r»SYOH[E. 



ON COLEOPTERA FOUND WirH ANTS. FIFTH PAPER. 



BY HENRY FREDERICK WICKHAM, IOWA CITY, IOWA. 



From time to time it has been possi- 

 ble to add a few records to those which 

 I have pubHshed in the earlier papers 

 of this series, but it has not been prac- 

 ticable to make a systematic eflbrt to 

 work out the myrmecophilous fauna in 

 the neighborhood of my own home. 

 The fragmentai-y nature of the observa- 

 tions is well i-ealized — but even frag- 

 ments may be of use to a future monog- 

 rapher. 



I. Formica exsectoides Forel (name 

 from Rev. P. Jerome Sclimitt).. A large 

 colonv of these anis has constructed a 

 good-sized hillock of cinders by the side 

 of one of the railroad tracks. An exam- 

 ination of this nest, on the second of 

 May, 1S96, revealed many specimens 

 of Hetaeriits brunnipoinis, Batrisus 

 fossicaiida^ Ant hi ens mclancliolicns 

 and one JSIonotoma fulvipes. On 

 April 34, 1898, I examined another 

 hillock (in t'nis case made of earth, with 

 a thin covering of cinders) belonging to 

 the same species. By scraping away 

 the earth to a depth of three or four 

 inches, I got six Batrisns fossicanda^ 



which seemed to be in galleries close to 

 tlie Mulace of the mound, especially 

 around the edges. Three Megastilicns 

 forinicarins were also secured in this 

 hill, besides C[uite a lot of AiitJiicns 

 wclanc/ioiicns. The Megastilicus is an 

 active insect and loses no time in bury- 

 ing itself when imcovered by the inves- 

 tigator. It most likely belongs to the 

 group of predatory myrmecophiles. 



II. Formica fusca var. snbsericea 

 Say. This ant is much atlected by 

 Coleopterous insects, as will be seen by 

 reference to earlier papers. A very 

 large nest was examined in March and 

 found to contain quite a number of Hel- 

 acriiis hrnnnipeniiis. On the seven- 

 teenth of April I looked again and found 

 more of these beetles as well as a lot of 

 Pto»iaphagns parasitus, part of which 

 were under a log which lay across the 

 top of the mound while others were 

 obtained deep ilown in the galleries. 

 One Megastilicus forinicarins was 

 captured near the surface of the hillock, 

 and as I IkkI never before seen this 

 beetle alive I searched carefully for 



