218 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. i04 



Bolboceras liebecki (Wallis) 



Odontaeus liebecki Wallis, 1928, p. 173. Type, male, Cornwall, Conn., May 30, 

 1921, taken under wash-up by Chamberlain (Wallis). 



Bolboceras liebecki (Wallis) is a rather common, wide-ranging species 

 found in most of the Northeastern States, and in the mountainous 

 portions of the Southern States. Sim (1930, p. 145) stated that: 



This species is more distinctly characteristic of higher elevations. Unlike the 

 preceding beetle [simi] which frequently works in open sunny places, liebecki is 

 most likely to be found burrowing on the upper levels of well-shaded hills and 

 mountains. While the beetles, of course, frequently have their homes under the 

 leaf carpet of the forest floor, their diggings are much more easily found along 

 some old wood road in which the little used wheel tracks are bare. For N. J. 

 records I mention the Jersey Jump Mountains, August 17, 1929, and Arney's 

 Mount, August 30, 1927. 



Robinson (1938, p. 103) found specimens in a somewhat similar locality 

 under leaves near West Chester, Pa. 



I have found liebecki in this same type of habitat in North Carolina. 

 At the Mills River recreation area in the Pisgah National Forest two 

 males and a female were dug from shallow burrows, 1 or 2 inches deep, 

 on Aug. 16, 1951. The beetles were found in a small, partially shaded 

 clearing formed by an old road and parking spot at the top of a ridge. 

 There were some sand and numerous pebbles, but for the most part 

 just below the surface there were well-packed clay and stones. In 

 the same area, in mid-August, several other specimens of liebecki were 

 taken in sunken cans containing fermenting malt. This would seem 

 to indicate that the adults may feed on decaying plant material (prob- 

 ably with food habits similar to those given for darlingtoni) . 



While all previous records of liebecki in North Carolina have been 

 from the mountains, I was extremely fortunate in finding a few speci- 

 mens on a well-wooded hillside 5 miles northwest of Raleigh. The 

 first specimen, a female tentatively identified as liebecki, was taken in a 

 trap baited with ethyl sulfide. As this material did not attract other 

 specimens over a period of several months, its attractiveness, if any, 

 was slight. 



In the same area, I had a rearing cage, 6 feet long by 3 feet wide, 

 containing Geotrupes splendidus splendidus (Fabricius) in the spring 

 and early summer of 1951. At various times an assortment of fungi 

 and rotten bananas were put in the cage to feed the adult splendidus, 

 along with a large quantity of dead leaves, humus, and some cow 

 dimg to be used as larval food. Through natural decay, the activities 

 of the beetles, and the subsequent digging of the author the top 2 or 3 

 inches of soil became well mLxed with finely divided humus. 



By August 1951 all of the splendidus had been removed and the 

 screen top was left partially off of the cage. In April 1952 the cage 



