a new Species of P missus. 31 



among crowds of ants, some on the under face of the stone, others 

 in the ruins of tlie ants' nests. Several of them crepitated and 

 stained my finders. 



13th June. Two more specimens oi Paussua Parr'uinus, among 

 ants, under the loose bark of a felled and decaying oak tree, on 

 the eastern base of Table Mountain, and by tlie side of a lane 

 running from Newlands towards Protea and Hout Bay. 



15th June. Two other specimens on the same log. These 

 were undisturbed during my previous search, as fatigue pre- 

 vented my stripping off the whole of the bark. The whole of 

 these captures were made upon crutches, during short explora- 

 tions in places to which a wheeled carriage could convey me. 

 My success, under such circumstances, shows what might be done 

 in the locality by an active collector. 



26th June. Three specimens among ants again, under the bark 

 of a felled fir-tree lying near the same spot. 



29th. A single specimen, under a stone, near the spot where 

 I made my first capture. It inhabited a formicary like the rest, 

 but this was the first instance in which I found this gregarious 

 species unassociated with another of its own kind. 



7th September. While searching on the skirts of the Devil's 

 Peak, near the third milestone between Cape Town and Ronde- 

 bosch, for specimens of Graphipterus o-linealus, Dejean, I found 

 under a stone, with its usual companions, my 17th specimen of 

 Paiissus Parrianus, and on the 21st September I obtained three 

 more under similar circumstances near the same spot. It is sin- 

 gular that a species, comparatively so abundant, should so long 

 have eluded the search of entomological visitors to the Cape, 

 more especially of Thunberg, who brought P. Uneatns and ruber 

 thence. 



The abundance of specimens creating an indifference regarding 

 the chance of losing specimens not at once secured and set, ena- 

 bled me to keep some alive for a time to observe their habits. 

 In so doing, I discovered at least one use of the singular club of 

 the antennae : these beetles, when thrown on their backs on writing 

 paper, were, from their flatness in that part, and the shortness of 

 their feet, unable to turn themselves over, until, by turning an 

 antennas back, making the joint rigid, and using the club as a 

 lever, they throw themselves sufficiently over on one side to gain 

 their feet. When I deprived them of the assistance of their an- 

 tenna?, by placing them with their heads beyond the edge of the 

 paper, their struggles to regain their proper position, by means of 

 their feet alone, were ineffectual. A club composed of many 



E 2 



