136 WILLIAM MORTON WHEELER. 



of its females point unmistakably to parasitic habits. The same- 

 is probably true of L. crinitus described by F. Smith 1 and Mayr- 

 from Cashmir. Only the female of this species is known ;m<l 

 this has long yellow hairs like the North American Formica 

 ciliata Mayr and crinita Wheeler, which are, in all probability, 

 temporary parasites on varieties of F. schaufussi or fusca. 



In North America, the genus Lasius, which embraces the sub- 

 genus (Acanthomyops) not represented in Eurasia, seems to pre- 

 sent a corresponding division of its species into those with inde- 

 pendent and those with parasitic queens, although the data un 

 which this assertion is based are at present very meager. Here, 

 too, the forms of L. niger, namely the varieties americanus Emery 

 and neoniger Emery, L. flavus var. nearcticus Wheeler and brevi- 

 cornis Emery establish their colonies independently. This I can 

 affirm from many observations in the field. The same is true of 

 L. (Acanthomyops} daviger Roger and probably also of L. (A.} in- 

 ter jectus Mayr. But I have never seen any of the females of our 

 itmbratus forms (mixtus var. aphidicola Walsh, subumbratus 

 Viereck, minutus Emery and speculiventris Emery) in the act of 

 founding their colonies independently, and it is quite probable 

 that they are temporary parasites on the extremely common /.. 

 americanus. Equally negative have been my observations on L 

 (A.} latipes, which has the a- and /3-females to which I alluded 

 in a preceding paragraph. That this species is a temporary 

 parasite on L. americanus is indicated by the fact that near Cole- 

 brook, Conn., I found four small mixed colonies. 3 L. (A.) 

 murphyi Forel and occidentalis Wheeler, which are closely related 

 to latipes and have females covered with singular fulvous hairs, 

 are also very probably to be regarded as parasitic in the early 

 stages of colony formation. 



The genus Lasius, which comprises some of the commonest and 

 most characteristic ants of the north temperate zone, has never 

 attracted a large number of students, probably because the 



'"Catalogue of Hymenopteroua Insects in the Collection of the British Museum," 

 Pt. VI.. Formicidae. 1858, p. 13. 



"Myrmecologische Studien," Verh. K. K. Zoo/, hot. Ges. Wien., XII.. 1862. 

 p. 700. 



'Sec Wheeler, "Ants: Their Structure, Development and Behavior," 1910, p. 

 504, nola. 



