass its whole larval and pupal existence in the midst of decayed or decaying 
organic matter, and consequently that the eggs are deposited in such situations. 
Whether they are also laid in the holes made by the female in the living tree 
is still to be ascertained, though from the fact that the grubs are sometimes 
found feeding in the heart of the tree high up near the crown it seems quite 
probable. 
He quotes Senor Vicente Reyes, of Santa Cruz, Laguna, who says: 
It is remarked that coconut trees with all the leaves fresh, with blossoms 
and fruit all in perfect condition, and without any apparent cause, fall to the 
ground as though a hurricane had cut them down. On being examined it is 
found that from the roots up to the distance of a meter above the surface they 
are completely hollowed out, the whole interior having been converted into a 
mass of sawdust, and ensconced therein are a number of these worms, which have 
entered from the roots and worked upward, little by little, eating away and 
living upon the substance of the trunk itself. 
In every case where I have encountered Orycles in trees, except in 
those which were completely hollow, the work evidently proceeded from 
above downward. Of course, in those which were hollow, the channels 
of the grubs were found along the inner surface of the shell of the tree, 
but the evidence thus exhibited was not conckusive as to whether the 
larvee had worked from above downward or the reverse. 
Father Stanton notes the finding of the larve, pups, and adults of 
Oryctes in manure and other decaying organic matter, but he also says 
that he has not ascertained whether the eggs are laid in the holes made by 
* Phat. Weather Bur., Bull., August (1903), 225. 
