. The Malay Archipelago : the land of the oranguatan, and the bird of paradise. A narrative of travel, with studies of man and nature. Natural history; Ethnology. 482 The Aeu Islands. Those curious little beetles, the Brenthidse, were very abundant in Aru. The females have a pointed rostrum, with which they bore deep holes in the bark of dead trees, often burying the rostrum up to the eyes, and in these holes deposit their eggs. The males are larger, and have the rostrum di- lated at the end, and sometimes terminating in a good-sized pair of jaws. I once saw two males fighting together; each h
. The Malay Archipelago : the land of the oranguatan, and the bird of paradise. A narrative of travel, with studies of man and nature. Natural history; Ethnology. 482 The Aeu Islands. Those curious little beetles, the Brenthidse, were very abundant in Aru. The females have a pointed rostrum, with which they bore deep holes in the bark of dead trees, often burying the rostrum up to the eyes, and in these holes deposit their eggs. The males are larger, and have the rostrum di- lated at the end, and sometimes terminating in a good-sized pair of jaws. I once saw two males fighting together; each had a fore-leg laid across the neck of the other, and the ros- trum bent quite in an attitude of defiance, and looking most ridiculous. Another time, two were fighting for a female, who stood close by busy at her boring. They pushed at each other with their rostra, and clawed and thumped, apparently. MALE BRENTHID^ {Leptovhynchus angustatus) fighting. in the g«reatest rage, although their coats of mail must have saved both from injury. The small one, however, soon ran away, acknowleging himself vanquished. In most Coleoptera the female is larger than the male, and it is therefore interest- ing, as bearing on the question of sexual selection, that in this case, as in the stag-beetles, where the males fight together, they should be not only better armed, but also much larger than the females. Just as we were gomg away, a handsome tree, allied to Erythrina, was in blossom, showing its masses of large crim- son flowers scattered here and there about the forest. Could it have been seen from an elevation, it would have had a fine effect; from below I could only catch sight of masses of. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Wallace, Alfred Russel, 1823-1913. New York : Harper
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