182 THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 
Banks), which attaches itself to the legs, mouthparts, or antenne of 
humble-bees, for the purpose of being transported to their nests. The 
earliest observation of this habit was made by the British Coleopterist, 
T. J. Bold, in 1856. He wrote: ‘‘Mr. Smith, in his admirable work 
on British bees, records the finding of Antherophagus glaber in the nest 
of Bombus derhamellus. This season | met with an instance of the 
manner in which such insects may be transported thither. When 
hunting Bombi in September last, the peculiar motions of a neuter of 
B. sylvarum attracted my attention; it was clinging to a thistlehead, 
and wriggling and twisting its legs about in all directions. On getting 
hold of it I found that a large specimen of Antherophagus nigricornis 
had seized the tarsus of a hind leg between its jaws, and was holding 
on like grim death. I put both into my bottle, and the Antherophagus 
retained its hold until both were killed by the fumes of the laurel.” 
Redtenbacher (1858) recorded taking three A. nigricornis, together 
with a number of its larve, in a humbie-bee’s nest. In 1868 Carus 
and Gerstaecker published the following note on the genus Anthero- 
_phagus: *‘The species live on flowers, attach themselves to humble- 
bees, and permit the latter to transport them to their nests, probably 
for the purpose of oviposition; at any rate. small larve resembling 
those of Cryptophagus are sometimes found among the beetles in the 
nests of humble-bees.”’ 
Hichoft (1866) found that A. nigricornis was nearly always present, 
and single specimens of stlaceus and pallens occurred in Bombus nests. 
Gorham (1869) captured A. pallens in a nest of Bombus pratorum. 
Perris (1869-’70) took in the Pyrenees A. niyricornis attached to 
the antenna of a B. montanus. 
Buenion (1869-70) took a Bombusin the Alps of Vaud, in August, 
1866, which had an A. pallens attached to its proboscis. 
Seidlitz (1869-’70) records the occurrence in a museum collection 
of three Bombi, each with an Antherophagus attached to an appendage. 
In 1875 Perris published a description of the larva of A. silaceus 
taken from a nest of B. sylvarwm. 
Hoffer (1883), Fowler (1889), Sharpe (1899), Wagner (1907), 
Reitter (1911), Sladen (1912), and Reuter (1913), give brief notices, 
and Wagner published a figure of A. nigricornis attached to the bee’s 
proboscis. 
Of the North American A. ochraceus, Wheeler points out that 
Packard (1864) recorded its capture by Putnam in Bombus nests in 
Massachusetts and Vermont, and J. B. Smith (1909) noted its 
occurrence 1n Bombus nests. 
Wheeler says that though possessed of well-developed wings and 
able to fly about and take up their position on flowers, Antherophagus 
does not seek out the Bombus nests, but compels the bee to carry it to 
the place in which its eggs and larvee are developed, and quotes Sharp 
(1899) : ‘“‘ We must presume that its senses and instincts permit it to 
recognise the bee, but do not suffice to enable it to find the bee’s nest.” 
Wheeler states: “The structure of the mandibles and the peculiar 
notch in the clypeus are clearly adaptations to firmly grasping the 
more or less cylindrical joints of the bee’s appendages, and the red 
color of the integument and investment of golden-yellow hairs, so 
very suggestive of conditions in many myrmecophilous beetles, may 
account for the fact that the Antherophayz live unmolested in the 
Bombus nests.” 
