212 MR. CURTIS ON THE GENUS MYRMICA, 



On comparing the species of Myrmica in my cabinet with the Collection in the British 

 Museum, which has been arranged by Mr. Smith, who has paid particular attention to 

 the Ants, I was enabled to make some notes, and I hope clear up some doubts by the 

 investigation, having had thereby the advantage of examining the typical specimens pre- 

 sented by M. Nylander to our national museum. 



I therefore propose to describe and figure some English Myrmicce, which are either 

 new, or so little known, that it appears to me impossible to identify the species. I trust 

 that the figures will at all events render a few species no longer doubtful ; and as no dis- 

 sections, that I am aware of, have been given of Myrmica, nor any very elaborate charac- 

 ters exhibited, I shall endeavour to supply the deficiencies. 



The British Formicidce may be thus divided : — 



A. with a single scale upon the petiole. 

 Palpi 6- and 4-jointed. 



Mandibles of female elongated 1. Formica, Linn. 



Mandibles of female triangular 2. Fonera, Latr. 



B. with two nodules on the petiole. 



Superior wings with the apical cell elongate and open. 



Palpi 6- and 4-jointed 3. Myrmica, Latr. 



Palpi 4- and 3-jointed* 4. Stenamma,Westw. 



Superior wings with the terminal cell closed, oval and pedicled... 5. Myrmecina, Curt. 



Myrmica, Latreille. 



Male. Head smaller than the thorax, rhomboidal (fig. 11): eyes globose and prominent: ocelli very 

 distinct, in triangle behind the eyes. Antenna? inserted in cavities in front of the face, approxima- 

 ting, not long, geniculated, slightly clavate, hairy and 1 3-jointed; basal joint generally one- third of 

 the entire length \, second obconic, the six following more or less ovate, the remainder forming 

 a slightly enlarged club of obovate joints, the last being the longest, stoutest and conical (fig. 1). 

 The trophi are small : Mandibles meeting in front, hairy, narrowed towards the base, dilated ante- 

 riorly and truncated obliquely, the margin forming but few teeth (2). Maxillae producing longish 

 drooping Palpi, pilose and 6-jointed, three basal joints the stoutest, fifth the shortest, sixth the long- 

 est, elliptic-conic (3). Mentum obtrigonate, with a small semicircular labium : Palpi remote, not 

 long, but slender and 4-jointed, second joint the longest (4). Thorax attached to the head by a 

 distinct neck, elongate-ovate, scutel semicircular, postscutel produced into a short spine at each angle. 

 Petiole stoutish, composed of two knots, the basal one somewhat pear-shaped, second broader and 

 globose : abdomen larger than the thorax, ovate-conic, the basal segment covering more than half 

 the surface. Wings ample, especially the superior, which exhibit a longish stigma with two dis- 

 coidal cells, the. upper one large and partially divided by a short nervure ; the posterior cells incom- 

 plete (fig. 13). Legs not long but slender; anterior tibiae furnished with a longish spine at the apex, 

 slenderer in the others : tarsi 5-jointed, basal joint of first pair very rigid and arched at the base, 

 much longer in the hinder pair ; terminal joint dilated at the apex, with distinct pulvilli and sharp 

 claws. 



* This character I take on the authority of Mr. Westwood, not having dissected Stenamma. 



f In M. rubra, from which species all these generic characters are taken, the scape is scarcely longer than the ter- 

 minal joint in the male. 



