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THE PAN-PACIFIC ENTOMOLOGIST 
found to be the only insects inhabiting one particular bracket fungus. — N.N. HREBTOV, 
San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California. 
A NEW NORTHWESTERN RECORD FOR THE TRIBE ATTINI AND NORTHERN 
RECORD FOR THE GENUS CYPHOMYRMEX (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE). — The 
purpose of this note is to report the most northwestern Nearctic record for the tribe Attini 
and also the northern record of the genus Cyphomyrmex on the basis of a male specimen 
of Cyphomyrmex wheeleri Forel collected in Lake County, California by Mr. Hugh B. Leech. 
It was Dr. George L. Rotramel who studied specimens of our Academy Formicidae, that 
first recognized the specimen as of special interest and had noted that it should be sent 
to the Myrmecologist - Dr. Neal A. Weber- forhis study. 
The ant specimen was sent to Dr. Weber this past winter and he wrote on March 28th 
that he had identified it as a male of Cyphomyrmex wheeleri Forel and he further stated: “I 
congratulate you for preserving and maintaining this tiny specimen of unusual interest to 
all myrmecologists. It constitutes the northwestern record of Attini, Latitude 39° 06’ N 
and the northern record of the genus. There ought to be colonies in that area that would 
well repay biological study.” The four labels attached to the pin of this specimen read: 
“Lucerne, Lake Co./CAL. 30. VII. 1955/Hugh B. Leech” “Attini d/? Trachymyrex/Det. 
Rotramel ’75” “Myrmicinae/?Trachymyrmex/Significant record./ should send to Weber.” 
“Cyphomyrmex wheeleri Forel/det. N.A. Weber 26.iii.77.” 
The genus Cyphomyrmex is a member of the fungus-growing tribe Attini. Of the Attini it 
has been stated that “their activities in cultivating their fungus gardens are among the 
most remarkable to be found in ants.” (Creighton, 1950, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 104:83.). 
Weber has provided a fascinating account of fungus-growing ants in an article in Science 
(153 (3736):587-604, 1966). 
Most of the species of the genus Cyphomyrmex are found in the tropical regions of 
Central America and South America, but two species - C. rimosus minutus Mayr and C. 
wheeleri Forel - are recorded by Creighton (1950:316) as occurring in the United States (he 
provides a lengthy discussion of the first), and only the latter is known from California. 
Mai I is (1941, Bull. S. Calif. Acad. Sci. 40:74) recorded Cyphomyrmex wheeleri from “Three 
Rivers (Culbertson).” Presumably this is the Three Rivers in Tulare County, and if so, this 
places the Lucerne locality some 420 airline km NW of Three Rivers. Cook in 1953 (The 
Ants of California, pp. 215-216) recorded the same collection. — PAUL H. ARNAUD, JR., 
California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California. 
DR. WILLIAM HOVANITZ: Dr. Hovanitz died 14 September 1977 of a sudden heart attack 
in Santa Barbara, California. Born in Chicago,6 November 1915, he came to California in 
1918. He attended the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned a B.S. in 
entomology in 1938. He joined the Pacific Coast Entomological Society in 1934 and was 
an active member until he left the San Francisco area. He earned a Ph.D. in genetics from 
the California Institute of Technology in 1943. Dr. Hovanitz served on the faculties of the 
University of Michigan, Wayne University, the University of San Francisco, California 
Institute of Technology, University of California at Los Angeles and Santa Barbara and 
California State University at Los Angeles. His broad experience included work on insect 
systematics, mosquitos and malaria, the biology of plant galls and their relationship to 
cancer, the structure of chromosomes, and the genetics of butterflies and flies. He 
founded the Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera in 1962, editing and publishing it since 
its founding. At the time of his death, Dr. Hovanitz was preparing to return to his long 
delayed research on geographical distribution and population and physiological 
genetics, utilizing butterflies, especially the genera Colias and Argynnis, as experimental 
subjects. A basic principle in all his research was the importance of interpreting the 
significance underlying the phenomena we perceive, as opposed to simple description of 
the physical manifestations of these phenomena. His passing is a profound loss to 
science, especially Lepidoptera research. A complete obituary and bibliography will 
appear in the Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera, which will continue publication. — 
SCOTT E. MILLER, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, California 
93105. 
The main speaker of the evening was Mr. Herman Real, Department of Entomology, 
University of California Berkeley. His illustrated presentation entitled “Through the 
