ANT ACACIAS AND ACACIA ANTS — SAFFORD. 393 



In addition to the true acacia ants, all of which are Pseudomyrmas, 

 Mr. Collins collected two other species of ants, Dolichoderus cham- 

 pioni and Cryptocerus pollens, which also nest in hollow twigs or in 

 other small vegetable cavities. Cryptocerus takes its generic name 

 from its hidden antennae, which easily serve to distinguish it from 

 the Pseudomyrmas with their conspicuous spreading elbowed anten- 

 nae. In the twisted thorns of Acacia collinsii (see plate 10) growing 

 at San Sebastian, near Tuxtla, Mr. Collins collected both Pseudo- 

 miji'ina helti var. fulvescens and Cryptocerus pollens, the latter in the 

 old thorns which had been abandoned by the former. He collected 

 another form of Pseudomyrma helti, transitional between the type 

 and the variety fulvescens, in the broad thorns of Acacia Mndsii at a 

 locality not far from the Pacific coast of Chiapas and also in those 

 of Acacia nicoyensis growing near Pichucalco. 



PSEUDOMYRMAS OF NICARAGUA AND COSTA RICA. 



To His Excellency Gen. Emiliano Chamorro, President of Nica- 

 ragua, I am indebted for specimens of ants collected from the spines 

 of an acacia growing at Granada, which proved to be A. costaricensis. 

 At his request three species were sent to me by Senor J. B. Mondra- 

 gon, labeled " Hormiga negra brava," " Hormiga roja," and " Hor- 

 miga degenerada." Photographs of them are shown on plate 15. 

 They were identified by Professor Wheeler ; the " brave black ant " 

 as the typical Pseudomyrma belli, the " red ant " as Pseudomyrma 

 belti var. fulvescens, and the small broad " degenerate ant " as Cre- 

 matogaster brevispinosa. Of the last named Professor Wheeler says : 



I do not believe that the Crematogasters puncture the acacia thorns, but if 

 Belt claims that they do he probably observed them in the act. Wherever I 

 have seen them in connection with acacia thorns they have been mere inquilines 

 living in old thorns abandoned by Pseudomyrmas. Crematogaster has a sting, 

 but it is small and not painful. 



From Costa Rica at least three distinct species of Pseudomyrmas 

 are recorded by Don Anastasio Alfaro, director of the National Mu- 

 seum at San Jose. These he distinguishes by their colors as " hormi- 

 gas negras, rojas, y amarillas," or black, red, and yellow ants. They 

 were described by Professor Emery of Bologna ; the black species, 

 identical with my own species from Nicaragua, as Pseudomyrma 

 belti, the red as Pseudomyrma spinicola and the yellow as Pseudo- 

 myrma nigrocin-cta. 11 Their habits, as described by Senor Alfaro, 

 are identical with those of their Mexican congeners. 



Recent studies of Doctor Wheeler and Professor Bailey of the 

 Bussev Institution on the feeding habits of the Pseudomyrmas have 



C. Emery, Zur Biologie der Ameizen, Biolog. Centralblatt 11 : 165-180. 1891. 



