COLEOPTERA. i, 
line, and dive upon the least disturbance, remaining under water for 
some minutes, and sneaking to the surface again beneath the shelter 
of the log. They do not appear to take down much air with them, as 
no part of the body looks silvery under water. I have occasionally 
seen the winged males rising from the surface of the river and taking 
flight, but I was never able to detect them actually in the water. The 
jungle specimens were all females; they were taken either in the water 
or among the matted roots with which the sides of the stream were 
covered. 
The best known cricket in the Malay peninsula, though very few 
people have actually seen it, is the ‘‘ Singing earthworm” of the 
Malays and colonists. It is a species of Gryllotalpa, which lives 
in holes in the ground, whence it gives forth in the evenings a deep 
organ-like note, so loud, and so musical, that, until one has had some 
experience of the jungle noises, one can hardly credit it to an insect, 
much less to an earthworm. Other species of crickets sing about the 
houses, producing a sound lke a gritty piece of chalk on a blackboard, 
which is annoying at night. The number of species and individuals, 
however, is limited. 
Among the lalang grass (Jmperatia koeniyit), which is the earliest 
and most pernicious of the weeds that appear in a Malay clearing, 
the orthopteran life is so rich that the general name “ belalang”’ has 
been bestowed on all grasshoppers and locusts by the Malays, who 
haye a surprising knowledge as to the facts of the biology of their 
country, though their theories are at least as wild as those of some 
European zoologists. They know, for instance, that a certain large 
parasitic Nematode issues from the body of a Mantis. From this they 
have concluded that the worm is the child of the insect. They have 
further imagined that its father must be an earthworm, and they 
have invented a story which, to compare little things with great, may 
be likened to that of the origin of the Cretan Minotaur. None of the 
species that live among the ‘‘lalang’”’ are of any great size, the largest 
not being more than two inches in length. They are mostly Acridiids, 
but a few crickets, larval Mantids, and cockroaches may be found 
with them, and, on the hills, certain Phasmids and also species of 
Necrosia. 
(To be conleuded.) 
GG; OLEOPTERA. 
Scotytus RuGuULOsus IN PRuNUS LAURO-cERASUS. — That Diloba 
cacruleophala and other lepidoptera eat the leaves of the common laurel 
is no doubt matter for surprise, and so every now and then it comes 
up for notice in the magazines, I suppose, lke the big gooseberry and 
the sea-serpent. That the wood and bark should make good insect 
food is, perhaps, less against our preconceived opinions, but perhaps 
sufficiently interesting to note, though it may have been frequently 
done already. I believe I have somewhere noted Semasia woeberiana in 
the bark of cherry laurel, and I think I have seen the work of Scolytus 
prunti therein. I have recently seen the work of S. rugulosus in dead 
branches of laurel here at Reigate.—T. A. CHapman, M.D., Betula, 
Reigate. January, 1900. 
A Frew Nores on Surrotk Cotkoprera.—Having had the pleasure 
of a couple of days’ collecting in the Ipswich neighbourhood with Mr. 
