12 BuUctin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIII, 



naturally led to look for it \n the company of other Texan species of Pheidole. 

 This search soon revealed the fact that the parasite can make its home also 

 with other ants of this enormous p;enus. June 16, I found a single female 

 virielis in a flourishing colony of Pli. drntafa Mayr at Alice, Texas, which is 

 only about ten miles east of San Diego where the types of the parasite were 

 originally captured by Schwartz, l^h. dentata, it should be noted, is a 

 carnivorous species with sharply separated soldier and worker castes, as 

 represented in Plate III, Figs. 37 and 38. June 21, I again found at New 

 Braunfels, Texas, a colony of this same Pheidole containing a few female 

 pupse of 0. viridis. In this colony, which was kept for some weeks in an 

 artificial nest, four phthisergates made their appearance. One of these is 

 represented in Plate II, Fig. 28. They differed considerably in form from 

 the instabilis phthisergates and had slightly pigmented eyes. These 

 organs, however, as well as the head and thorax Avere notably reduced 

 as compared with those of the normal worker pupa, which is essentially 

 like that of instabilis (PI. Ill, Fig. 27). 



A little later in the month (June 24), I came upon a colony of a hitherto 

 undescribed Pheidole {Ph. sciophila sp. nov.), containing a number of 

 imagines and puppe of O. viridis. This ant, like Ph. dentata, has no forms 

 intermediate between the soldiers and workers. It is a rare species, nesting 

 under stones in rather damp, shady places in the vicinity of Austin. These 

 observations prove that 0. inridis is not confined to a single host ant but has 

 international relations with a number of species of the genus Pheidole in 

 central and southern Texas. It may be expected to occur also in the nests 

 of Ph. crassicornis, Ph. hyatti, Ph. morrisi, etc. Still another observation 

 goes to show that the parasite is not confined to Texas, but is also probably 

 widely distributed through Mexico. In my collection there is a female 

 specimen of 0. viridis taken August 4 at Tuxpan, in the state of Jalisco, 

 by Mr. J. F. McClendon. As this specimen was found in a bottle containing 

 a mixed lot of ants comprising three species of Pheidole, besides some 

 species of other genera, I am unable to refer it to a particular host. 



B. Orasema coloradensis Ashmead. 



During August, 1903, while collecting ants in Colorado, I came upon a 

 second species of Orasema, which Dr. Ashmeac^has identified for me as 0. 

 coloradensis, in the nests of two very different species of ants? One of these 

 is a larger and usually darker form of a small Solenopsis, which I take to be 

 S. molesta validiuscula Emery, the other Pheidole vinelandica Forel. 



0. coloradensis (PI. I, Fig. 12 and PI. V, Fig. 68 m) is of about the same 

 size as 0. viridis, but is readily distinguished by its longer, lower, and 



