INVERTEBRATES OF THE CAVERN 181 



Three of the species are unnamed, but the largest and 

 most conspicuous one is a tenebrioid, one of the group 

 of darkling beetles (Embaphion contusum Lee.) found 

 also on the surface of the ground. The one specimen 

 procured may have fallen in or merely have taken ref- 

 uge in the cave. It was found about one hundred feet 

 west of the main elevator shaft on some carcasses of 

 mice that had been skinned for specimens. Still it 

 may be a regular inhabitant of the cave, as another 

 species of the genus is recorded by Doctor Schwarz as 

 found abundantly in cellars in Nebraska. 



A remarkable new species of little ground beetle of 

 the genus Rhadine was collected under an overhanging 

 ledge about one hundred feet west of the main elevator 

 shaft. It is very similar in form and apparently re- 

 lated to the Comstockia subterranea Van Dyke, a blind, 

 cave-inhabiting beetle so rare that it also is known from 

 only one specimen. 



Two tiny rove beetles of the genera Atheta and Oxypoda 

 belong to a large group, the Aleocharine staphylinids, 

 containing many unrecognized species in each genus. 

 They are abundant in this region but appear not to be 

 peculiar to caves. They are generally scavengers, liv- 

 ing on decaying animal or vegetable matter, and are 

 considered very useful. 



Moths were represented by a number of specimens 

 of one little species of the clothes moth family, Tineidae, 

 found commonly in the guano-filled chambers of the 

 first large rooms of the cave. They were fairly common, 

 and often flew from the surface of the dry guano where 

 they were evidently breeding, as pupal cases were 



