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Psyche 8:219-220, 1897.

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Plate 6.
Psyche, Vol. 8.
--
WICKHAM-I~YRMECOPHII.OUS COLEOPTERA.




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PSYCHE.
ON COLEOPTERA FOUND WITH ANTS. (FOURTH PAPER.) BY H. F. WICKHAM, IOWA CITY, IOWA.
The following notes are intended to
be supplementary to those which I have
contributed to earlier numbers of Psyche. While fragmentary, they will add some-
thing to the knowledge of our native
Myrmecophiles.
A reexamination in May, 1896, of the
nest of Formzca ots~tiripes (at Iowa City) from which the specimens of Platymedon
laticolle had been taken in preceding
years, showed that for some cause the
ants had deserted it and moved to an-
other locality a few feet distant. On
digging into this new nest it was seen
that the Platymedon had followed its
host since more than twenty specimens
were obtained. Anthicus melanchoZicus
had also accompanied the ants to their
new home, but I found them more abun-
dant in the old deserted mound than in
the fresh one. Early in 1897 I again
went out to visit this colony and found
it so weak that I judged it better not to disturb it, particularly as no other colony of this species has ever been noticed in this part of Iowa. Lately Mr. A. W.
Hanham sent me specimens of the same
Platymedon, captured with F, obsczwz$es
near Brandon, Manitoba; he took them
by placing flat stones on the nest, when on his return a week later (April ~3rd)
the beetles were found beneath them.
Some, he writes, got away before he
could catch them - and indeed the little creature is very 'quick in its motions and makes the most of the opportunities for
concealment afforded by the debris com-
posing the mound. In the same nest
Mr. Hanham took large numbers of the
case-bearing larvae of Coscinoptera dom- inicana, April 16th. The cases, he says, were nearly as numerous as the ants and
were generally attached to the twigs of
which the mound seemed to be chiefly
composed. The first beetles were dis-
closed May 17th and are of the densely
pubescent type noticed by Dr. Horn as
belonging more particularly to western
specimens.
A species of Stilicus sent from Win-
nipeg by Mr. Hanham seems undoubt-
edly new and is described below. It is
said to be found under stones in com-
pany with ants through the earlier part
of the season, having been taken at
various dates between April 22nd and
May 25th. Mr. Hanham writes, in reply
to a query, whether the insect should,




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220 PSYCHE. [June i8q8.
properly speaking, be considered myr-
mecophilous -" I should say they are
certainly a species living with ants. In the early season I find the railway lines, in some places, the best collecting
ground. On both sides of the track are
stones, under most of which arc ants,
representing one species and of much
the same size and color as these beetles. There have always been ants with the
beetles taken, but sometimes even large
colonies of ants have furnished no speci- mens of thc Stilicus, though as soon as I got to distinguish the beetles from the
ants and to know where to look for them, I would usually get one or a pair, if not more, from each nest, sometimes as
many as half a dozen. I have also
taken it rarely, under stones, in Septem- ber."
The evidence is such that we must
conclude that the beetle is in some way
connected with the ants, since it shows
such preference for their company.
While other species of Stilicus are found under stones in the spring, it has never been noticed that they are confined to
the vicinity of ants' nests. I have there- fore included the insect under consider- ation in our list of ~nyrmecopl~iles and have drawn up the following description. The name is proposed in recognition of
the careful labors of its discoverer
among the insects of Manitoba.
S. hmhami 11. sp. Much stouter than S.
dentatics, blackish clothed with yellowish 01- golden recumbent pubescence. Antennae,
mouth-parts, prothorax and legs reddish
brown, elytra of about the same color as the prothorax but bearing a large suturo-basal picescent cloud. Abdomen above black,
margin paler, tip still lighter in color. Body beneath piceous except the prothorax which is reddish brown and the median and apical tracts of the abdomen which are pale, Head large, subquadrate, sides behind the eyes feebly arcuate, hind angles rounded, base deeply sinuate ; above closely punctured, each puncture with a golden hair, forming so close a covering as to obscure the sculp- ture, under side with a distinct smooth
impressed median line, the punctuation
otherwise resembling that of the dorsal as- pect. Antennae stout, first joint longest, second to fifth longer than wide, sixth to tenth nearly globular, eleventh longer than the tenth and pointed at tip. Teeth of labrum small, slender and prominent. Frothorax
broadest in front of middle, sides broadly rounded and narrowing from this point to base which is truncate and with a distinct basal marginal line, hind angles not defined ; anteriorly the prothorax narrows rapidly to apex, the sides straight or very slightly sinu- ate. Upper surface convex, rather shining, the punctuation finer than that of the head, not dense, each puncture with a golden hair. Lateral margin with two long bristles and a shorter one near each front angle. Median line distinct. Prosternum carinate, sides punctured and apparently finely transversely rugose. Elytra broader than the prothorax, punctures fine with hairs like those already described. Abdomen with broad distinct side margin, finely n~oderately closely punctate and hairj, sides bristly, the bristles on the last three (visible) segments nluch longer than the others. Under side punctured and pubescent, the golden hairs mixed with
numerous longer black ones. Legs punctured and pubescent. Length (total) 4. mm.
A specimen was sent to Captain
Casey who writes that it is near opaculus Lec., but much stouter with a larger




