CHAPTER X. 



FOSSIL ANTS. 



Dum PhaetlumU-a formica vagatur in umbra 

 Implicuit tcnuem succina gutta feram, 

 Sic modo quse fuerat vita contempta manente 

 I ; uneribus facta est nunc pretiosa suis. 



Martial, " Epigrammata," Liber VI, 15. 



Uefore proceeding further with our account of existing ants, it will 

 be advisable to review what is known of the extinct species. And as 

 the Eormicidae are one of the most specialized families of the Hymen- 

 optera, which are themselves a highly specialized order, this review 

 may properly begin with a few remarks on the paleontological history 

 of the order as a whole. 



The Hymenoptera first make their appearance during Mesozoic 

 time, but concerning the families to which the few fossil remains be- 

 long, there is considerable difference of opinion. Heer in 1865 de- 

 scribed from the Lower Liassic of Aargau, Switzerland, a specimen 

 which he regarded as an ant and named Palceomyrmex prodroinus. This 

 has long been regarded as the most ancient not only of known ants but 

 also of Hymenoptera. According to Handlirsch (1906-1908), how- 

 ever, who has recently subjected our knowledge of extinct insects to 

 a critical revision, this fossil " certainly does not belong to the Hymen- 

 optera, but presumably to the Homoptera." In 1854 Westwood de- 

 scribed two wing impressions from the Lower Purbecks of Durdle- 

 stone Bay, England (Jurassic), as those of a couple of huge ants, 

 Formicium brodiei and Myrmicium hccri. These are now shown by 

 Handlirsch to belong to saw-flies of the genus Pscitdosii-c.v. which also 

 comprises thirteen other species from the Solenhofen deposits of the 

 same age. This singular genus is the most primitive of known Hymen- 

 optera and has been assigned by .Handlirsch to a special family, the 

 Pseudosiricidae, differing from the Siricidse and other recent Hymen- 

 optera in having numerous longitudinal veins in the wings, a dis- 

 tinctly Orthopteroid character which, like 'many other peculiarities of 

 the Hymenoptera, points to a derivation of the order from Rlattoid, or 

 cockroach-like ancestors. The only other Hymenopteron known from 

 the Mesozoic is Ephialtitcs jnrassicns, based on a specimen from the 

 Kimtneridge (Malm) of Spain. This insect is evidently a member of 



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