34 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [February, 



PINODYTES HAMILTONI AND ANTHICUS FORMICARIUS. 



By JOHN HAMILTON, M.D. 



Pinodytes hamiltoni Horn. This species, which is blind, was 

 discovered in December, 1872, though not described till 1892, 

 The first example occurred about a foot under ground beneath a 

 large impacted boulder in a wild mountainous place ; from its 

 pale color and remarkable swiftness it was mistaken for a young 

 roach and its companions, of which there were several, were per- 

 mitted to escape. In June of the following year a dead specimen 

 was found on a woody hill-side that had been mowed over ; no 

 others have been taken by myself. 



Rev. P. Jerome Schmitt permits me to say that altogether he 

 has taken six examples at six differenr*times four by sifting 

 layers of decaying leaves from Chestnut Ridge, one under a stone 

 and one under bark on a log. These all occurred during the 

 Winter months, but the insect was not sought for in this way 

 during the Summer. 



Mr. H. G. Klages took six examples, two of them several 

 years ago, in June, and four in November of last year; these last 

 were found under the bark of a gum (Nj'ssa*) log with Cucujns 

 clavipes which discloses at that season, many of the pupa dying- 

 during the process. These are all that are known to me to have 

 occurred till a recent lucky find by Mr. Geo. H. Ehrman. 



On the 2ist of November, Mr. Erhman succeeded in capturing 

 twelve examples under circumstances that furnished a clew to the 

 habits of the mature beetle. On the side of a wild mountain 

 ravine in a humid place on overturning a log he discovered a 

 large dead larva, seemingly Elaterid, in and around which he took 

 the number mentioned. At first sight they were thought to be 

 young roaches, but the mistake was discovered in time so that 

 the whole colony was captured. 



From the foregoing it is evident that the species is gregarious 

 and carnivorous, apparently occurring oftener in Winter than in 

 Summer, and in woody, hilly, uncultivated places. Conjecturally, 

 from its pallid color, absence of eyes and conditions under which 

 found, it seems in habit either subterranean or semi-subterranean, 

 its presence under bark being that of a scavenger. The larva- 

 are probably wholly subterranean, subsisting on the dead larva- 

 and pupa? of the numerous insects which inhabit beneath the 



