NEW AMERICAN SPECIES OF THE GENUS ATAX 



(FAB.) BRUZ. 1 



ROBERT H. WOLCOTT. 



THE author had the pleasure of presenting at the annual 

 meeting of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences, November 27, 

 a paper embodying the results of a study of this genus. In it 

 were embraced the descriptions of seven new species, and, since 

 the printed report of the society's proceedings will not appear 

 for a few months, it is deemed desirable to publish at once 

 descriptions which will be sufficient for ready identification, 

 and will preclude the possible publication of synonyms. 



The collections studied were made in twelve localities in 

 Michigan, one in Wisconsin, five in Nebraska, and two in New 

 York, the latter by Mr. R. H. Johnson, of Harvard College, 

 and through his kindness transmitted to the author, who 

 also acknowledges the assistance of Mr. Bryant Walker, of 

 Detroit, Mich., in the identification of the mussels, and his 

 indebtedness to Dr. F. Koenike, of Bremen, Germany, for 

 specimens of European species. The collections involved the 

 examination of 1125 specimens of Unionidae, belonging to 36 

 species, and resulted in the preservation of 4500 mites, divided 

 among 12 species, of which 7 are new and of which 2 more 

 are recorded for the first time from this country. 



The species represented are A. crassipes (Miiller), A. pccti- 

 natus n. sp., A. intermedius (Koenike), A. abnonnipes n. sp., 

 A. indistinctus n. sp., A. scrratns n. sp., A. fossulatus 

 (Koenike), A. stricta n. sp., A. arcnata n. sp., A. ypsilophoriis 

 (Bonz), A. tumidns n. sp., and A. ingens (Koenike). The 

 validity of the genus CocldeopJiorus Piersig is recognized and 

 the species referred to it excluded from this paper. The new 

 species may be characterized as follows : 



1 Studies from the Zoological Laboratory, The University of Nebraska, Lin- 

 coln, under the direction of Henry B. Ward, No. 23. 



