150 Psyche [Deceml er 



bee's proboscis, he continues: "The humble-bee evidently feels 

 decidedly uncomfortable if she does not actually suffer pain. She 

 crawls over the combs of the nest, extrudes her proboscis and 

 makes a series of movements for the purpose of getting rid of her 

 burden, but in vain. Other bees come up, 'affectionately' pal- 

 pate her with their antennse and pass on without the slightest 

 attempt to help their 'comrade,' without the feeblest movement 

 towards assisting her to ward off the dangerous enemy. And 

 dangerous the beetle certainly is for from the eggs it lays hatch 

 larvae which, by destroying both the wax and the cocoons, will 

 cause enormous devastation in the nest." It is difficult to esti- 

 mate how much of this is observation and how much is imagina- 

 tion. Subsequent writers return to the opinion of Ferris and 

 regard the Antherophagus larvse as harmless scavengers. Thus 

 Reitter (1911) asserts that they "probably live on the excrement 

 of the inhabitants of the nest" and Renter (1913) that they "live 

 on all sorts of refuse." Sladen (1912), who has a very intimate 

 knowledge of the humble-bees and their nest-mates, classifies the 

 Antherophagi "among the smaller and less important inhabitants 

 of humble-bees' nests." We may conclude, therefore, that the 

 larvse of these beetles are in all probability merely scavengers in 

 the Bonibus nests and hence closely resemble the larv^ae of Crypto- 

 fhagus in habits as well as structure. 



Literature. 



1911. Banlcs, N. Cases of Phoresie. Ent. News 22, 1911, pp. 



194-197. 

 1910. Blatchley, W. S. An Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue of 



the Coleoptera or Beetles (Exclusive of the Rhyncho- 



phora) known to occur in Indiana. Nature Publ. Co., 



Indianapolis, 1910. 

 1856. Bold, T. J. Note on Antherophagus nigricornis and Bom- 



hus sylvarum. Zoologist 14, 1856, p. 5003. 

 1871. Bold, T. J. A Catalogue of the Insects of Northumberland 



and Durham [Revision of Coleoptera]. Nat. Hist. 



Trans. Northumberland and Durham 4, 1871, p. 60. 

 1917a. Bnws, C. T. Adult Hymenopterous Parasites Attached 



to the Body of Their Host. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sc. 3, 



1917, pp. 136-140, 1 fig. 



