THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 25 



TWO NEW BLIND BEETLES, OF THE GENUS ADRANES, 

 FROM THE PACIFIC COAST. 



BY H. F. WICK.HAM, IOWA CITY, IOVVA. 



The species of Adranes are to be looked for in nests of ants belong- 

 ing to the genus Lasius. They are helpless creatures, lacking eyes and 

 with much reduced mouth-parts, dependent probably upon the ants for 

 their supply of food. They are carefully attended by their hosts, to whom 

 they give requital in the form of a secretion, much appreciated by the 

 ants, which collects on certain patches of hair situated on the tips of the 

 elytra and on the base of the abdominal dorsum. The antennae are 

 much modified, consisting of only two joints, the second of which is 

 very large and heavy, varying in form in different species. 



Until recently but two species were known, namely, A. ccecus, Lee, 

 from Pennsylvania, Georgia and Illinois, and A. Lecontei, Brendel, from 

 the Mississippi, Potomac and Ohio* valleys. Some lime ago I received 

 from the Rev. Geo. W. Taylor a specimen which appeared to belong to 

 a third species. It had been captured by him in an ants' nest near 

 Nanaimo, Vancouver Island. My trip to the Pacific Coast has given 

 additional specimens of the same kind, and also of a fourth species which 

 is very distinct from any of the others. 



While all of the Adranes are of much the same colour (a peculiar 

 shining reddish yellow) and agree closely in general shape, they neverthe- 

 less offer structural characters, particularly in the male sex, which enable 

 us to separate them readily. I regret not to have seen A. ccecus, which 

 evidently approaches the form that I have called pacificus in size and 

 in some other features. I annex a table which gives in brief the 

 differentials necessary for specific discrimination : 



Head cylindrical. Antennae with second joint narrowed to tip. L. 



i .8 mm ccecus, Lee. 



Head narrowed behind. 



Antennae with second joint narrowed to tip. 



Smaller (2 mm.); middle tibiae of $ not appreciably thickened 

 near the base pacificus, n. sp. 



*Dr. E. Wasmann has also a record of A. Lecontei from California. (Krit. Verz. 

 d. M rmekoph, u. Termitoph, Arthropoden, Berlin, 1894, p. 107.) 



