150 
THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
Notes on Ant’s-Nest Beetles at Gibraltar | 
and Tangier; with Especial reference 
to the Histeridse, 
BY 
J. J. Walker, r.n., f.e.s. 
( continued from No. 8j 
After heavy winter rains, the Sternoccdi 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. fus 
cuius , 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, 188S, 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 then at Tange r. 
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 Eret- 
motus at Tangier; but I imagine they must fly 
sometimes, as the only specimen of S. acutangulus 
which I found on the Rock 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 Aphanogaster testaceo-pilosa 
is the black Dinarda nigrita , Rosenh. This insect 
w T as not observed at Tangier, but it is no rarity 
in the Gibraltar district, half a dozen specimens 
being often found with one colony of ants. It is 
usually seen clinging to the under-side of the 
stone when raised, with the hind body turned up 
over the back, and it runs with great speed when 
disturbed. A fine Aleochara (crassicornis, Lac.,) 
has occurred, but very rarely, with this ant at 
Gibraltar and Tangier, in early spring; and stray 
specimens of Coloucera formicaria , Mots., and 
Thorictus gallicus, Peyer., are occasionally met 
with, the latter looking, at the first glance, decep- 
tively like a small SterwccdX 
The large, powerful, and abundant and ? 
Aphamogaster barbara , L., is the host of several 
very interesting species of Golcoptera , though I 
have never found any Mister idee in its nests. The 
chief of these guests is the minute and very 
anomalous Carabid, Pseudotrcchus mutilatus, 
Rosenh., which I first observed at Gibraltar in 
November, 1886. It is a truly Myrmecophilous 
insect, being invariably associated with this ant, 
except when found accidentally in flood rubbish; 
its chief resort being the sinuous galleries exca- 
vated by the ants in the soil beneath the stones, 
though it is not rarely seen running actively on 
the under-side of the stone itself. The Pseudot- 
rechus seldom occurs singly, two to three specimens 
usually occurring in one nest, but I do not 
remember to hr e found more than half a dozen 
in a single co 1 my. It is found throughout the 
winter momlis, being, perhaps, most numerous 
in February; and is generally, though sparingly, 
distributed on the clay soils near Tangier and 
Gibraltar, and I have also met with it at Esmir ? 
about twelve miles south of Ceuta, in Mo- 
rocco. 
The singular little flat, o\ al, yellow Heteromerorg 
Oochrotus unicolor , Luc. (which reminds one of a 
large Leptinus\ is the most common ant’s-nest 
beetle throughout the district, and is entirely 
confined to the nests of A. barbara , where it 
sometimes occurs in very large numbers, especially 
when there is a quantity of loose debris , husks 
of grass seeds, &c., in the galleries of the nest. 
With it, also frequently in some numbers, is found 
the little Coluocera formicaria , Mots.; also two 
species of the singular genus Merophysia , the 
smaller of which (apparently undescribed) is re- 
stricted to the nests of this ant; the large one, 
M. carinulata , Rosenh., is found also with many 
species of the smaller ants, always excepting the 
two species of Cremcistog aster, whose sickly and 
disagreeable odour (recalling that of butyric acid) 
seems to be repulsive to insects of all sorts, and 
even to the woodlice so frequently found in other 
ant’s nest. Two species of Staphylinidce , Kraatzia 
Icevicollis, Rey. and Homalota elongatula , Gr., 
occur somewhat sparingly in the barbara nests, 
where also I have, on one or two occasions, found 
Xantkolini.es longiventris , Heer, var., and the rare 
Medon seminiger* Fairm. 
