A TERMITOPHILOITS P.Kpyrf-K OK 'I'HK GENUS COBOTOCA. 103 



Note on the Occurrence in South Africa of a 

 Termitophilous Beetle of the Genus Corotoca. 



By 



Among the most remarkable and interesting of the tei-mito- 

 philous insects are the beetk's of the genei\a Spirachtha 

 and Corotoca, belonging to the family Staphy linida?. 

 They have a much swollen abdomen, with the greater portion 

 of it permanently turned forwards over the dorsal surface of 

 the thorax. It extends as far as the middle of the pronotum. 

 These beetles were first described and figured by J. C. 

 Schiodte in 1854 from specimens obtained from termite nests 

 in Brazil. 



In 1905, Dr. Ivar Triigardh, of the Upsala University, 

 visited South Africa on a collecting trip, and he discovered in 

 the nest of a species of Eutermes, in a limited area in Zulu- 

 land, a great number of specimens of anew Staphylinid, which 

 he has called Termitomimus. This genus is characterised 

 by the second and third segments of the abdomen being very 

 greatly swollen, and the remainder of the abdomen, which is 

 somewhat less swollen, is turned forward over the thorax. 



Dr. Tragardh examined many nests of termites in Natal, 

 but no other physogastric Staphylinids were discovered. 



Recently, numerous nests of the common termite Eutermes 

 trinervius {Ramhur) have been examined in another connQc- 

 tion by Dr. Conrad Akerman and myself in the neighbourhood 

 of Pietermaritzburg, and in March, 1913, Dr. Akerman found 

 in one of the nests a single specimen of a physogastric 

 Staphylinid. Subsequent examination proved that it un- 



