i6o 



HYMENOPTERA 



was declared by Nylander and Smith to be its male; it was 

 however shown some years ago by Andre that this is a mistake, 

 and that S. westivoodi is really the male of another ant that 

 had till then been called Asemorhoptrum lippulum. This correc- 

 tion left the workers and females of Formicoxenus nitidulus 

 destitute of a male, but Adlerz has recently discovered that the 

 male of this species is wingless and similar to the worker, the 

 female being a winged Insect as usual. It is very curious that 

 the characters by which the male is distinguished from the 

 worker should vary in this species ; but according to Adlerz this 

 is the case, individuals intermediate in several points between 

 the males and workers having been discovered. This pheno- 

 menon of quite wingless males in species where the female is 

 winged is most exceptional, and is extremely rare in Insects ; but 

 it occurs, as we shall see, in one or two other Myrmicides. Charles 



Darwin made the very 

 reasonable suggestion 

 that winged males may 

 be developed occasion- 

 ally as an exceptional 

 phenomenon, and it is 

 very probable that this 

 may be the case, though 

 it has not yet been 

 demonstrated. Formi- 

 coxenus nitidulus occurs 

 in England in the nests 

 of Formica rufa and of 

 F. congerens, but we 

 are not aware that the 

 male has ever been 



FIG. 69. Anergates atratulus. Europe. A. male, with found in this country, 

 part of liind leg broken off ; B, female, with wings : C, mi A . 



female, after casting the wings and becoming a queen. e g enus -Sinergates IS 



allied to Formicoxenus, 



and occurs in Central Europe, but has not been found in Britain ; 

 the female, as in Formicoxenus, is winged and the male wingless, 

 but there is no worker-caste ; the male is a rather helpless creature, 

 and incapable of leaving the nest. The species lives in company 

 with Tetramorium caespitum, a little ant very like Myrmica, and not 

 uncommon in South-East England. The female Anergates is at 



