THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 285 



TWO NEW ANTS'-NEST COCCI DS FROM TEXAS. 



BY GEO. B. KING, LAWRENCE, .MASS. 



Dactylopius Wheeleri, n. sp. — ? flesh colour, covered with a white, 

 fluffy material, elongate oval, i^ mm. long, i broad, }{, high, convex, 

 very flat beneath. Segmentation distinct. Boiled in potash, they 

 turn brown ; transferred to cold water, the internal juice becomes 

 colourless. Pressed under cover-glass, the skin is colourless, with 

 several long hairs anteriorly and on the caudal region above the anal 

 ring and caudal tubercles. Anal ring normal, with six stout bristles. 

 Caudal tubercles very prominent, with two long bristles 120 and 

 260 n long. Legs stout, front leg coxa 140. Femur and trochanter 

 220. Tibia 148. Tarsus 100 ji long. Claw thin, sharp, with a distinct 

 tooth near the end. Tibia and tarsus have several short hairs. Digitules 

 of tarsus and claw very small. Labium small. Rostral loop exceedingly 

 long. 



Antennae 7-jointed : Joint (1) 48, (2) 52, (3) 52, (4) 44, (5) 40, (6) 

 40, (7) 100. Formula 7(23)14(56) of a finished mount in balsam. 

 The same examples measured, while they were wet with alcohol under 

 cover-glass, as follows : Joint (1) 40, (2) 60, (3) 44, (4) 44, (5) 44, (6)44, 

 (7) 104. Formula 72(3456)1. All the joints have several short hairs, 

 excepting joint 7, which has two long hairs at the tip of that joint. 

 Antenna? 216 /x apart. Eyes large, oval. 



Hab. — Austin, Texas, in nests of Camponotus maculatus, var. 

 sansabeanus, Buckley. Collected and sent to me for study by Prof. 

 "William M. Wheeler, of the University of Texas, who says the ants 

 remove the coccids to their chambers when the nests are disturbed, 

 and that they are very frequently met with. I have given the 

 measurements of the several joints of the antennae while wet and 

 hardened in alcohol and a finished mount in balsam, for the purpose 

 of calling attention to the variability of the antennal joints under each 

 process. Owing to our large list of Coccidae now described, it seems 

 to the writer that all such changes should be recorded, so as to assist 

 in every way possible the identification of the species if found in another 

 locality or country. This is the first ant-nest coccid from Texas, and the 

 first species of the genus Camponotus found in North America to harbour 

 coccids in its nest. 



