376 September, 



being ineffective against the hard armour and tightly packed limbs of 

 the beetles, which devour the helpless " brood " with impunity. I have 

 more than once taken S. acutangulus with a half-eaten larva in its jaws, 

 and they are usually to be found clinging to the masses of larvae 

 where these lie thickest. On the other hand, I once (but once only) 

 saw an ant take up a 8. arachnoides in its mandibles and carry it off 

 into a lower gallery of the nest, but this may have been done under 

 the influence of alarm, the frightened ant seizing on the first object 

 that came in its way. 



I have never found the Sisters in any of their preparatory stages, 

 but having occasionally come across somewhat immature specimens of 

 S. acutangulvs in the ant's nests, I am inclined to the idea that the 

 larvae, like the perfect insects, will eventually be found there. The 

 beetles usually occur singly, or at most two or three in one nest, but, 

 occasionally, several species are found together. Thus, on Dec. 28th, 

 1888, I found, in a not very populous colony of ants, three S. acutan- 

 guhis, one S. arachnoides, and four Eretmotus tangerianus — in all eight 

 specimens. I have also taken half a dozen S. arachnoides from a single 

 nest, this species being apparently (as Mr. Lewis has also observed) 

 more gregarious in its habits than the others. 



After heavy winter rains, the Sternocceli are sometimes to be found 

 in flood rubbish, along with a host of other beetles. It was in this 

 way that I first obtained the then undescribed S.fusculus, Schmidt, on 

 January 10th, 1888; but it was not until nearly two months later that 

 I found one specimen "at home " with Aphcenogaster testaceo-pilosa in 

 the locality near the Sierra Lorca. It was in the same spot, in March, 

 1888, that I found Eretmotus tangerianus, at that time, I believe, new 

 to the European Fauna ; a few more specimens of this interesting 

 species were obtained at the Sierra Carbonera in the spring of 1889, 

 but it appears to be much rarer there than at Tangier. I have never 

 seen any of the species on the wing, or travelling in any way in 

 search of fresh quarters, as Mr. Lewis (/. c, p. 294) has met with the 

 Eretmotus at Tangier ; but I imagine they must fly sometimes, as the 

 only specimen of S. acutangulus which I found on the Bock of 

 Gibraltar was shaken out of a dry tuft of grass on a stony slope, where 

 it could hardly have been washed down by the rain, and where there 

 were no ants within a long distance, as far as I could ascertain. 



The only other beetle which appears regularly to inhabit the nests 

 of Aphcenogaster testaceo-pilosa is the black Dinarda nigrita, Eosenh. 

 This insect was not observed at Tangier, but it is no rarity in the 

 Gibraltar district, half a dozen specimens being often found with one 



