20 
Psyche 
[ March 
MERMIS PARASITISM IN SOME AUSTRALIAN AND 
MEXICAN ANTS 
By William Morton Wheeler 
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 
Since reviewing in several former papers 1 the modifica- 
tions induced in ants by Nematode worms of the genus 
Mermis, I have obtained mermithized specimens of four ad- 
ditional species. Three of these are from Australia, a con- 
tinent from which no cases of this form of parasitism had 
been previously recorded. The fourth case, from Mexico, 
partially bridges a gap in the known distribution of ant- 
mermithization extending from New England and Colorado 
to Argentina. In the Old World no cases are known from 
Asia, Indonesia and Papua, but their occurrence in these 
regions will be revealed in all probability by examination of 
sufficient material. 
Myrmecia forficata Fabr. 
var. rubra Forel 
While I was visiting Mr. John Clark in Melbourne, Vic- 
toria, during December, 1931, he presented me with a dried 
mermithogyne of this large Ponerine ant and informed me 
that he had seen others. The specimen was taken at Bel- 
grave, Victoria, Jan. 29. It has the appearance of a normal 
dealated female, but the gaster is unusually voluminous and 
the postpetiole is very broad, being nearly twice as wide as 
long. Although the thorax is of the normal female struc- 
1 W. M. Wheeler, Mermis Parasitism and Intercastes among Ants, 
Journ. Exper. Zoology 50, 1928, pp. 165-237, 17 figs.; A Camponotus 
Mermithergate from Argentina, Psyche 36, 1929, pp. 102-106, 1 fig., 
and Two Mermithergates of Ectatomma, ibid. 37, 1930, pp. 48-54, 1 fig. 
