PSYCHE. 



THE SPECIES OF MYRMECOPHILA IN THE UNITED STATES- 



BV SAMUF.I, H. SCUDDER, CAMRRIDUE, MASS. 



The first species cif Myrmecophihi 

 from the United Stales, two of tlicni, 

 were described by Bruner in 1SS4. 

 An earlier, but probably mistaken reter- 

 ence to them was doubtfulh' made by 

 Harris in 1S41 (Ins. inj. ycy.. 12^), 

 where he speaks of 



'■ ininute iunipiiii^ insects, rather less than 

 one tenth of an inch long, of a hroatl oval 

 shape, and hiack color, withont wing-covers 

 or wings, but furnished with short thick 

 hinder thighs. . . , It is possible thev may 

 come near to the genus Myrmecophila, 

 which was unknown to me at the time [when 

 they were seen] ; and since then these 

 ininute insects have escaped my observa- 

 tion," 



They were distinguished from Ilal- 

 tica ; but as some cucumber vines were 

 ■' much infested " by them, as the ref- 

 erence to them was expiniged by 

 Harris from the second eilition of his 

 treatise, and as no species of the genus 

 has since been recognized in New Eng- 

 land, it is probable that these creatures 

 had nothing to do with Myrmecophila. 

 Fitch (Rep. ins. N. Y., vi-ix, 1S6) 

 very reasonably thinks they may have 

 been a species of Podura, but if so, the 

 " thick hinder thighs " were a mistake 

 of observation. 



Since 1884* Iirimer has recognized, 

 named and distributed, Imt not de- 

 scribed, two other species of the genus, 

 and previously Saiissure had described a 

 species from South America (Colom- 

 bia) . I give here descriptions of all 

 these North American species, together 

 with a fifth now first recognized, and 

 add a table for their separation. In his 

 first description of our Myrmecophilae 

 Bruner insists upon certain thoracic 

 markings as a distinctive feature of 

 M. pcrgaiuici. These markings 



occur, however, in all the species, 

 although more noticeable in some 

 specimens th:m in others; I have 

 accordingly not mentioned them in my 

 descriptions. 



The different species are widely dis- 

 tributed over our country, but there are 

 vast tracts wliere none are yet known to 

 occur, although the conditions woidd 

 appear wholly favorable. Two species 

 are f umd on the Pacific coast west of 

 the Sierras, one in the north, the other 

 in the south ; two others west of the 

 Mississippi and east of the Rocky Mts., 

 one of them having been found in Min- 

 nesota, Nebraska and northern New 

 Mexico, the other in eastern Nebraska 

 only ; while the fifth species is confined 



