BUTTERFLIES OF CALIFORNIA 215 



Among the most abundant beetles in California there 

 is a group of flightless forms which when touched will emit 

 a pungent, oily secretion. Owing to their curious habit of 

 elevating their bodies when alarmed they have received in the 

 west the popular name of " circus bugs." Now this section 

 Eleodinae of the large family Tenebrionidae are, in North 

 America, quite peculiar to the south-west. A few species have 

 spread northward into Washington State and eastward as far 

 as the Mississippi. The great mass of these thick-bodied oily 

 creatures lives in Mexico and California, where, according to 

 Mr. Blaisdell,* they have probably originated. The only near 

 relation of this south-western group in the New World is the 

 genus Nycterinus, which is peculiar to Chile. But throughout 

 the Mediterranean Region we meet with a very large number 

 of similar beetles, commonly called " oil beetles," and 

 although many of them are also found in Persia, Turkestan, 

 Central Asia and even China, south-eastern Europe must be 

 looked upon as the headquarters of the genus Blaps, to which 

 they belong. 



The same family Tenebrionidae also offers instances of 

 intimate relationship between the Antilles or Central America 

 and southern Europe. I need only recall the American 

 Gnathocerus maxillosus which likewise inhabits Madeira, the 

 Canary and Mediterranean islands, as well as Sitophagus 

 hololeptoides of Central and South America, the Antilles and 

 Madeira. 



Dr. Kolbe f mentions similar examples of distribution 

 among the coprophagous lamellicorn beetles. Thus Oniti- 

 cellus and Grlaresis are quite peculiar to the south-west in 

 North America, whereas in Europe they are confined to the 

 Mediterranean Region. Only the former has spread further 

 southward into Africa and eastward into Asia. 



Of all the insects, faunistically the most interesting are 

 the ants. In my work on European animals I alluded to 

 Stenamma westwoodi as one of the members of the Lusitanian 

 fauna, which penetrated as far north as south-western Ire- 

 land. The same species is met with in America in a few 

 varieties. One lives in California, the other in British 



* Blaisdell, F. E., "Eleodinae of the United States," pp. 2829. 



t Kolbe, H. J., " Verbreitung d. Coprophagen Lamellicornier," p. 499. 



