April, 1902] 



J^S YCHE. 



329 



family — a biological difference that 

 must not be underrated.* 



Although a number of the flies and 

 beetles were confined in the bottles with 

 the ants for several days they rested 

 unharmed, evidently the closest intimacy 

 existing between the three. The beetles 

 would run about among the ants or fly 

 in the bottle with a quick darting move- 

 ment, but at no time were the ants 

 observed to molest either of their guests. 

 This is interesting especially in the case 

 of the Leria which has never before been 

 found associating with ants, and which, 

 were the ants unfriendly toward it, might 

 be supposed to have accidently used the 

 ant-burrow in place of some other suita- 

 ble excavation. 



Ptomophagus iexanns sp. nov. 



Length 2.75-3. m™. Form elongate oval, 

 Mordellid-like, slightly narrowed posteriorly ; 

 color dark castaneous, shining, thorax almost 

 piceous. Head, thorax, and eWtra unifornil_y, 

 closely and finely strigose, the strigae pro- 

 vided with short closely-placed, uniform, 



*In a list of tile myrmecoptlilous Coleoptera of Nortliern 

 America Mr. E. .A. Schwarz in iScjo notices the occurrence 

 of another Ptomophagus m ant-nests but as far as I am 

 aware this species lias not yet been described. Leria 

 pectittata has previously been found by Mr. H. G. Hub- 

 bard associating with PtoDtopJuzgits Jisus Horn in the upper 

 burrows of desert rodents in Arizona. (Proc. Ent. Soc. 

 Wash. IV., p. 362). In this connection may be cited the 

 finding of Ptomopliagus in a cave (/V. cniternicola 

 Scliwarz), a habit further bearing on the preceding obser- 

 vation. 



golden yellow pubescence; that of the head 

 radiating from the vertex, that of the thorax 

 and elytra directed straight backwards. An- 

 tennae not reaching the hind angles of the tho- 

 rax, the first four joints fuscous, moderately 

 slender, the first and second joints long, joints 

 six to eleven broader and shorter, piceous, the 

 eighth joint two-thirds as long as the ninth, 

 and not appreciably narrower. Thorax fully 

 two-thirds as long as the width of its base, the 

 sides gradually then quickly narrowing in 

 front, hind angles acute, base feebly but 

 distinctly bisinuate, the narrow hind margin 

 more or less castaneous; disc of the thorax 

 strigose as well as the sides, the strigae 

 conforming more or less with tlie front 

 margin. The strigae of the elytra not trans- 

 verse but more or less conforming with the 

 posterior margin : sutural stria well impressed 

 nearly to the apex ; sutural angles rounded 

 in the male, but provided with a distinct 

 angle in the female. Body beneath finely 

 and sparsely punctate and pubescent, the 

 femora wholly strigose similarly to the upper 

 surface of the body : tibial spurs equal, those 

 of the hind legs one-third tlie length of the 

 metatarsus. 



Described from ten males, and thirteen 

 females, taken, as above mentioned, at 

 Austin, Texas. The front tarsi of the 

 male are flattened and broadened. The 

 tips of the tibiae are fimbriate apically 

 with short equal spines, which, as the 

 strigosity of the thorax is distinct, further 

 confirm Dr. Horn's statement that these 

 characters are correlated in this genus. 



