26 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



except the last two (and very probably they also occur) are given by 

 Sharp from the Amazon region in South America (Sharp, Staphylinidse of 

 the Amazon, Trans. London Ent. Soc, 1876, Parts I. and II., May and 

 June), while PhilontJnis and Xantholinus are found also in New Zealand. 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTES ON CERTAIN COLEOPTERA. 



No. I. 



BY JOHN HAMILTON, -M. D., ALLEGHENNV, PA. 



Ceophyllus monilis Lee. Several of these curious little coleopters 

 were taken May nth, from a colony of ants inhabiting under a flat stone. 

 This ant is honey yellow, .18 inch in length, very sluggish in its move- 

 ments, and not disposed to be vicious ; it seems to be the same as that 

 with which Batrisus histriatus is found (also in May), and is perhaps 

 Lasius integerrimus, Mayr., which Mr. E. A. Schwarz thinks is the name 

 of the ant with which on several occasions he found the same beetle in 

 Michigan in early spring. 



The beetles were on tJie under side of the stone distributed 

 among the ants, and taking alarm immediately on its being overturned, 

 scampered off so quickly into the underground galleries that only a few 

 could be captured. 



Dr. Leconte founded the genus on a single specimen taken in Michi- 

 gan, in August, under the bark of the American linden ; his specimen was 

 only . 1 1 inch in length, while these measure .16; otherwise his descrip- 

 tion applies, or from the different habitat another species might be in- 

 ferred. Does C. monilis desert the ants in the spring to breed beneath 

 bark during the summer and its offspring resort to the habitations of these 

 ants to spend the winter ? It is on many Hsts, but, except in the instance 

 mentioned, has any one taken it elsewhere than with these insects ? 

 There are a considerable number of beetles found in friendly association 

 with ants, especially in the spring, many of which are not recorded as 

 having been observed elsewhere ; but where their larval lives are spent is 

 something entirely unknown. Some of them, in the spring, leave their 

 friends, like Cremastochilus canaliculatus, which may be observed from 

 May till August alighting during the hottest sunshine on warm stones and 

 dusty roads ; but whether all likewise leave is uncertain. The suggestion 



