162 A NATURALIST IN BORNEO 



those beetles whose larvae bore into more or less 

 sound wood Longicorns, Weevils, Scolytidce, and others. 

 The tree-trunk, being now riddled in all directions by 

 the tunnels of the borers, is exposed to the penetra- 

 tion of the ever-present moisture of a country with 

 an average annual rainfall of over 130 inches, and 

 the attacks of parasitic fungi follow. If the wood be 

 of sufficient softness white ants make terrific inroads 

 into it, and ordinary ants also colonize it ; but if the 

 wood be of a nature not agreeable to the white ants it 

 more slowly rots away, and in course of time becomes 

 of so soft and friable a texture that it provides a home 

 for scores of different insects, that live partly on the 

 rotten wood and partly on the smaller organisms, such 

 as Scolopendrella, Thysanura, and others, which swarm 

 throughout the mass. Passalid beetles and their larvae, 

 Cockroaches of the genus Panesthia, a peculiar Lygaeid 

 bug, a Phasmid, and Heteromerous beetles are a few 

 examples of the insects that I have taken in quanti- 

 ties from a decayed trunk. Ere very long the log, 

 traversed in all directions by these borers, becomes 

 converted into a cylinder of humus peopled by Mole- 

 Crickets, Earthworms, the larvae of many Diptera, and 

 other soft-bodied grubs. 



One of the most wonderful beetles known to science 

 is Mormolyce phyllodes, a member of the great family 

 Carabidce. This insect, which is of considerable size, 

 is very flattened in shape, the elytra have large semi- 

 circular expansions, the prothorax is elongated and 

 flattened ; the head has a long neck, and the antennae 

 are almost as long as the body. More than one 

 species of this remarkable genus have been discovered, 

 but they appear to be confined to the Malay Penin- 



