NOTES ON TWO SUPPOSED ANTs'-NEST BEETLES. 109' 



with her back feet. The covered egg is a much smoother object than 

 that of Cli/t/ira. When hatched, the Httlc larva remains inside the 

 egg-case, which it detaches from the rest of the bunch. It looks as if 

 it were in a tub turned upside down, as it walks about with the case 

 pointing upwards. The newly-hatched larva is somewhat like a young 

 Cbjtlira larva, the abdominal segments are bent forward, the legs are 

 long, and the head is broad. The body is of a dirty yellowish-white, 

 and the head dark brown. The two-jointed antennae are short, and 

 the tarsi are represented by a claw. The head is furnished with a few 

 long hairs. I found that they feed on algje on bark of trees. I here 

 figure the covered eggs and larvjB for the first time (pi. ix., figs. 1-3). 



Prioniicjiplion serricornis, Miill., has also been recorded from ants' 

 nests, Fowler Avrites [Col. Brit. Mes, vol. iv., p. 124), "... it has 

 also been found in nests of Formica rnfa.'" Some years ago Dr. Sharp 

 told me that the larva'" of Prionoci/p/tofi was unknown, and that he 

 thought that, as the larvae of the Cyphonidae were aquatic, it would be 

 found in holes, in trees full of water, as the beetle is a dweller in 

 woods and forests. After I had heard this I was always trying to find 

 the larva, and, on July 8th, 1905, 1 found a number of ('nplwn-WkQ larvae 

 with long antennae, in a hole full of water in a felled oak in the New 

 Forest, which I hoped might prove to be Priojioci/phon, but, un- 

 fortunately, they all died. However, on July 17th, 1906, I visited the 

 same tree, and obtained plenty more. These I fixed up in a bowl with 

 some of the water, dead leaves and wood-refuse from the hole in the tree, 

 and put some of the oak-bark, covered with moss, on the top. I bred 

 the first perfect insect on July 27th. On the 28th I noticed a larva creep 

 under the moss on the bark, and it changed to a papa on the 29th. 

 This I had figured and then returned to its place, and it hatched on 

 August 1st. As will be seen a very short time is passed in the pupal 

 state, a larva which pupated on May 19th, 1907, hatched on May 24th. 

 In 1906, I bred 7 specimens, no more hatched after August 1st, in 

 1906, but eggs must have been laid, as, on November 1st, I found 

 many very small young larvae in the bowl. On December 18th I 

 isolated a very young, and a big larva, and put them m little glasses 

 with rain-Avater in ; they soon died, but two more put in the same 

 glasses with water from the bowl, and bits of decayed leaves, seemed 

 quite comfortable. The larger one pupated on May 22nd, 1907, when 

 I put in a bit of bark. In 1907, I bred 16 perfect insects, and they 

 were all considerably larger than the 1906 specimens. On May 19th, 

 I put in some new bark, and found one pupa and five larvae pupating 

 on the old bark. The perfect insect is a most active creature, and 

 flies very readily ; on one occasion, when I had taken the muslin off the 

 top of the bowl to show the contents to my friend, Professor T. H. Beare, 

 a beetle flew out of the bowl to the ceiUng of my room where it circled 

 round and round with great rapidity, looking more like a fly than 

 a beetle. The shortness of the life of the perfect insect and its obscure 

 habits account for its scarcity in nature. I have only once taken it 

 at large, r/c, when I took a specimen oft" my friend Mr. Bouskell's hat 

 in the train, after we had spent the day at Buddon Wood ; very few 



* Mr. Gahan recently called my attention to the fact that the larva and pupa 

 of Prionociiphon had been desci'ibed by T. Belinp; [Vcrhandhuigen der k. k. 

 Zoologisch- Botanuch . Gesellttchaft, Band xxxii., p. 436, Wien, 1883). 



