54 
Psyche 
[June 
various depths. A short lateral burrow beneath the mound 
was observed in three cases. It is possible that some of 
the shallow burrows excavated were in the process of 
being dug by the beetles or had been abandoned. 
Material found in underground chambers connected with 
the burrows or in the burrows themselves was largely the 
surface “duff” of the turkey oak woods. Acorn cups, grass, 
live oak leaves (partly eaten?), leaf debris, pine needles, 
bark, and twigs were encountered along with some insect 
fragments. One burrow ended at 66” in a horizontal cham- 
ber about 6" long and l 1 /^” wide. This chamber was filled 
with leaf debris, cut-up grass, and other material. An- 
other ended at 48” in a chamber about the size of a golf- 
ball and completely filled with dry sand. 
In the burrow which ended in a chamber at 66” two 
beetles were found : one in the burrow at 48” and another 
in the chamber. The latter was apparently in a death-feint, 
but recovered the next morning, and was observed to make 
a rasping sound, probably with the hind coxae and the 1st 
abdominal segment as in other Geotrupes. A similar sound 
was heard while one burrow was being excavated, but 
was mistaken for a mouse “clicking” its teeth. 
The stridulation (presumably of the male) which does 
not seem to have been previously noted, together with the 
discovery of two beetles (probably the male and female) 
in the same burrow, strengthens the supposition that these 
beetles show some sort of subsocial activity. 
