wheeler: ants of the genus formica. 501 



Connecticut: Suffield (Geo. Dimmock); Branford, Cheshire, Mt. 

 Carmel, New Haven (H. L. Viereck); New Haven, Sahsbuiy 

 (W. E. Britton); Cromwell, Hartford (A. Forel); Winsted, Norfolk, 

 Colebrook (Wheeler). 



Rhode Island: Pro\'idence (Davis). 



Massachusetts: Sherborn, Wellesley, Andover (A. P. Morse); 

 Essex County, Mt. Tom, Springfield (G. B. King); Springfield 

 (J. A. Allen); Arlington, Cambridge (Mus. Comp. Zool.); Readville, 

 Woods Hole, Boston (Wheeler); Medford (W. H. Dall). 



New Hampshire: Holderness (A. P. Morse); Canobie Lake, West 

 Ossipie (G. B. King); Mt. Moosilauke, 1,700 ft. (Wheeler). 



Vermont : Hyde Park. 



Maine : South Harpswell, Sebascoegan Island, Casco Bay (Wheeler) . 



Nova Scotia: Digby (J. Russell). 



Ontario : Toronto (R. J. Crew) ; Ottawa (Centr. Exper. Farms Coll.) ; 

 Guelph, Port Stanley (W. H. Wright). 



This is the most abundant Formica in temperate North America 

 and one of the most abundant insects, next to Lasius niger var. ameri- 

 canus, at least in the Eastern United States. Its colonies, which are 

 often rather large, nest in sunny places under stones or in low flat 

 "beds," or mounds, often a meter or more in diameter. Owing to 

 its great abundance, it is the favorite host of the Nearctic forms of the 

 sanguinea, ritfa, and exsecta groups. It is a very cowardly ant and 

 rarely resents disturbance of its nests unless it happens to be acting 

 as the "slave," or auxiliary of sanguinea. i.\lthough the pure form of 

 suhsericea may be readily recognized, there occur forms which in 

 sculpture and pilosity connect it with the true fusca and with the 

 varieties subaenescens and argentea, and the workers of sucK forms are 

 not always easy to identify. 



85. F. FUSCA FUSCA var. argentea W^heeler. 



F. fusca var. argentata Wheeler, Amer. nat., 1902, 36, p. 952, 7iota ^ ; Ants, 



1910, p. 570. 

 F. fusca var. argentea, nom. nov. Wheeler, Psyche, 1912, 19, p. 90. 



W^ORKER. Length 4-7 mm. 



Closely related to the var. suhsericea but differing in the somewhat 

 more slender body, longer legs, in the character of the pubescence, and 

 in color. The pubescence is more glistening white and denser, so 

 that the whole body has a silvery luster. The body is dark reddish 

 brown or brownish black, instead of black, the mandibles, corners of 



