AMMOCHtET/E. 



193 



and deserts of two continents, from Montana to Patagonia, with a 

 possible interruption in tropical Central and South America. One 

 of the species, P. badiusFdhr., is found in the dry, sandy regions 

 of Georgia and Florida. All of the members of this subgenus 

 have very well developed clypeal, mandibular and gular ammo- 

 chsetae, as shown in Fig. 1, representing the head of the Mexican 

 and Texan P. barbatus F. Smith, the type of the subgenus. In 

 certain species, like P. calif ornicus Buckley, which is almost ex- 

 clusively confined to sandy spots in the deserts of the southwest, 

 the gular hairs are even longer and more prominent. The species 

 of Pogonomyrmex s. str. and Epliebomyrmex are harvesters and 

 subsist very largely on stored seeds. According to Forel Janetia 

 mayri is entomophagous. There is reason to suppose that the 

 genus Pogonomyrmex represents a granivorous American offshoot 

 of the subboreal genus Myrmica or of some similar but now 

 extinct group. 



Ocymyrmex Emery. — This genus was erected by Emery for 

 four species {barbiger, nitididus, robccchi and weitzekeri) which he 

 described from Somaliland, Basutoland and the Cape of Good 

 Hope. It is probable that all of these species, which resemble 



Fig. 3. Ocymyrmex weitzekeri Em. 



Pogonomyrmex, live in the dry plains and feed on seeds. I have 

 examined a few workers of 0. barbiger and zveitzekeri and find 

 that they agree in having well-developed clypeal, mandibular 

 and gular ammochaetae, and also a pair of long hairs on the 

 mentum. These hairs, as shown in Fig. 3, extend backward, 

 diverging from their insertions, and have their tips abruptly bent 

 forward. The gular hairs are alternately long and short, and 



