70 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 85 



records are shared by more than i6o species of birds. Fifteen of these 

 kinds of birds had more than lo records each, nine others more 

 than 20, six others from 30 to 60 records, one other, tlie chimney 

 swift, 76, the crow 190, and another, the starhng, more than 200. 

 In several instances the number of specimens found in a stomach was 

 as many as from 20 to 50 and larger numbers were 85 for tlie bald- 

 pate and 150 for the dowitcher. Such data certainly do not indicate 

 distaste for Staphylinidae, hence the failure of the total number of 

 captures to come up to theoretical expectations must be due to some 

 other factor, presumably the small size and concealed habit of living 

 characteristic of so large a proportion of the beetles of this family. 



The same causes also serve to explain why a number of the minor 

 families of beetles have not yet been identified in bird stomachs ; the 

 Platypsyllidae, and Leptinidae are parasitic upon mammals, the Scyd- 

 maenidae, and Clavigeridae mostly live in ant nests, the Ptiliidae are 

 minute, while the others most of which have five or fewer species in 

 our region owe their degree of immunity to their very rarity. 



Passing now to one of the larger groups of beetles about whose 

 protected status " there seems to be no doubt," namely the malaco- 

 derms, variously regarded as forming from one to four families, we 

 find that they are devoured in no mincing way by nearctic birds. 

 While various authors refer to these beetles (generally known as 

 Lampyridae in the United States) in terms varying from distasteful 

 to inedible or immune, our records show 879 determinations of them 

 from bird stomachs. All of the groups were preyed upon, the Lycinae 

 and Phengodinae least, however, because they are scantily represented 

 in our fauna. The adult lampyrids identified were eaten by no fewer 

 than 108 species of birds and the larvae by 25. Larvae in number up 

 to 50 were found in a liluebird's stomach, and in three instances as 

 many as lOo were taken from a single stomach of the robin. Our 

 most common lampyrids are CJiaidiognathus and TelepJwnts. The 

 former genus was identified 179 times in the stomachs of 34 species 

 of birds. Three of these had from 30 to 38 records each and the 

 number of individual beetles eaten ran as high as 30 in a single in- 

 stance. Tclcphonis {Cantharis) were determined 274 times in the 

 stomachs of 35 species of birds ; the number of imagines in a stomach 

 ran as high as 16 and of larvae, 100. If the Lampyridae fail in any 

 degree to attain proportional rejnx'sentation among the food items 

 taken by nearctic birds it is due to the nocturnal habits of a large 

 number of the species. The diurnal species seem to be captured as 

 frequently as would be expected. 



