32 
Psyche 
[Mar. 
myrmecographers seem to have understood rather vaguely that 
varieties should not be described, but that subspecies were allow- 
able ; the essentially geographical nature of the subspecies is not 
evident at all in the majority of forms placed in that category 
up to the present. 
In the matter of individual case treatments in Creighton’s 
work, it is necessarily true that many of the subspecies are little 
more than intelligent guesses based on abundant, but still in- 
sufficient material. During the many months the book remained 
in the hands of the editor, proofreaders and printers, some of 
the names carried in it have been synonymized, and several new 
forms haye been described in the mounting North American 
literature. One could scarcely expect a work of this scope to be 
in any sense a final treatment of the group. Few entomologists, 
even including some mvrmecologists, realize the extreme confu- 
sion that has reigned in the taxonomy of our ant fauna ; the 
most experienced entomologists have been unable to name with 
any confidence many of our commonest species. For this reason, 
it must be made as emphatic as possible that “The Ants of North 
America” is not an infallible guide based upon a triumphant cen- 
tury of myrmecographic endeavor ; rather, it is the exposure of 
the fundamental taxonomy that may make such a century pos- 
sible. — William L. Brown, Jr., Biological Laboratories, Har- 
vard University. 
