62 
ON SOME SINGULAR LARVAL FORMS OF BEETLE. 
points have been made by a few zealous naturalists, in¬ 
cluding Mr. H. N. Ridley at Singapore, and Mr. J. C. 
Moulton and the late Mr. Shelford in Borneo, who have 
kept the larvae alive a long time, extending even up to two 
years, in the hope of seeing them pupate and change into 
beetles, but so far without success. 
Mr. Moulton has been good enough to bring over to 
London living specimens of two of the species which are 
Fig. 1. Larva seen from Fig. 2. Larva seen 
above. Nat. size. from below. Nat. size. Fig. 3. A second form 
of larva seen from above, 
with head extended. 
Nat. size. 
to be found in Borneo. He gave them to me early in 
June; and they are still alive (in December), apparently 
happy and contented with the diet of damp, rotten wood 
which he had considerately provided for them. But on no 
occasion have I been able to see them feed ; and it is still 
doubtful whether their food be vegetable or animal matter. 
Through the kindness of my friend Mr. Hugh Main, I am 
able to reproduce as illustrations the excellent photographs 
which he has made of these two forms, one as seen both 
from above and below (figs. 1 and 2), and the other on the 
upper side only. In the latter (fig. 8) the narrow head 
of the larva may be seen extended, as it usually is when 
the creature is moving about on the wood, apparently in 
search of food. Its short antennae, or feelers, ending in a 
sort of corrugated knob, can be drawn in and out like the 
horns of a snail, but somewhat more quickly. On each 
side of the head is a single, simple eye, like that of a 
glowworm larva. The front jaws, or mandibles, are not 
