1907.] Wheeler, Fungus-growing Ants of North America. 720 



less so unlike any of the species of which I had seen specimens or descrip- 

 tions that I at first decided to make it the type of a new genus oi" subgenus. 

 Professor Forel, to whom I sent specimens, has kindly given me a worker 

 of a species w^hich he took some years ago in Colombia. This species, 

 which he will describe as M. emeryi, is intermediate in certain characters, 

 such as the structure of the frontal lobes, between the above described 

 hrittoni and M. squamosa F. Smith (== uncinata INIayr). M. emeryi differs 

 from hrittoni in having a much longer and more slender thorax, pedicel, 

 legs and antennae, in being of a lighter (brown) color and in having the ap- 

 pressed hairs on the body and legs, long and not scale-like. The cl}^eus, 

 lower surfaces of the mandibles and the gula have conspicuously long and 

 projecting hairs. The petiole is nearly twice as long as broad, the postpetiole 

 slightly longer than broad and w^ith a deep roimded excision in the middle 

 of its posterior border. The mandibles are more slender, with more oblique 

 blades and few^er teeth. The epinotal teeth are distinctly longer and directed 

 upward. The frontal carinse are smaller and the tips of the antennal scapes 

 extend further beyond the posterior corners of the head. According to 

 Mayr's description the thorax in the worker of squamosa is furnished with 

 teeth and projections like the more typical Attii. The Porto Rican and 

 Colombian forms therefore approach Apterostigma and Sericomyrmex 

 much more closely than do the other kno"^Ti species of Myrmicocrypta and 

 may be regarded as the simplest and most generalized members of the genus, 

 if not of the whole Attiine tribe. I take great pleasure in dedicating the 

 Porto Rican species to the distinguished botanist, Professor N. L. Britton, 

 with whom I passed many delightful and profitable hours collecting plants 

 and insects in Culebra and Porto Rico. 



Part III. Ethological Observations. 



1. Atta texana Buckley. 



In the United States this large "cutting" or "parasol" ant (Fig. 7, 

 and PI. XLIX, Figs. 11-14), is the only species of the tribe Attii that forms 

 sufficiently populous colonies to be of any economic importance, or, indeed, 

 to be sufficiently common and conspicuous to attract the attention of any 

 one but a myrmecologist. Although unable to determine its exact range, I 

 have found no indications of its occurrence outside of a rather restricted area 

 in Texas. This area appears to have its center at Austin and to comprise 

 the territory for some hundreds of miles north and south in a narrow belt 



