~ 238 Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis 
these observations in as brief form as possible, sometimes with 
and more often without comment. 
A pleasing description of the feeding sales of a staph- 
ylinid erobably Staphyiinus maculosus Grav.) and also a ee 
picture of one of these beetles poised for an See upon a fly, 
is given by Howes (19:22). He says, 
“Other animals ag attracted by the sad of decay and from far 
and near they come to seek the cause. Som o their advantage others 
to their detriment, far a cannibal lies in eh for them 
“It is a powerful animal, slender and supple-bodied, — a-coat OF 
glossy bronze velvet. It is perhaps the most active of all the weird 
creatures that we have come ws know, moving like a flash in response 
to stimulae. It could not exist where patience is a necessity, at least one 
is sO impressed upon observing it. 
re are man Zz aa twisting into the carrion, excavated by 
other creatures, and of these the cannibal selects for its ose 
range. eed we have found 3 a veritable dragon in this creature so fiery 
Fag ody for battle. Its prey is helpless before "the onslaught and its 
teeth sink easily through arm 
Leaping upon the back of its victim, the dragon tears deep into its 
body, grinding flesh and skeleton, sucking every drop of blood until 
the broken creature curls, dry like a leaf. In veh ceca! the un- 
lucky one has disappeared before our eyes * tk nute a 
living creature come to the ‘carrion to stay ‘its euie . ee we ae 
a crunching noise and saw-a splash of blood. Now there is nothing 
but ihe ee. onan and we gaze dumbfounded at the spot where 
the ne was ted.” 
= their review of the early literature on the parasites and 
predators of the Gipsy and Brown-tailed moth, Howard and 
predacious controls of other insects. And on age 39 of the 
same ae: in their comments on the work of George Compere 
they sa 
“Mr; frie pere has collected mons stage al oe attacking sage 
Sidebars mjurious insects... In zil he succeeded in finding 
ichneumon fly and a staphylinid beetle qendas a "trait fy. larvae. He 
Au 
te na some numbers and carried them to “adic in sarge condi- 
tion, prematurely reporting stcce The fruit fly is a pest in South 
Africa, and following the so ae eaiens of Sep: importations 
Claude Fuller and C. P. Lounsbury proceeded from Africa to Brazil 
t som i ult of this me y i 
They did n nd the predatory staphylinid, . .. .” (The fruit fly is 
Covastlues dastluts Wied.). 
Kirby and —— (46 :253) give rove beetles as examples of true 
predators. Wardle and eae - 47) alee aoe this view saying, 
“The chief predators upon either s themselves—partic- 
ularly the Co engiecns tastes Carabidae, ‘Staphylinida ae = Coe cinel- 
lidae 2 order to substantiate a similar view Ess 
quotes ’ Davis and Quayle 12. Davis (15:150) r reports “Creophilus 
eitotee oy aie on fly larvae around carrion. In his iscussion 
on the food habits of certain dung and carrion pertlen Clark (95:61) 
