14 entomological news. [January 



Notes on the Mutillidae of North America. 



By William J. Fox. 



Through the courtesy of Mr. Samuel Henshaw I have had the oppor- 

 tunity of examining Blake's types of Psammotherma ajax, Mutilla flori- 

 dana and M. trisignata, all described as occurring in Florida. As to the 

 first-mentioned species it has always been placed in our lists with doubt; 

 and a comparison of the type with the description of Psammotherma 

 flabellata Fabr., shows that it is identical with that species, whose home 

 is Africa. 



On glancing at M. floridana and trisignata it was at once obvious that 

 these species were strangers to our fauna. By the aid of Radoszkovsky 

 and Sichel's " Essai d'une Monographic des Mutilles de l'ancien Conti- 

 nent," M. floridana is found to be the European M. maitra Linne\ while 

 M. trisignata is referable to M. arenaria Fabr., also of Europe and Africa. 



A written label attached to the specimens in question reads as follows: 

 " Harris from Doubleday Fla?" The facts that they came from Double- 

 day, a European collector, and that the locality given is queried, are in 

 themselves evidence that the specimens never came from Florida. It 

 seems remarkable that one should give a positive locality for a species 

 when such does not exist. 



Mutilla rutilans and thoracica of Blake, and M. peculiaris Cresson, 

 differ at once from the females of the other species of Mutilla, in having 

 the thorax divided into two parts, whereas in Mutilla (including Sphcs- 

 rophthalma Blake) the thorax of the female is solidified at least on dorsal 

 surface into one piece. Mutilla rutilans is either a new genus, or the 

 female of Brachycistis, of which only males are known. I would refer 

 it to Brachycistis, notwithstanding that the medial tibiae are two-spurred, 

 whereas in the male they are one-spurred. In M. thoracica we have the 

 long-sought American representative of the female Myrmosa, which, in 

 addition to the divided thorax, differs from Mutilla in having distinct 

 ocelli. M. peculiaris is a Chyphotes, and has recently been redescribed 

 as Chyphotes mirabilis by Mr. Cockerell. 



The thorax of female, and armature of abdomen of male, permit the 

 division of the Mutillidae into two subfamilies, one having the thorax ( 9) 

 of one piece and male with abdomen supplied with two appendages at 

 tip ; these forms constitute what may be termed the Mutillinae, of which 

 there is but one vast' genus, Mutilla (— Ephuta, Sphcrrophthalma, Pseu. 

 domethoca, Photopsis, s. s.). The remainder of our genera, Myrmosa, 

 Methoca, Chyphotes and Brachycistis, constitute the second subfamily, in 

 which the thorax is divided into two or more parts in the female, and the 

 tip of male abdomen is supplied with a stout, up-curved spine or hook, 

 or unarmed {Myrmosa). This latter subfamily I regard as analagous to 

 the Thynnidae, of which no North American representatives were hereto- 

 fore supposed to exist. 



These notes are preliminary to a revision of our Mutillidae, in which 

 the matter will be treated at greater length. 



