1 82 WILLIAM M. WHEELER. 



merits as would be expected in creatures with such long bodies 

 and short legs. They did not " feign death " when roughly 

 handled, though some of them, when held in the forceps, re- 

 mained motionless in the attitude probably assumed when they 

 are being deported by their sister workers. While creeping about 

 the ants carried their very robust antennas in a peculiar manner. 

 The scape was held erect or inclined forwards, but hardly in a 

 horizontal or lateral position as in other ants, while the funicle 

 could be folded down onto the front surface of the scape a little 

 obliquely to the side. The habits, so far as these could be in- 

 ferred from the little I saw of the ants in a living condition, re- 

 called those of Stigmatomma pallipcs described in a former 

 paper ('oo). As the workers are quite blind it seems probable 

 that the species leads a subterranean life, seeking its prey in the 

 soil or under the dead leaves. This seems also to be indicated 

 by the depth at which these small insects were found. The very 

 robust antennae and the beautifully developed stridulatory appa- 

 ratus, which occupies the whole of the large membrane between 

 the postpetiolar and first gastric segment, indicate that the senses 

 of contact-odor and hearing are highly developed and may ade- 

 quately compensate for the absence of visual organs. 



On the 22d of May, Mr. C. T. Brues found a solitary worker 

 of the same Cerafachys under a stone at Pease Park, about two 

 miles from the locality in which the species was first taken. That 

 the insect is extremely rare is shown by the fact that it had not 

 been found before during three years of careful collecting in the 

 vicinity of Austin. 



CERAPACHYS (PARASYSCIA) AUGUSTE, sp. nov. 



Worker (Fig. i). Length 2.5-3.5 mm. Head longer than broad, 

 marginate and broadly excised behind and produced posteroinferiorly to 

 form two acute, somewhat divergent angles, so that the head resembles in 

 shape that of Eciton scJunitti Emery. These posterior angles are con- 

 tinued downwards on either side as a fold which meets its fellow from the 

 opposite side on the lower posterior surface of the head. Sides of head 

 faintly and evenly convex ; eyes entirely absent ; lateral carinae well-de- 

 veloped ; frontal carinas high, projecting, closely approximated, extending 

 a short distance back between the antennal foveas and ending on either 

 side in a distinct tooth just in front of the rather pronounced frontal de- 

 pression. Mandibles triangular, curved downwards at their tips, with 



