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the abdomen, and by bending. itself so that the tip of the spine rests 
on the edge of the cavity and then relaxing its muscles so that it slips 
into the hollowed space, the beetle can spring into the air, making a 
click as it does so. Hence the popular name of click-beetle. 
These beetles were very active when caught, and attempted to 
spring away in this manner. 
The larvae, popularly known as wire- worms, are slender hard 
wiry caterpillars of a dark brown colour and usually here at least live 
in decaying wood, but many species live under ground on roots of 
grasses and other herbaceous plants often doing much harm. 
The mandor of the estate told me that he knows the beetle and it 
was harmless to the coconuts. It appeared to have simply invaded 
the burrows of the Oryctes in search of the sweet juice of the palm- 
cabbage. Indeed its jaws and paws do not look powerful enough for it 
to cut its way into the palm-shoot in the way that the rhinoceras beetle 
Two living specimens and the body of a dead one were found 
m the palms, so that it appears to live for some time at least in the 
bud. The specimens have been sent to the British Museum for 
identification. 
H. N. R, 
KABONG SUGAR. 
A sugar locally known as Gula Kabong is obtained from the 
saecharine juice of the sugar palm, Arenga saecharifera, an extremely 
useful, interestingand graceful palm common all over the peninsula. 
The sugar is sold in the local markets, generally in small round cakes, 
and is not unlike the sugar commonly know as Gula Malacca which 
is obtained from the coconut palm, Cocos niusifera, but, is sweeter and 
darker in colour. The market price varies but may be roughly stated 
at from 10 cents to Id cents per |lb. The following Malayan method 
of collecting the juice and manufacturing the sugar mav be of interest 
to our readers. 
The juice is obtained by cutting the male inflorescence which 
branches out from the crown of the palm. It is said that the juice 
from the female inflorescence is not suitable for sugar making and is 
never used. Palms of from 8 to 10 years old are said to yield the 
best sugar. Plants of this age are selected by the Malays but it is quite 
possible that younger palms will give quite as good results. 
The male spike or inflorescence which grows in a pendulous manner 
is first cleaned round and then tied up in a perpendicular fashion for a 
period of two or three days. Each morning the spike is gently tapped 
with a piece of wood, a process which is said to increase the flow of 
juice when the spike is cut. As soon as the flowers begin to drop the 
inflorescence is cut off close to where branching commences and a 
poultice of boiled ground rice with the addition of a little of the 
ground tuber of Gadong, Discorca demonwm is bound round the cut 
surface. 
This poultice is removed after three days and a further inch or so 
of the end of the spike is cut away. A bamboo pipe is then suspend- 
ed under the cut to collect the sap. The first three or four pints of 
