76 Psyche [April 
Prof. Baker’s observations leave no doubt that the species of 
Liomyrmex are true termitophiles and suggest that their relations 
to the termites are more intimate than those of the species of 
Carebara, Aéromyrma, Erebomyrma, etc., which seem to be thief- 
ants, living in chambers of their own in the solid masonry of the 
termitaria and feeding surreptitiously on the termites and their 
brood. 
THE PHORID GENUS PLATYPHORA IN AMERICA. 
By Cuaries T. Brvues, 
Bussey Institution, Harvard University. 
In 1877 Verrall described from England a peculiar species of 
Phoride for which he erected the genus Platyphora, calling the in- 
sect P. lubbocki in honor of its discoverer, Sir John Lubbock, who 
had found it in an ant nest. Although Verrall’s description has 
often been quoted, no further observations on this genus appeared 
till 1912, when Becker described as Psalidesma pyrenaicum an 
European form which he later ascertained was congeneric with 
Platyphora lubbocki, although specifically distinct. Becker has 
figured and carefully described this form and by comparison of a 
drawing of Verrall’s type, obtained from Collin, has been able 
accurately to characterize the genus. Since this, Collin has pub- 
lished a figure of P. lubbocki and noted its occurrence in other parts 
of England. 
From Becker’s account I have been able to place in Platyphora 
two American species which have been in my collection for a num- 
ber of years, that I had considered as probably representing a new 
genus. The two American forms differ from P. lubbocki only in 
minor characters, but are distinguished from P. pyrenaica by the 
third vein being bristly and distinctly forked at apex. All are so 
similar, however, that there can be no question that all should form 
a single genus. 
ss Platyphora Verrall. 
1877. Journ. Linn. Soc., London, Zodl., vol. 13, p. 259. 
1901. Becker, Abh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien., vol. 1, p. 88. 
1903. Brues, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc., vol. 29, p. 386. 
1906. Brues, Genera Insectorum, fase. 44, p. 13. 
1908. Enderlein. Zoél. Jahrb. Abth. f. Syst., vol. 27, p. 148. 
1910. Malloch, Ann. Scottish Nat. Hist., p. 17. 
