The CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 27 



is made to those finding ants -nest-beetles to mount an ant with each, as it 

 will add much to the interest and value of the collection. 



Eleusis pallidns Lee, seems to be rare. The specimens from which 

 Dr. Leconte described the species were found in ants' nests ; but their oc- 

 currence there was probably accidental, as their exceedingly thin, 

 depressed form indicates a subcortical rather than a subterranean habitus- 

 This summer I took a colony of over twenty under the decomposing bark 

 of a Balm of Gilead (Populus candicans), a near ally of the western cot- 

 ton tree, under the bark of which another species, E. fasciatns, is found 

 abundantly. 



Cercus pennatus Murr., may be taken plentifully about the second 

 week in May, on the blossoms of the Red Elder (Sambucus piibens), and 

 is seldom seen after it is out of bloom. It is mostly found on bushes 

 growing in or near marshy places, those on dry situations yielding but 

 few examples ; and from this it may be properly inferred that the larvje 

 require a humid soil for their habitation. In the synoptic table in Dr. 

 Horn's revision, the club of the antennae is said to be bi-articulate; this, 

 however, does not appear to be a very constant character, as the differ- 

 ence in size between the ninth and tenth joint is in many specimens 

 scarcely appreciable, especially in the males. 



Cucujus clavipes Fab. The very depressed form of this well known 

 beetle indicates, a priori, its subcortical habit, and no other has power to 

 adapt its tastes to a greater variety of timber — locust, maple, oak, hickory, 

 gum, buckeye, &c., are all alike to it. The larvs do not eat the wood nor 

 the bark, living apparently on the moisture existing between the two. 

 They are elongate, much depressed, brownish yellow, and scarcely to be 

 distinguished from those of Dendroides canadensis. Some time in Sep- 

 tember, the larva having matured, constructs a circular cell from small 

 particles of the decaying bark and wood, and in this completes its trans- 

 formations before severe frost, but the beetle does not quit the cell till the 

 following spring. I have never known any of these insects to be taken 

 elsewhere than under bark, though they undoubtedly fly, being possessed 

 of a good pair of wings. On the loth of October, 15 newly disclosed 

 individuals and several pupae were taken under the bark of a gum log ; 

 the latter are depressed like the beetle, pale at first, the eyes, antennae 

 and portions of the legs gradually changing to black, and the elytra be- 

 coming red after disclosure. This insect is annual. 



Elater militaris Harr. is as rare as the preceding is common, though 



