JA, &83 
OcToBER 18, 1916 Vout. VI, pp. 29-35 
PROCEEDINGS 
OF THE 
NEW ENGLAND ZOOLOGICAL CLUB 
TWO NEW ANTS FROM TEXAS AND ARIZONA. 
BY WILLIAM MORTON WHEELER. 
Tue two peculiar Myrmicine ants described in the following 
pages, like so many other species of the same genera, are properly 
neotropical, but as they were taken within our boundaries, we must 
include them in the fauna of the United States. The Phezdole 
has evidently strayed from the tierra caliente of Eastern Mexico, 
the Cryptocerus from the Mexican highlands. The former is most 
closely related to a species known only from Guatemala and Costa 
Rica, the latter to one known only from the State of Morelos. 
Pheidole ridicula sp. nov. 
Soldier (fig.1,aandb). Length about 5 mm. 
Closely related to Ph. absurda Forel. Head very large (nearly 2.5 
mm. long), one and one half times as long as broad, distinctly broader 
at the anterior border than behind, with concave cheeks, straight sides, 
deeply and angularly excised posterior border, flattened dorsal and slightly 
convex gular surface. Mentum without teeth. Occipital groove deep, 
continued forward nearly to the frontal area and terminating in a small 
ocellus-like pit. Eyes small, rather flat, a little behind the anterior fifth 
of the head. Mandibles very convex. Clypeus very short, ecarinate, 
a 
