Abstract
THE reviewer of Ober's “Camps in the Caribbees” (NATURE, vol. xxii. p. 216) appears to doubt the story of the habits of the large Hercules beetle, Dynastes hercules, given by Ober on the authority of his guide. It is nevertheless perfectly true, and I have myself witnessed the occurrence twice in this neighbourhood, where the beetle is not uncommon. In the first instance I noticed it on a branch of Ochroma lagopus, and the second time on a species of Bombax, both very soft-wooded trees. The branches in each case were about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, half an inch being formed by the wood. In both cases I saw the performance of the animal most distinctly, just as described by Ober's guide, and I took not only a piece of the severed branch with me, but secured also the second animal. The noise is not so much produced by the cutting of the branch as by the open wings passing rapidly through the air during the rotation of the beetle. I do not believe there is anything or a sexual call in the manoeuvre. The beetle wants to get at the abundant juice of the young branches. It is called in this country aserrador, i.e. sawyer. Golofa porteri, an allied insect of the same family as Lamellicornes, behaves in a similar way, but chooses of course thinner branches.
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ERNST, A. Dynastes Hercules. Nature 22, 585 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/022585b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/022585b0
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