AND OTHER INDIGENOUS ANTS. 217 



bark of felled trees and in moss at the base of poplars near Pau, Basses Pyrenees, in 

 January 1853. I am unacquainted with the male, unless it be a Stenamma. 



13. M. domestica, Shuck. ; Smith's List of Brit. Mus. p. 119 *. 



This, the smallest of the Ants, is the greatest of all pests, when it establishes itself in 

 a house, as from its minuteness and activity it insinuates itself into every crevice. My 

 attention was called to this mischievous creature many years since. It was first disco- 

 vered in London in a bakehouse, and my impression at the time was, that it had been 

 introduced with foreign maize into this country, which is supported by the fact that it 

 cannot endure coldf. 



There is no difficulty in obtaining the workers, but the males and females are less 

 abundant, and not always to be found. My specimens of these are not sufficiently per- 

 fect to ascertain if the neuration of the wings differs materially from the typical species, 

 but from Mr. Westwood's figures I am disposed to think that M. domestica is a species 

 connecting the Myrmicce and Stenamma. 



Stenamma, Westwood. 



14. S. Westwoodii, Steph. ; Westw. Intr. Class. Ins. vol. i. p. 83, & vol. ii. p. 226. 

 fig. 86. 11. 



Male slender, pitchy-black, shining ; head somewhat ovate, not smooth, eyes promi- 

 nent : three distinct ocelli on the crown : mouth ochreous, mandibles large : antennae 

 tawny, approximating, very slender and 13-jointed ; scape one-fourth the entire length, 

 second and following joints somewhat elongated, the five last being thickened, the apical 

 joint the longest and conical. Thorax rather broader than the head and indistinctly 

 striated ; scutel semicircular and rugose ; postscutel with the angles acute. Petiole 

 elongated, basal joint long, slender and pear-shaped, second broader and subglobose : 

 abdomen ovate-conic, edges of the segments and apex ochreous. Wings slightly tinted, 

 stigma and nervures very pale tawny ; submarginal cell very long, discoidal, rather small 

 and rhomboidal, apical cell elongate and open (fig. 21) J. Legs long and very slender, 

 especially the hinder pair, ochreous ; thighs and tibiae pitchy, except at their extremities : 

 length If, expanse 4^ lines. 



The males only of this insect are known. I first took one at Black Gang Chine, in the 

 Isle of Wight, in the middle of October 1829. As this species, I believe, has not been yet 

 described, I have sketched its characters. 



* Vide Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., New Ser., vol. ii. p. 628 ; Trans. Ent. Soc. ii. 65 ; Gardeners' Chron. vol. x. 

 p. 340, and an interesting detail of the economy of M . domestica (the House Ant) hy Mr. Daniell, in the Proceed- 

 ings of the Linnean Society, vol. ii. p. 172. 



f There are many heetles thus introduced into granaries and mills, and from the sacks lying there carried with the 

 flour into our hake-offices, and thus introduced living and dead into our private dwellings. 



t Mr. Westwood's figure of the superior wing does not quite agree with mine ; in his wing the apical cell is sub- 

 trigonate and closed, and the second marginal cell is also extended to the edge, so as to form a closed space. 

 VOL. XXI. 2 G 



