20 A NATURALIST IN BORNEO 



that any observations supporting this belief have been 

 made, and there is no reason why the female should 

 not carry both her young, as, of course, there is a 

 brood-pouch on each side of the body. On the other 

 hand, if the male never carries about the young, of 

 what use are the pouches to him ? 



It is not known exactly how the parasitic Arixenia 

 lives ; fragments of chitin and part of the leg of a fly 

 have been found in the intestines of one of these ear- 

 wigs, from which it may be concluded that the parasite 

 at times leaves its host in search of living insects. If 

 living insects are the sole source of the earwig's food- 

 supply, it is not a parasite in the strictest sense of the 

 word ; the relations between bat and earwig would 

 then be better described as symbiotic. Parasites are 

 so rare amongst the Orthoptera that only one other 

 example is known, namely, Hemimerus talpoides, a 

 curious little insect, remotely connected with the ear- 

 wigs, which lives on an African rat of the genus 

 Cricetomys. Hemimerus is a true parasite, for it feeds on 

 the scurf and skin of its host. 



In addition to the brood-pouches, both sexes of 

 Cheiromeles are furnished with a pouch across the base 

 of the neck. These pouches receive the openings of 

 glands that secrete a fluid with a most offensive odour, 

 which Dr. C. Hose compares to the smell of burning 

 leather. In spite of their odour, Dayaks will readily 

 eat these bats. Cheiromeles form small colonies in hollow 

 trees [usually the Tapang, Abauria C. H.], but apparently 

 not in caves, in which, however, are found hosts of 

 other bats, such as Pipistrellus, Myotis, and Vespertilio. 



Galeopithecus volans, the so-called Flying Lemur, occu- 

 pies a very isolated position amongst the Mammalia. 



