68 Journal New York Entomological Society. [Vol. xvi. 



STUDIES ON MYRMECOPHILES. I. CREMAS- 

 TOCHILUS. 



By William Morton Wheeler, 

 New York City. 



The phlegmatic beetles of the exclusively North American genus 

 Cremastochilus have been extensively collected by coleopterists, but 

 very little study has been devoted to their habits. And though all 

 collectors know that these beetles, of which some twenty-five species 

 have been described, are regular myrmecophiles, it is a rare experience 

 to find one of them mounted with its host ant in a collection. Indeed, 

 with the exception of a few data published several years ago (1890) by 

 one of our eminent coleopterists, Dr. A. E. Schwarz, I can find no 

 records of the species of ants among which the Cremastochili pass so 

 much of their lives. I therefore publish the following observations in 

 the hope that they may induce some of our entomologists to make ac- 

 curate notes of their future captures of these extraordinary insects. 



Mr. L. H. Joutel having kindly identified the Cremastochili in my 

 collection, I am able to present the following records of fourteen 

 species, including those mentioned by Schwarz : 



1. Cremastochilus spinifer Horn. —A single specimen taken June 

 6, 1902, from a nest of Pheidole deseriorum Wheeler under a stone in 

 the desert near Fort Davis, Texas. 



2. C. wheeleri Lee. — Taken repeatedly during July and August, 

 1903, and 1906 at Colorado Springs, Manitou and Boulder, Colo., in 

 the nests of Formica areas Wheeler, crinita Wheeler, microgyria 

 Wheeler and its variety rasilis W^heeler, ciliata Mayr, and rufa L. 

 subsp. obscuripes Forel. 



3. C. crinitus Lee. — Taken repeatedly during May, 1903, by 

 Messrs. C. T. Brues, A. L. Melander and myself near Austin, Texas, 

 in the nests of Formica fusca L. var. gnava Buckley. 



4. C. retraclus Lee. — Also taken at Austin in nests of F. gnava, 

 but much less frequently than C. crinitus. I have also taken it (July 

 19, 1903) in nests of F. ciliata at Colorado Springs. 



5. C. harrisi Kirby. — Mr. Wm. Beutenmiiller has given me a 

 few specimens of this beetle which he took in the Black Mts. of North 

 Carolina in nests of Formica pallidefulva Latr. subsp. schaufussi Mayr. 

 I have also found it as late as September 16, at Lakehurst, N. J., in a 



