Sept., 1908.J Wheeler : Studies on Myrmecophiles. 139 



it is really a colony of ants, or one of Hetcerius. The first specimens 

 were observed by Mr. W. J. Fox, on March 30, 1891, and since then 

 the writer has taken small lots at intervals of three or four days, 

 covering a period of six weeks, the specimens gradually getting less 

 abundant. The lower half of one side of the mound, which is almost 

 perpendicular, is completely honey-combed by exposed galleries, and 

 out of these occasionally one or two Hetcerius would suddenly make 

 their appearance and roll to the bottom of the hill. Apparently the 

 ants had carried these to the open ends of the galleries and uncere- 

 moniously tumbled them out. A great many times ants were observed 

 emerging from the galleries with Hetcerius in their jaws, which they 

 would carry a short distance from the mound and drop, the ants 

 returning without giving them any further attention. Nearly all the 

 Hetcerius that were seen in motion, were intent upon entering the hill, 

 but were usually bottled before they could do so. Sometimes the 

 Hetcerius, when touched with a wisp of straw, would double up their 

 members and drop, feigning death after the manner of other members 

 of the family. At other times when touched they would display con- 

 siderable activity, and although awkward and unwieldy in appearance 

 could run along quite rapidly. An examination of small heaps of dead 

 ants in the extreme corners of the table, upon which the mound had 

 been placed, failed to discover the presence of any Hetcerius. ' ' 



During the past April I repeatedly found specimens of H. brun- 

 neipennis in nests of F. subsericea near Bronxville, Westchester County, 

 New York, but never in such numbers as reported by Liebeck. In 

 most instances a colony contained only one or two beetles, more 

 rarely from five to a dozen. In many of these colonies there were 

 also numerous specimens of the little Silphid syncekete, Ptomcplia^us 

 parasita Lee. April 12 seven Hetcerii were placed in an artificial nest 

 with a number of F. subsericea workers and larvoe and kept under ob- 

 servation till June 30. The following notes show very clearly that 

 the relations of these beetles to the ants are in several particulars un- 

 like those described by Wasmann, Janet and Escherich for the Euro- 

 pean ferrugineus. Although the golden-yellow trichomes are scattered 

 over the elytra and thorax of H. brunneipennis (Fig. 1) and not col- 

 lected in masses on the sides and front of the thorax, as in some of 

 the species from the Western States (e. g., H. tristriatus) , these struc- 

 tures nevertheless powerfully attract the ants. The beetles run about 

 the nest with surprising agility, considering the awkward shape of 



