130 
Psyche 
[December 
infuscated. Total length in the workers varies (approximately) 
from 1.9 mm. to 2.1 mm.; length of alitrunk varies from 0.554 mm. 
to 0.684 mm. ; with a mean of 0.609 mm. ; length of head varies 
from 0.505 mm. to 0.570 mm., with a mean of 0.530 mm. Total 
length in the queens does not possess variability sufficient for meas- 
urement, which is somewhat dependent on the degree of distention 
in the gaster; length of alitrunk varies from 0.929 mm. to 0.962 mm., 
with a mean of 0.942 mm.; length of head varies from 0.570 mm. 
to 0.603 mm., with a mean of 0.590 mm. The workers from Elrod 
are notably larger on the average than the ones from Tuscaloosa: 
mean length of alitrunk 0.649 mm. as opposed to 0.600 mm., mean 
length of head 0.549 mm. as opposed to 0.524 mm. 
The holotype, the gynetype, and twelve paratypes have been 
deposited in the United States National Museum under U. S. N. M. 
No. 60339. Paratypes are in the collections of the author, the 
Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, and the University 
of Alabama. 
Dr. M. R. Smith has very kindly examined types of the new 
species and has expressed the opinion that its closest morphological 
affinities are apparently to Leptothorax ( Myrafant ) curvispinosus 
Mayr. It can be distinguished from that species by its differently 
shaped propodeal spines and petiole, its smaller size, much darker 
body coloration, and feebler cephalic and thoracic sculpturing. Be- 
cause of the shining dorsal surface of the head, the new species runs 
down to L. (Af.) longispinosus Roger in W. S. Creighton’s recent 
key of the North American Leptothorax ( The Ants of North Amer- 
ica, Bull. M. C. Z., Vol. 104). It can be distinguished from longis- 
pinosus by its smaller size, different coloration (mandibles, antennae, 
and legs in longispinosus moderately brown), feeble thoracic sculp- 
turing, and shorter and more elevated propodeal spines (the spines 
of longispinosus form an angle of nearly 180° with the dorsum of 
the propodeum when viewed in profile). 
The Tuscaloosa colony was found in a small cavity in a bank of 
earth under a bed of moss. It was at the base of a large oak in an 
open area fringing a bay-gum swamp. The Elrod colony was found 
in a small cavity in the earth covered partly by an overhanging root 
and party by thin leaf litter. It was in a densely shaded area also 
on the fringes of a bay-gum swamp. Stray workers were taken 
during the day on low bushes near both nests. 
