164 A NATURALIST IN BORNEO 



According to Heer Overdijk, 1 who was the first to 

 discover the life-history of this curious beetle, the 

 larval stage lasts for eight to nine months, during 

 which five moults take place, and the pupal stage lasts 

 eight to ten weeks. The larvae are not very remark- 

 able in appearance, closely resembling other Carabid 

 grubs, but the pupa is sufficiently like the adult to 

 present a very extraordinary appearance. I do not 

 know how the imago manages to effect its escape 

 from its prison. I once caught a newly emerged 

 beetle, with the integument still soft and pale in 

 colour, resting on a Polyporus fungus, but though the 

 cell in the fungus was empty it was almost incredible 

 that so large a creature could have escaped through 

 the small hole leading to the cavity, even allowing for 

 the softness of its tissues, which would, of course, 

 be capable of a certain amount of compression. It is 

 a curious fact that one or more adults are always 

 found in close proximity to a fungus with larval 

 chambers, and I have sometimes wondered if they 

 assisted the newly hatched beetles to emerge by 

 gnawing at the entrance to the larval chamber and 

 increasing its size, but I have never found a fungus 

 showing traces of such action, and so do not consider 

 it probable. Overdijk states that the adults when 

 handled caused such a burning and itching sensation 

 that his fingers were disabled for a whole day. I 

 have handled several living specimens myself, and 

 cannot state that I have ever experienced any ill- 

 effects whatever, nor have I ever heard complaints 

 from my Dayak collectors, who had a still wider 

 experience of living specimens. 



1 Tijdschrifl voor Entomologie (Nederland. Ent. Ver.\ TO!. I. (1857), 

 pp. 41-3. 



