Coconut beetles
A brief occasional note by Mr. Hale of Tampin recording Malay names, culinary uses, and folk beliefs associated with the coconut beetle, published in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 22 (1890).
Summary
Hale documents the Malay larval names Lembetah and Kelematah (from gele mata, “tickles the eye”), offering an etymological explanation rooted in the visceral reaction the wriggling larvae provoke in Malay women. He compares this to Forbes’s account of inducing latah by flicking a caterpillar at a woman (p. 429).
The note further records that the larvae are eaten by Malays, fried alive until crisp, yielding a sweet nutty oil (about half a pint from 100 larvae) that Malay women use as a hair-growth tonic. The adult insect is variously called Kumbang Jenti, Kumbang Kalapa, or Buang, though these names are applied indifferently to other large beetles (p. 429).