PROC. EXT. SOC. WASH., VOL. 21, NO. 5, MAY, IQIQ 111 



plainly seen from the river about 05 feet below. The birds are 

 gregarious and many nests are close together just below the crest 

 of the bluff where the sandy soil cover of the rock has been exposed 

 by the blasting out of the hillsides. The holes are out of reach of 

 one on the crest of the bluff and extend about one foot nearly 

 horizontally into the hill. The openings are just large enough to 

 admit the mature bird. The nest material consists of feathers 

 (chicken), soft straw, oak and chestnut catkins, etc. 



It was thought that these nests might contain an insect fauna 

 of interest, so early in June, 1916, one of the writers, after being 

 lowered over the bluff on a rope, explored them. 



The commonest insect in the nests is a Staphylinid beetle 

 determined by Dr. A. Fenyes as Microglotta n. sp. A species in 

 this same genus occurs in nests of this swallow in Europe. The 

 insect is probably predaceous on other insects occurring in the 

 nests. Both larvae and adults were found, not only in the nest 

 material but also in and on the soil beneath. 



The Danish entomologist, E. C. Rosenburg, in 1913, published 

 an interesting paper 1 in which are included many notes on the 

 beetle fauna of the nests of various animals. Dr. A. Boving has 

 kindly referred us to this article and has translated some of the 

 notes. 



The bank swallow "Digesvalens" (-- H. riparia) occurs in 

 Denmark and in its nests the Staphylinid beetle Microglossa 

 nidicolla Fairm. is very common. On July 9, larvae were found 

 in numbers. In a gravel-pit near Ravneholm in November, 4 

 specimens of a variety of this beetle with black wings were found 

 in the nest of this bird. 



Microglossa pulla Gyll. has been found in birds' nests in hollow 

 trees. Some specimens of Microglossa marginalis Gyll. ( = = rufi- 

 pennis Kr., Heer) were found in a bird's nest in a hollow tree 

 (Alnus). 



Among the many interesting records of the beetle fauna of 

 nests of other animals are notes of the occurrence of species in 

 fox burrows, the nests of moles and mice, wasps' and bees' nests, 

 and in the burrows of the wood-boring larvae of a moth (Cossus). 

 The works of previous writers on the beetle fauna of the nests of 

 mammals and birds are referred to by Rosenburg. 



Larvae, cocoons and adults of a flea, tentatively determined by 

 F. C. Bishopp as Ceratophyllus sp., come next in order of abund- 

 ance. The active larvae crawl through the nest material but 



1 Rosenburg, E. C. ("Contribution to the knowledge of the biology, 

 nirtamorphosis, and taxonomy of beetles, III.") "Kntomologiske Med- 

 delelser," vol. 10, p. 37, Copenhagen, I'.M.'l. 



