wheeler: ants of the genus formica. 505 



Massachusetts: Wellesley (A. P. Morse); Blue Hills (Wheeler). 



Connecticut : Colebrook (Wheeler) . 



New York: Ithaca (J. C. Bradley); Bedford (Wheeler). 



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



Quebec: Kingsmere (Wheeler). 



British Columbia: Howser, Carbonate, Selkirk Mts. (J. C. Bradley); 

 Mt. Goodsir, 7,000 ft. (E. Whyniper). 



Alberta: Vermillion Pass, 5,000-6,500 ft. (E. W'hymper). 



This form differs considerably in the amount of pubescence on the 

 gaster. The specimens from New Mexico, especially, have the pubes- 

 cence nearly as dense and abundant as in subsericea, but as the ground 

 surface is coppery and partially visible I have included them in this 

 variety. They are, perhaps, the form described by Viereck as ^'ar. 

 densiventris, but his original description based on two workers from 

 Beulah, New Mexico (8,000 feet), is far from clear, and I have not 

 been able to examine the types. Specimens from Rockford, 111., agree 

 very closely with Emery's description based on material from South 

 Dakota and Connecticut. The worker specimens from Alta Peak, 

 Calif., are very small and the pubescence is very delicate. They are 

 decidedly bronzy, but in other respects might be referred to the 

 typical /u^cfl. 



F. suhacnescens nests under stones in cold, shady woods. Like the 

 var. argcntea it is rare and sporadic at lower altitudes and latitudes 

 in the transitional zone and is evidently a boreal form, slightly more 

 eurythermal than the true fusca. 



88. F. FUSCA FUSCA var. gelida, var. nov. 



F. fusca var. neorufibarbis Forel, Ann. Soc. ent. Belg., 1904, 48, p. 153, ^ 9 ; 

 Pergande, Proc. Wash. acad. sci., 1900, 2, p. 519; Wheeler, Bull. Amer. 

 mus. nat. hist., 1906, 22, p. 344; Ants, 1910, p. 570. 



Worker. Length 2.5-5 mm. 



Head and thorax subopaque, frontal area and gaster shining and 

 rather smooth. Hairs as in the typical /w5ca, pale yellow; pubescence 

 much sparser, not only on the gaster but also on the head and thorax, 

 so that the ground surface of the body is fully revealed. This is rather 

 densely and sharply shagreened on the head and thorax, but very finely 

 shagreened and sparsely punctate on the gaster. 



Reddish brown, posterior half of head above black, sometimes with 

 a bronzy reflection. Gaster often as dark as the top of the head. 

 Thorax more or less infuscated. In large workers the infuscation is 



