VI.—On some Singular Larval Forms of 
Beetle to be found in Borneo. By 
C. J. GahaNj M.A. 
Amongst the more remarkable forms of insect life to 
be met with in Borneo, there are few which appeal with 
stronger interest to the entomologist than do certain 
creatures, of strange and uncouth shapes, which have 
all the characters of beetle larvae, but which yet have 
never been known to turn into the recognizable form of 
the fully developed beetle. Insects of a similar type occur 
in Java and other islands of the Malay Archipelago, as 
well as in the Malay Peninsula and in Ceylon. Some 
of them have been known to entomologists for nearly a 
century. But even to this day no one has been able to 
say with certainty exactly what they are; and they still 
remain something of a mystery and a puzzle to the 
entomologist. And it is for the purpose of trying to 
enlist help in the elucidation of the problem that I have 
been invited to give the readers of this Journal a short 
account of these interesting little creatures, and to state 
in what direction I think assistance in making out their 
life-history might be best applied. 
Some of these beetle larvse (see fig. 1), for so we must 
regard them, have a great resemblance to the fossil 
trilobites, and hence have come to be known as “ kilo¬ 
bits ” larvae, although their resemblance in form to the 
nymphs of ancient cockroaches is even still more striking. 
If found fossil in some of the older rocks, they would 
almost certainly be mistaken for insects of the latter kind. 
There can, however, be no question that they are beetles; 
and the only points in that respect remaining to be settled 
are to what family of beetles they belong, and to what 
genera or species in that family. Efforts to settle these 
Sar. Mus. Journ. s No. 3, 1918. 
