POLYMORPHISM. 



93 



same dignity or frequency. The three typical phases are placed at 

 the angles of an isosceles triangle, the excess developments being placed 

 to the right, the defect developments to the left, of a vertical line 

 passing through the middle of the diagram. The arrows indicate the 

 directions of the affinities of the secondary phases and suggest that 

 those on the sides of the triangle arc annectant, whereas those which 

 radiate outward from its angles represent the new departures with 

 excess and defect characters. 



i. The male (ancr) is far and away the most stable of the three 

 typical phases which are found in all but a few monotypic and para- 

 sitic genera of ants. This is 

 best shown in the general uni- 

 f< mnity of structure and col- 

 oration which characterize this 

 sex in genera whose female 

 forms (workers and queens) 

 are widely different ; e. g., in 

 such a series of cases as M\r- 

 mccia, Odoiitoinachns, O'y/ 1 - 

 toccnts (Fig. 53), Formica, 

 Plicidole (Fig. 52 ), etc. In all 

 of these genera the males are 

 very similar, at least super- 

 ficially, whereas the workers 

 and females are very diverse. 

 The body of the male ant is 

 graceful in form, one might 

 almost say emaciated (Fig. 

 50). Its sense-organs (espe- 

 cially the eves and antennae), 

 wings and genitalia are highly 

 developed ; its mandibles are 

 more or less imperfectly devel- 

 oped, and in correlation with 

 them the head is proportionally 

 shorter, smaller and rounder 



than in the females and workers of the same species. Even when the 

 latter phases have brilliant or metallic colors, as in certain species of 

 Macromischa and Rhytidoponera, the males are uniformly red, yellow, 

 brown or black. Yet notwithstanding this monotony of structure and 

 coloration, the male type may present interesting modifications. 



FIG. 54. Males of Potiera. ("Emery.) 

 A. Winged male of Poncra coarctata ; B. 

 winged male of P. eduardi ; C, ergatomorphic 

 male (ergataner) of P. eduardi ; D, ergataner 

 of P. punctatissima. 



