Sept., 1908.] Wheeler: Studies ox Myrmecophiles. 137 



men of H. ferrugineus placed in a mixed colony of F. exsecta and fusca. 

 In this case, however, the ants licked the beetle more frequently and 

 effusively. 



These and other observations have led Wasmann to regard //. fer- 

 rugineus when nesting with F. fusca as a synoekete, or indifferently tol- 

 erated guest. Janet (1897), too, who observed the beetle in artificial 

 nests of the same ant, came to a similar conclusion. He found the 

 beetle mating during July and during June making attempts to escape 

 from the nest. 



The following observations, however, prove that in nests of Lasius 

 alienus the relations between the beetle and the ants are much closer and 

 more in the nature of symphily. Escherich (1897), who studied these 

 insects in Asia Minor, says: "I kept six of these beetles and a few 

 Claviger for eight weeks in an artificial nest and would summarize my 

 observations as follows : The Hetarii are true guests or closely allied 

 to the true guests, as Wasmann has already stated. The ants often 

 lick the beetles, their pygidium, wing covers, etc., as I have repeat- 

 edly and clearly discerned under a lens. As a second fact in support 

 of this opinion, I may state that Hetccrius is not infrequently carried 

 about by the ants, an occurrence which has been observed in many true 

 guests {Claviger, Faussus, etc.).. This transportation, which is per- 

 haps best interpreted as a kind of ' play ' or 'practice,' indicates 

 that the ants, when attacked, or when moving to a new nest, carry 

 their guests with them, just as they carry their larva; and pupseonsuch 

 occasions. . . . Before leaving Hetarius, let me relate a little 

 episode from the life of this Histerid. On uncovering the nest I saw 

 an ant attempting to seize one of the beetles. Time and again she 

 made the attempt, but her mandibles kept slipping from the beetle's 

 polished, chitinous integument. Finally she succeeded in seizing the 

 stranger by the leg and was thus enabled to carry it a short distance, 

 till it suddenly slipped out of her jaws. Thereupon she made no fur- 

 ther attempts to seize it with her mandibles, but rolled it along a con- 

 siderable distance with her fore feet, as if it were a barrel, while it 

 kept its legs closely applied to its body." 



Although the typical hosts of H. ferrugineus are Cam ponotine ants of 

 the genus Formica, some of the North African species have been found 

 in the nests of Myrmicina;. H. plicicollis Fairmaire lives with 

 nogastcr striola, according to Bedel (Wasmann, 1894), and //. chobauti 

 Thery with Monomorium salomonis (Thery, 1897). Other sp< 



