BUTTERFLIES OF CALIFORNIA 
215 
Among the most abundant beetles in California there 
is a group of flightless forms which when touched will emit 
a pungent, oily secretion. Owing to their curious habit of 
elevating their bodies when alarmed they have received in the 
west the popular name of “ circus bugs.” Now this section 
Eleodinae of the large family Tenebrionidae are, in North 
America, quite peculiar to the south-west. A few species have 
spread northward into Washington State and eastward as far 
as the Mississippi. The great mass of these thick-bodied oily 
creatures lives in Mexico and California, where, according to 
Mr. Blaisdell,* they have probably originated. The only near 
relation of this south-western group in the New World is the 
genus Nycterinus, which is peculiar to Chile. But throughout 
the Mediterranean Region we meet with a very large number 
of similar beetles, commonly called “ oil beetles,” and 
although many of them are also found in Persia, Turkestan, 
Central Asia and even China, south-eastern Europe must be 
looked upon as the headquarters of the genus Blaps, to which 
they belong. 
The same family Tenebrionidae also offers instances of 
intimate relationship between the Antilles or Central America 
and southern Europe. I need only recall the American 
Gnathocerus maxillosus which likewise inhabits Madeira, the 
Canary and Mediterranean islands, as well as Sitophagus 
hololeptoides of Central and South America, the Antilles and 
Madeira. 
Dr. Kolbe f mentions similar examples of distribution 
among the coprophagous lamellicorn beetles. Thus Oniti- 
cellus and Glaresis are quite peculiar to the south-west in 
North America, whereas in Europe they are confined to the 
Mediterranean Region. Only the former has spread further 
southward into Africa and eastward into Asia. 
Of all the insects, faunistically the most interesting are 
the ants. In my work on European animals I alluded to 
Stenamma westwoodi as one of the members of the Lusitanian 
fauna, which penetrated as far north as south-western Ire¬ 
land. The same species is met with in America in a few 
varieties. One lives in California, the other in British 
* Blaisdell, F. E., “Eleodinae of the United States,” pp. 28—29. 
t Eolbe, H. J., “ Verbreitung d. Coprophagen Lamellicornier,” p. 499. 
