184 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [1""^, '02 



Two New Texan Ant and Termite Guests.* 

 By Charles Thomas Brues. 



(See Plate IX.) 



Scarcely any method of entomological collecting yields a 

 more varied and remarkable harvest of insects than the exami- 

 nation of ants' nests and their contents. As this is especially 

 true of the warmer regions of our country, Texas is not with- 

 out its full share of strange Myrmecophiles and Termitophiles. 



The two remarkable species herein described, which were 

 collected in the vicinity of Austin, Texas, add two genera to 

 our fauna and serve well to indicate what a wealth of interest- 

 ing forms we may expect to unearth in the future in similar 

 locations. 



STAPHYLINID^. 

 ECITOXENIA Wastnann. 



A beetle referable to this genus was collected in considerable 

 numbers by Mr. A. L. Melander and the present writer in a 

 nest of Eciton schmitti Em. On one of our entomological ex- 

 cursions, one afternoon during the past winter (January, 1902), 

 we chanced upon a large colony of the Eciton clustered beneath 

 a flat .stone. On examining the nest more closely, we suc- 

 ceeded in discovering at least four different species of Myrme- 

 cophiles which we had previously seen,t besides one which 

 was unfamiliar to us. The latter was quite agile in its move- 

 ments, although , unlike most Ecitophiles, it possesses ex- 

 tremely short legs. Its flat lx)dy .seemed almost to glide along 

 on the surface of the .stone, as it picked its way among the ex- 

 cited groups of ants. 



In its general habitus this beetle greatly resembles the Bra- 

 zilian Eciloxcnia >nirabi/is, described by Wasmann.J It is 

 seen to differ considerably in detail however, and I should feel 



* Contributions from the Zoological Laboratory of the University of 

 Texas. No. 3a 



t These were Ecilnnidia ivhrclcri Wasm., E. Irnclla Wasm., two 

 Stapljyiinid beetles ; Anillus affahi/is Hriies, a l)liii(l Carabici beetle ; and 

 Xanionolitm hystrix Mrneji, a windless Pliorid fly. 



\ Neue Uorylinenga'ste aus dem neotropischen tind dem aethiopischen 

 Faunengebiet, Zool. Jahrb. Abth. f. Syst, Bd. 4, Heft 3. 1900. 



