PSYCHE 
Vol. 61 June, 1954 No. 2 
STUDIES ON THE HABITS AND DISTRIBUTION OF 
CRYPTOCERUS TEXANUS SANTSCHI 
(HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE) 
By W. S. Creighton, City College, New York 
and 
R. E. Gregg, University of Colorado 
In recent years Dr. M. R. Smith (1,2) and Fr. W. W. 
Kempf (3,4) have published papers on the genus Cryp- 
tocerusK These studies deal primarily with taxonomy and 
do not supply many data on the habits of the ants of this 
genus. The habits of Cryptocerus texanus, the only mem- 
ber of the group whose occurrence in the United States can 
be regarded as abundant, thus remain largely unknown. 
From the fall of 1951 to the spring of 1953 the senior 
author took twenty colonies of C. texanus in southern 
Texas and northeastern Mexico^. Three of these colonies 
were studied in artificial nests for several weeks and later 
three more colonies were sent to the junior author for 
further observation. One of this second group of colonies 
was still alive a year afterwards when this paper was sent 
to press. The habits recorded here were largely deter- 
mined from studies made on these six colonies. 
'The writers have appealed to the International Commission on Zo- 
ological Nomenclature to have Emery’s use of the generic names Ceph- 
alotes and Cryptocerus sustained. Until a decision has been handed down 
we prefer to use Emery’s system. The name changes advocated by Dr. 
Smith have already caused regrettable confusion in this group. 
^Fieldwork done on a Guggenheim Fellowship. 
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