Ecological and Behavior Notes 49 



However they could not constantly or continually per- 

 form this act, and if tlie teasing occurred at short inter- 

 vals they were incapable of ^ivin^ off this fluid, but in- 

 stead they w^ould j,^o through abdominal contortions and 

 squeeze out a drop of clear, odorless liquid. They 

 seemed to try to aim directly to strike their persecutor 

 with the substance ; when one attempted to pick up a C. 

 villosys, it would grasp the forceps with the mandibles 

 and curve the abdomen around ventrally until it touched 

 the forceps, and spread the offensive material on that 

 enemy. If at that moment they w^ere suddenly released, 

 or if they merely missed their aim, they would spread 

 it on their own faces. They required several hours of 

 rest to regenerate this substance in its full strength. 

 While this feat appeared to be a mode of defence, it is 

 possible that it w^as only a function to facilitate mating. 



Staphylinus maculosus [E. A. Schwarz]. This large 

 beetle was discovered accidentally while I was digging 

 out a burrow of a small beetle, Aphodius fimetarius 

 Linn. [E. A. Schwarz]. I suspected that this Staphilid 

 feeds on these dung-beetles, and this theory was con- 

 finued five days later, May 3, when it fed on one in my 

 presence. It grabbed the victim in its mandibles, at- 

 tacked the ventral part of the abdomen and ate head- 

 wards. 



Hippodmniu convergens Guer. [E. A. Schwarz]. 

 Many were to be seen on a vacant lot in St. Louis dur- 

 ing July and by the latter part of the month a number 

 were seen in copulo on the grass and milk-weeds. 



Tritoma plaincollis Lacordaire. [E. A. Schwarz]. 

 Several of these beetles were feeding on a fungus on the 

 sunny side of a tree and six or eight feet above the 

 ground at Wickes, Mo., on June 11, 1917. 



Antherophagus hecate Panz. [E. A. Schwarz]. 

 Shaken out of the head of a dead bird. May 1916. 



Hester abbreviatus Fab. [E. A. Schwarz]. Taken 

 from cow dung April 15, 1915. 



