March, 1914] WhEELER: AnTS FROM HiDALGO, MeXICO. 49 



Hairs on the body sparse, long, erect ; on the legs and scapes shorter, 

 more abundant and more reclinate. 



Black ; mandibles, except their borders, cheeks, antennal funiculi and legs 

 red ; femora darker. Wings gray, with yellow veins and brown stigma. 



Male. — Length 5-6 mm. 



Head very small ; cheeks very short ; mandibles minute, bidentate ; eyes 

 large, half as long as the sides of the head. Antennae slender; scapes very 

 short, not longer than the second and succeeding joints of the funiculi, first 

 funicular joint subglobular. Thorax robust, nearly twice as broad as the head; 

 mesonotum convex in front, flattened behind ; epinotum with subequal base and 

 declivity and a blunt angular projection on each side in the place of the spine. 

 Petiole like that of the soldier, with sharp, emarginate superior border. Post- 

 petiole subcampanulate, broader behind than in front, with feebly rounded 

 sides. Gaster elliptical. Legs very slender. Wings rather broad. 



Head, thorax and pedicel subopaque, densely and finely punctate-regulose. 

 Gaster shining, with minute, sparse, piligerous punctures. 



Hairs grayish yellow, erect, long and very abundant on the head, thorax 

 and petiole, much sparser on the gaster, shorter and more appressed on the legs. 



Black; mandibles and tarsi, except the first joint, yellowish. Wings 

 colored as in the female. 



Described from a large number of specimens taken from many 

 colonies at San Miguel, Pachuca and Guerrero JNIill. These colonies 

 are often very populous and nest under stones in open, arid situations. 

 There are also in my collection many specimens of this same variety 

 from Saltillo and Guadalajara, Mexico, taken several years ago by 

 Dr. J. F. McClendon. 



Great confusion is apparent in the literature in regard to Ph. vas- 

 liti and certain other forms described by Pergande as Ph. subden- 

 tafa and obtusospinosa and by Santschi as Ph. arhonica. As I have 

 on hand a considerable number of specimens referable to these forms, 

 I am able to state that Forel has confounded two very distinct sub- 

 species, one of which was originally described by Pergande from 

 Lower California. The worker of the other was described by Per- 

 gande as subdciifata from Tepic, Mexico, and the corresponding 

 soldier from the same locality was described by the same author as 

 Ph. obtusospinosa. Finally Santschi described what is nothing more 

 than a dark variety of snbdcntata from Tucson, Arizona as Ph. ari- 

 zonica. I have been able to reach these conclusions from a study 

 of cotypes of subdentata and obtusospinosa in my collection and 

 numerous topotypes of arizonica collected by myself a few years ago 

 in the Santa Cruz River bed at Tucson, Arizona. 



