OF WASHINGTON. 299 



ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE INSECT GUESTS OF THE 

 FLORIDA LAND TORTOISE. 



By H. G. HUBBARD. 



Since the publication of my paper on Gopher Insects, in vol. vi 

 of Insect Life, May, 1894, I have made additional explorations 

 in gopher burrows both at Crescent City and in other parts of 

 Florida. Thus I examined burrows at De Funiak Springs, 

 which is west of Tallahassee, on the mainland and in the extreme 

 western part of the State, and at Clearwater Harbor, on the gulf 

 coast, a short distance north of Tampa. Dr. John Hamilton 

 also examined gopher holes at Lake Worth, Fla., which is 

 probably the extreme southern limit reached by the tortoise on 

 the Atlantic coast. Dr. Hamilton found three of the gopher 

 beetles present in small numbers, viz : the Copris, Aphodius, 

 and Chelyoxenus ; the holes which he examined were, however, 

 shallow, and probably not favorable for the full development of 

 this peculiar fauna. In my explorations I found in abundance 

 all the insects previously noted and added several new forms to 

 the list. The larvae of nearly all the beetles have now been 

 discovered within the gopher burrows, and the moth has been 

 bred in both sexes from the remarkable caterpillar which feeds 

 upon the dung of the tortoise. Dr. John B. Smith has had the 

 imago in his hands and will describe it as a new species of Del 

 toid belonging to the Pseudaglossa section of the genus Epi- 

 zeuxis (old genus Helia). It therefore belongs almost exactly 

 where it was tentatively placed from the resemblance of the 

 larva to the myrmecophilous Helta americalis. The new dis-^ g 

 coveries are a very interesting Staphylinid beetle with exactly I 

 the facies of a Stilicopsis, but with a single tooth on the clypeus. I * 

 It constitutes, therefore, a new genus, which I hope to describe )-4 

 under the name Acrostilicus hospes (n. gen. et n. sp.) Its larva Jjf 

 has also been found, and with its imago it has the pallid color/*-) 

 and all the characteristics of a true gopher insect. -A new fly, a 

 species of Hylemyia, family Anthomyiidae, will be described by 

 Mr. Coquillett. Its larva lives upon the dung of the gopher, 

 and the iinagos, which I had previously overlooked, prove to 

 be quite abundant in each of the localities which I have in 

 vestigated. There is also another much smaller fly, which Mr. 

 Coquillett pronounces a Limosina, family Borboridce, the thread 

 like larva of which is always common in the dung at the 

 end of the gopher holes, but the imagos have not hitherto been 

 bred. 



I find also that I have overlooked one or two spiders of pale 

 color and with a subterranean appearance which turn up so 



