+ 
Vot. II, Pr. II] WHEELER—COCOS ISLAND ANTS 301 
snake reported by Townsend this lizard and the birds are the 
only native land vertebrates known. Hogs have been intro- 
duced and now run wild on the island. Insects are very scarce. 
One Cicada occurs but is rare. We obtained one nymph of it 
in July but saw no adults. A fly, Leucomelina pica, is some- 
what plentiful. There is one ant, Tetramorium auropunctatum, 
that is extremely numerous, occurring in great numbers on the 
leaves of all the vegetation. It is minute but its bite is exces- 
sively annoying, causing an almost unendurable irritation of 
the skin. Its presence makes traveling on the island exceed- 
ingly disagreeable.” 
Forel in 1892‘ published the first and up to the present time 
the only account of the ants of Cocos Island. Among the speci- 
mens collected for him by Mr. P. Biolley he recognized only 
four forms: Tetramorium guineénse Fabr., Wasmannia auro- 
punctata Roger., Prenolepis guatemalensis var. cocoénsis 
Forel and Camponotus biolleyi Forel; the latter two being 
peculiar to the island. 
Several months ago Dr. E.C. Van Dyke, at the request of Dr. 
F. X. Williams, sent me for study the Cocos Island ants which 
he collected during November, 1905, while a member of the 
California Academy Expedition to the Galapagos. The speci- 
mens comprise seven forms, four of which are identical with 
those recorded by Forel, but the three others, Euponera 
(Trachymesopus) stigma Fabr., Odontomachus hematoda Ie 
subsp. insularis and a new Camponotus (C. cocosensis) consti- 
tute a significant addition to the ant-fauna of the island. With 
the exception of the tropicopolitan “tramp”, Tetramormm 
guineénse, of Old World origin, none of the forms is known 
to occur in the Galapagos Islands and all are neotropical or 
have strongly neotropical affinities. Camponotus biolleyi and 
cocosensis are related to C. lindigi Mayr and C. novogrenadensis 
Mayr respectively of Central and South America. The Was- 
mannia, Euponera and Odontomachus are well known species 
abundant and widely distributed through the neotropical region, 
and the var. cocoénsis is merely a form of Prenolepis vividula 
Nyl., which is also widely distributed in the American tropics 
and occurs even in the hot-houses of North America and 
4 Forel, A. Quatre Notices Myrmécologiques. II Fourmis de l’ile de Coco, etc. 
Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg. 46, 1902, pp. 176-178. 
