Harry B. Weiss.
Notes on Eustrophus bicolor Fabr., Bred from Fungi (Coleoptera).
Psyche 26(5):132-133, 1919.

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130 Psyche [October
Colombia: Santa Marta (A. Forel).
Panama: (Stretch) ; Bugaba and Caldera (Champion). Costa Rica (Tonduz) .
Guatemala : (Stoll) ; Pantaleon (Champion) ; Zacapa and Patulul (Wheeler).
According to Frederick Smith "all the sexes of this species were found by Mr. H. W, Bates in their formicarium, the chambers of which were excavated in dead twigs." The colonies which I found at Zacapa and Patulul were nesting in dead branches lying on the ground in shady places. These branches, 5 to 7 feet long and 1 to inches in diameter, together with their twigs, had been tunnelled throughout by the ants. The colonies were very populous, com- prising hundreds of individuals and therefore larger than those of most species of Pseudomyrma. Ps. filiformis seems also to differ from many species of the genus (sericea, triplaridis, arboris-suntoe, belti, spinicola,flavidula, etc.) in preferring to live in the cavities of dead instead of living plants. There can be little doubt that filiformis is a rare or sporadic species. Dr. W. M. Mann, who collected ants assiduously in Brazil in the region explored by Bates, failed to find it, and although I found numerous colonies of many species of Pseudomyrma in Central Ameria I saw only two of fili- formis. It seems to me not improbable that the slender, smooth, aberrant female of this ant may start her colony as a temporary parasite on some other species of Pseudomyrma, presumably Ps. fiavidula, which she so strangely resembles in color. In his paper on the classification of the Myrrnicinse (Intorno alla classificazione dei Myrmicinse, Rend. R. Accad. Sc. Bologna, 1914, p. 34) Emery states that the males of the tribe Pseudomyrmini have 13-jointed antennae. This is certainly an error. All the numerous males I have examined of the various genera of the tribe, Pseu- domyrma, Tetraponera ( = Sima auct .) , Pachysima and Viticicola gen. nov. (genotype Sima temanni Stitz of West Africa) have 12- jointed antennse like the workers and females. Fore1 has described the following variety, which I have not seen, as a variety of PA'. biconvexa:




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19191 Wheeler-A Singular Neotropical -Ant 131 Pseudomyrma filiformis var. longiceps Forel. Ps. biconvexa var. longiceps Forel, Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg. 50, 1906, p.m. g.
"Worker. A little larger than the typical form. The head especially is perceptibly longer, more than 14 times as long as broad, with subparallel sides. In other respects identical with the typical form."
Santa Marta, Colombia (A. Forel).




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132 Psyche [October
NOTES ON EUSTROPHUS BICOLOR FABR., BRED
FROM FUNGI (COLEOPTERA).
BY HARRY B. WEISS,
New Brunswick, N. J.
This species, which according to Smith1 occurs throughout New Jersey from September until the following June, was recently bred from larvae found feeding in Pleurotus sapidus2 at Monmouth Junction, N. J., on May 30 and in Polyporus squamosus2 at Union, N. J., on May 20. The larvae collected at Monmouth Junction became full grown during the first week of June and pupated, this stage requiring about one week. The infested fungi which were kept in glass beakers dried out considerably and the larvae left them and pupated in the bottoms of the containers. It is, there- fore, not known where pupation takes place under natural con- ditions. As the fungi were more or less destroyed by the larvae, it seems likely that the quiescent stage is passed in the soil or under bark.
Pleurotus sapidus which belongs to the family Agaricacece is a common saprophytic form occurring on dead, deciduous wood and is one of the edible species closely resembling Pleurotus ostreatus, the oyster mushroom. Polyporus squarnosus is a member of the family Polyporacece and occurs on living, deciduous trees accord- ing to Overholts3 and on dead parts of living, deciduous trees ac- cording to ~tevens.~ Stevens also states that the mycellium causes a white rot of nut, ornamental and fruit trees particularly maple, pear, oak, elm, walnut, linden, ash, birch, chestnut and beech. In the case of Pleurotus sapidus, the larvae fed on the context and stipe, completely riddling them. In Polyporus squarnosus both the context and tubes were eaten. Other species of fungi on which adults only were found are Polyporus betulinus, Princeton Junc- tion, N. J., April 24; Polyporus versicolor, Riverton, N. J., May 5; and Dasdalia confragosa, Kingston, N. J., May 8; all belonging to the Polyporacece. Up to the present, however, larvae have been found only in the two species mentioned in the first part of these notes.
1 Smith, J. B., Insects of New Jersey (N. J. State Mus. Rept. 1909). 2 Identified by Mr. Erdman West.
3 Overholts, L. O., Polyporacese of Mid. Wes. 17. S. (Wash. Univ. Studies, 111, I, 1, p. 17). 4 Stevens, F. L., Fungi Which Cause Plant Disease (1913).



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