HABITAT OF THE MORMOLYCE. 41 



the large and long antennae seem nearly as powerful as the legs, 

 and quite as capable of offence. 



Like many of its kin, the Mormolyce is exceedingly variable 

 in point of size, some being an inch and a half longer and two- 

 tliirds of an inch wider than others. This perhaps does not 

 seem so very great a discrepancy on paj)er as it really is in 

 fact. A quarter of an inch makes a very great difference even 

 in a large insect. Just as an elephant of nine feet high towers 

 like a giant over his companion of eight feet, or a man of six 

 feet over one of five, so does a Beetle of an inch and a quarter 

 in length look gigantic when compared with one wliich only 

 measures an inch. It is for this reason that entomologists are 

 so very careful in measuring the dimensions of insects and their 

 several parts. 



Mr. \V. L. Distant, during a recent visit to the British 

 Museum, communicated the following particulars of this insect 

 and its habits. Near Penang there are a number of very large 

 trees, on whose trunks gro\\^ large fungi, like the boleti that 

 grow on birch, oak, and ash in this country, and are used for 

 sundry domestic purposes. If one of these boleti be torn off, 

 the Mormolyce is generally found hiding between the fungus and 

 the bark, the crevice being so narrow that no one who was un- 

 acquainted with the insect would think that so large a creature 

 could find shelter there. It is much more active than might be 

 supposed from its appearance, and as soon as it is exposed to 

 the unwelcome light it runs off with such speed that a quick eye 

 and hand are needed for its capture. 



Mr. J. C. Bo wring, who took many specimens of the Mormo- 

 lyce in 1860, tells me that both the larva and pupa are found 

 under the same fungus. The strangest part of this curious 

 insect's history is, that during its lifetime the fiat elytra are 

 quite soft, only attaining their hardness and stiffness after death. 

 He took the insect both in Java and Penang, and states that the 

 specimens of Mormolyce pliyllodes taken in Java were larger 

 than those of Penang. Theie are now in the British Museum 

 several specimens of the larva, pupa, and perfect insect, all 

 caught and presented by this gentleman. 



Now let us pass to the name of this most singular insect. 



The word Mormolyce is Greek, and generally sigiv"fies "a bob- 

 goblin." Literally, it is the ex.ict an;i^)gue of our " bugbear" — 



