XYLOTRUPES, — CHALCOSOMIA. 265 



identity of the species referred to is established by the curiously 

 coloured but sufficiently accurate figure :— " One of the most 

 amusing visitors is a great horned beetle who possesses a most 

 startling power of stridulatiou. When one of them comes in and 

 falls to the floor he walks quietly and sedately about so long as he is 

 left to his own devices ; but whenever he is in any way alarmed or 

 interfered with he suddenly sits up on his hind legs and, whilst 

 brandishing his jagged and hooked fore-paws aloft, emits a sound 

 Ike that of a miniature engine blowing off steam. This per- 

 formance is seemingly as alarming to dogs as it is to human beings 

 who are unprepared for its occurrence. One hot still October 

 night, when a friend and I were quietly seated at dinner, one of 

 these beetles flew into the room and in due course fell down with 

 a sounding flop on to the matting of the floor. A long-haired 

 Scottish terrier, who was always on the outlook for shikar of any 

 sort, was present and at once on the spot to inquire into the 

 cause of the disturbance. The intruder at first lured her on to 

 close investigation by minatory gesticulations and then drove her 

 wild with terror by stridulating loudly and fastening on to the 

 hair of her muzzle. The result. was wild panic and immediate 

 flight, in the course of which she rushed violently under the side- 

 board, where a number of bottles of soda-water were lying and 

 completed her discomfiture by bursting with a series of loud 

 reports." 



Genus CHALCOSOMA. 



Chaloosoma, Hope, Coleopt. Manual, 1837, i. p. 86; Burm., 

 Handh. Eiit. v, 1847, p. 269 ; Lacord., Gen. Coleopt. iii, 1856, 

 p. 448. 



Type, Scarahceus atlas, L. 



Range. The Malayan Eegion and Lower Burma. 



Form massive and very convex, with slender legs. Clypeus 

 bidentate. Mandible stout, entire, strongly bent upwards at the 

 extremity and rather prominent at the base externally. Maxilla, 

 long, acute at the end, not toothed, densely hairy: the palpi 

 slender. Mentum very long and narrow, scarcely dilated or 

 emarginate in front. Prothorax rather narrow, a little attenuated 

 in front and sinuated at the base. Prosternum not freely pro- 

 duced behind the front coxae. Front tibia armed externally with 

 three sharp teeth set almost at right angles. Middle and hind 

 tibia? acutely digitate at the extremity. Tarsi simple and 

 slender. 



(S . Very shiniug above. Head armed with a slender horn, 

 generally toothed at the posterior edge. Prothorax armed with a 

 pair of slender horns arising from the sides of the dorsal part and 

 directed forward. Front legs very elongate, the tibiae having a 

 row of short teeth beneath, the femora armed with a slight tooth 

 in front. All the tarsi louger than in the female. 



