4 Descriptive Cataloijuc [1897. 



in the vicinity of the heaps of larvae brought to the surface of the 

 formicarium for warmth. In the neighbourhood of Cape Town, 

 where four species occur, their formicarium is generally covered with 

 a large stone. Eaffray (' Mat^riaux pour servir a I'etude des Paus- 

 sides ') says that almost all the Abyssinian species live with a very 

 small black ant with red thorax, and that only Paussus Curtisi and 

 HylotorusBlanchardi are met with a small yellowish Atta. In South 

 Africa I know of three kinds of ants, among which Paussidcs are 

 found, and the range of two of them is very wide. 



Plagiolepis fallax harbours Pcntaplatarthrus ixmssoicles. The 

 formicarium of this species is occasionally very large, and the number 

 of P. paitssoidcs found in one nest has been known to exceed eighty. 

 Three more beetles are found with this ant — Thorictus capensis, Per., 

 Cossyphodes BeivicM, WolL, and Eupsalis vulsellata. 



Mr. C. N. Barker, of D'Urban, Natal, has sent me an example of 

 Cerapterus concolor y^hichheiom-i^ dead, but still limp, being dragged 

 to the nest by workers of this ant. 



Herr Guienzius, who collected for a number of years round 

 D'Urban, says, as quoted by Westwood (' Thesaurus Entomologicus 

 Oxoniensis,' p. 73), that with few exceptions " all the specimens which 

 he had taken were found in ants' nests, living with species which 

 are carnivorous : Cerapterus, Pleuropterus and Pentaplatarthrus, 

 with different larger species, but the true Paussi seem to live only 

 with small species of ants ; he had found, indeed, as many as seven 

 distinct species of Paussi living with one and the same species of 

 ants." 



I am not aware that Cerapterus has been found, except by 

 Guienzius in ants' nests in South Africa, and the fact of the dead 

 specimen above mentioned being dragged to the nest does not 

 necessarily imply that it was being brought back to its former abode, 

 although I have related the occurrence of a somewhat similar case, 

 but the Paussus {P. Burmeisteri) was alive. (" Notes on three 

 Paussi," Trans. Entom. Soc. Lond., 1883, p. 138.) 



Pheidole capensis, or Pheidole piinctulata, harbours Paussus cul- 

 tratus, P. cucullatus, P. Schuckardi P. Burmeisteri, P. Linnei, and 

 P. Khuji. I do not know of any other myrmecophilous beetle 

 harboured by this or (?) these ants. 



Acantholepis capensis harbours Paussus lineatus, and also two 

 other beetles — one of the few South African Clavigeridce, Fustigerodes 

 majusculus, P6r. ; and a Ptinus spec. nov. 



The Paussidce are occasionally found flying at the hottest time of 

 the day, but they may be said to be crepuscular or nocturnal. The 

 numerous examples of Cerapterus (two kinds) submitted to me or 



