\\t Canadian mtttomatoaM 



Vol. XXXIII. LONDON, NOVEMBER, 1901. No. n 



TWO NEW SPECIES OF LUCANID^ FROM CALIFORNIA. 



BY H. C. FALL, PASADENA, CALIF. 



Some two years ago I received from Mr. E. A. Schwarz a single 

 example of a curious Lucanide bearing labels " Kaweah, Cal.," and 

 " Ceruchus (?), n. sp." This specimen, as I have since learned, was one 

 of a considerable number taken by Mr. Ralph Hopping six years ago on 

 grain and wild grasses growing near the grain on a small sandy hill at the 

 locality indicated. In a letter just received from Mr. Hopping, he states 

 that he has this year taken four fresh specimens, May 17-20, at the same 

 place, one flying in the bright sunshine shortly after noon, the others 

 at twilight. Mr. Hopping has kindly sent me three more specimens, and 

 I have seen two others in the collection of Mr. Fuchs, also from the same 

 source. These specimens are all males, and I have little doubt that Mr. 

 Hopping's entire catch is of this sex. 



It is probable that Mr. Schwarz had given the species little or 

 no study, inasmuch as no lengthy examination is needed to convince 

 so experienced a coleopterist that it can not possibly be a Ceruchus. 

 On further investigation it appears equally certain that it is not assignable 

 to any of the known genera of the family. Scarcity of material, together 

 with the small size of the insect, has prevented a satisfactory examination 

 of the oral organs, a fact which makes somewhat difficult the determination 

 of its affinity with described genera as at present classified. It is, however, 

 questionable if the characters drawn from the ligula and maxilla? are of 

 any greater significance than several others much more easily observable, 

 and a knowledge of their precise form in the present instance would, I 

 believe, throw little light on the relationship of this remarkable Californian 

 species. 



Following the classification adopted by LeConte and Hern, our 

 species would, by the structure of the mentum, the straight antennae, 

 and the nearly contiguous front coxae, fall into the Ceruchini ; but the 

 differences in other respects are too numerous and too radical to permit a 



