September 1S92.] 



PSYCHE. 



321 



NOTES ON SOME MYRMECOPHILOUS COLEOPTERA. 



BY HENRY FREDERICK WICKHAM, IOWA CITY, IOWA. 



In a recent paper published in the 

 Proceedings of the Entomological so- 

 ciety of Washington (vol. i, 1S90, pp. 

 237-247) Mr. E. A. Schwarz has 

 listed all the North American beetles 

 that are known to be myrmecophilous 

 and has added notes on some that he 

 considers doubtfully such. Two arti- 

 cles by Dr. Hamilton in the Canadian 

 entomologist (vols. 20 and 21) and one 

 by Prof. [. B. Smith in the American 

 naturalist (August, 1SS6) also treat of 

 these insects ; to them I wish to add the 

 following data which seem to be new. 

 I am greatly indebted to Dr. Horn for 

 determinations of many species and for 

 suggestions regarding the new Hetae- 

 rius herein described ; and to Prof. C. 

 V. Riley for the names of the ants, 

 specimens of which he had compared 

 with those in the national collection. I 

 have placed in that collection specimens 

 of all the ants noted, the beetles being 

 in my own unless otherwise stated. 



Ptomapltagiis pusio occurs at Iowa 

 City during April, deep in the galleries 

 of a large black ant. This species is 

 not on any of the previous lists. 



Fustigcr fuchsii has long been 

 known as a mvrmecophile but hitherto 

 the host has not been recorded ; I took 

 it at Williams, Arizona, in the nests of 

 a variety of Cremastogastcr lineolata. 

 All of our best coleopterists to whom 

 I have sent examples of the Arizona 

 species unite in declaring it to be the 



same as the types from Tennessee. 



Ctenistes p7ilverens was listed by 

 Mr. Schwarz on the authority of Dr. 

 Leconte. By the capture of several 

 specimens at Tucson, Ariz., I am able 

 to verify the Doctor's observation and 

 to record the hitherto unknown host as 

 Formica schauftissi '. 



Lomechusa cava. This species is 

 mentioned to call attention to the wide 

 distribution of the genus ; specimens 

 differing little from cava except in size 

 have been taken by me, with ants, in 

 the Cascade Mts. of Washington and 

 in the Rockies of Colorado ; the species 

 is also found in the Mississippi Valley 

 and thence east to the Atlantic. 



Gyrophaena sp. A number of 



specimens of this species — a true myr- 

 mecophile — were taken at Canon City, 

 Colorado, in the nests of Solenopsis 

 debilis which they resemble so closely 

 in color and size as to render detection 

 somewhat difficult when the colony is 

 disturbed and the ants in motion ; the 

 ants show no hostility towards it. From 

 Prof. Riley I learn that this is the same 

 species recorded by Mr. Schwarz (loc. 

 cit. p. 224) as Myrinecocharat n. sp... 

 collected by Morrison at Lake Tahoe. 



PJiilonthus microphthalmus occurred 

 at Iowa City in the nest of Aphaeno- 

 gaster fulva, probably however merely 

 as an accidental visitor ; in the same 

 nest I took a species of Scopaeus not 

 yet determined. 



