262 WHEELER. 



L. erythrocephalus which had a small Dipteran puparium firmly glued 

 to the dorsal surface of its thorax. This puparium had its long axis 

 parallel with that of the ant's body and its anterior end directed to- 

 ward the ant's head. Unfortunately the j9y had already escaped. 

 I am inclined to believe that it must have been one of the Phoridse. 

 Turner ® calls attention to a " spider that takes to itself the appearance 

 of a worker of Lepto7nyrmex erythroccphalus Fabr. and curves its abdo- 

 men upwards and forwards until it rests on the top of the thorax, ex- 

 actly the same as the ant," and Rainbow "^ mentions a Misumenine 

 spider which feeds exclusively on L. erythroccphalus. 



The geographical distribution of the species of Lcptomyrmex is very 

 suggestive. Of the eight recorded species five {erythroccphalus, 7iigri- 

 mntris, froggatti, varians and unicolor) are confined to Australia, and, 

 so far as known, to the eastern or littoral portion of New South Wales 

 and Queensland, one {fragiUs) occurs in the Ai'u Islands and New 

 Guinea, one {nigcr) in New Guinea only, and one {pallcns) in New 

 Guinea and New Caledonia.^ Of the Australian species, the typical 

 nigriventris and froggatti seem to be confined to New South Wales, 

 ■varians and its varieties to Queensland, while erythroccphalus ranges 

 over both states. L. unicolor is restricted to the Cape York Peninsula 

 of Northern Queensland. 



The occurrence of the genus Lcptomyrmula in the Sicilian amber 

 shows that the tribe Leptomyrmicii had once a very wide distribution 

 in the Old World and that the present restriction of the genus Lepto- 

 Tnyrmex to Papua and Australia is the results of the complete extinc- 

 tion of probably many genera and species of the tribe over the greater 

 part of its former range. The question then presents itself: Did the 

 species of Lcptomyrmex, like so many of the animals and plants of 

 Eastern Queensland and New South Wales, originate in New Guinea 

 and migrate into Australia, or is it an indigenous Australian genus, 

 which, like some of the Eucalypti, Epacridese and phyllodineous 

 Acacias among plants, has spread to New Guinea and New Caledonia? 

 The larger size of the species and their greater number in Australia 

 certainly indicate that this is the center of distribution, but which ever 



6 loco citato, p. 136. 



7 Descriptions of Some New Araneidje of New South Wales. No. 8. Proc. 

 Linn. Soc. N. S. W., 22, 514-533, 2 pis. 1897 (1898). 



8 Stitz's recent record of L. erythrocephalus from "Newcastle, New Zealand", 

 (Australische Ameisen, Sitzb. Gesell. Naturf. Freunde, Berlin, 1911, p. 368) 

 is evidently a blunder, which Emery has unfortunately cited in the Genera 

 Insectorum as indicating a possible importation of this ant into New Zealand. 

 Newcastle is a flourishing town in New South Wales. 