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June IS@] PSYCHE. 221
head more deeply sinuate at base. The
plate will give an idea of the more salient features, the figures being drawn by Mr. P. C. Myers and the author. Fig. I is
an outline of the type specimen, a is the mandible, b the maxilla, c the labium
(in which the palpus is shown on one
side only, the paraglossa on the other), d the antenna and e the hind tarsus.
Figs. za, zb, and 2d represent hitherto
unfigured details of platy me do?^ laticolle which are of interest in this connection. It will be noticed that the terminal
antenna1 joint is sinuate or somewhat
ogival at tip. The mandibles are stout-
er than in Sfilicus hanhami. The fourth
joint of the maxillary palpi is extremely minute and scarcely visible except by
careful preparation. The four teeth of
the labrum (fig. 2f) are unequal, the
outer being much smaller than the inner. A nest of Lasius ?z@r was examined
at Iowa City on May 5th. The galleries
were in and under old logs. Running
with the ants were seen two individuals
of Mymobiota crassico~nis Casey. They
are difficult of detection owing to their habit of keeping close to their hosts and mingling with the moving mass. My
other specimens of this beetle were
taken in August so that this record
points to the probability of hibernation or of a double brood.
During a six weeks' trip to Colorado,
some effort was made to add to the
records of myrmecophiles, but the
season was so far advanced that but
little success was achieved. At Colora-
do Springs two species were taken,
which, with their hosts, have been iden- tified by Prof. Jerome Schmitt. These
were Batrisus fronta2is which was found
in the runways of Lasius cZavige~ be-
neath a log; and Bafrisz~sglobosus which occurred in a colony of Camponotus her-
culean~~.
A STUDY OF THE CATERPILLARS OF NORTH AMERICAN SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLIES. - 11.
BY SAMUEL H. SCUDHER, CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
From these statements we see that
there is a somewhat gcncral unifoimity
of type in the earliest stage of larval
life among the Papilionini, while there
is an extraordinary diversity in the same caterpillais when lull grown. Some
of them alter very much less than
others, some assume the mature aspect
by slow degrees, and others at a start
and at very different peiiods of life.
Thus maturity may be said to be as-
sumed at the second stage by Laertias
and Iphiclides, at the fourth by Hera-
elides and Papilio, in the course of the fouith stage by Jasoniades, and not
until the final stage by Euphoeades.
This assumptio~i of maturity consists in several distinct features which in gen-
eral arc correllated : the form of the
body, the broad features of the coloring



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