wheeler: ants of the genus formica. 509 



90. F. FuscA FUSCA var. neoclara Emery. 



F.fusca var. neoclara Emery, Zool. jahrb. Syst., 1894, 7, p. 661, y ; Wheeler, 



Ants, 1910, p. 570. 

 F. cinereorufiharbis Marsh, Bull. 64, Bur. ent. U. S. dept. agric. pt. 9, p. 73. 



Worker. Length 3-6 mm. 



Epinotum rather rounded, not angular in profile. Petiole with a 

 small notch in the transverse superior border; seen from behind 

 cordate. Body opaque, shagreened; gaster only slightly lustrous; 

 frontal area not smooth or shining. Hairs yellow, very short, sparse. 

 Pubescence dense and rather long, especially on the head and gaster, 

 where it conceals the surface. Body and appendages pale red ; man- 

 dibles darker; vertex, tips of antennae, funiculi, and upper surface of 

 gaster infuscated. 



Female. Length 7-8 mm. 



Resembling the worker in color, sculpture, and pubescence. The 

 ocellar triangle, the gaster behind the first segment, the tips of the 

 funiculi, the scutellum, and metanotum, more or less infuscated. Re- 

 mainder of body and appendages pale yellowish red. In some speci- 

 mens there are three elongate brown blotches on the mesonotum, 

 and the posterodorsal portion of the head is infuscated. Pubescence, 

 especially on the gaster, much longer than in the worker so that this 

 region has a bright pruinose appearance. Wings colorless, with brown 

 veins and stigma. 



Male. Length 7-8 mm. 



In form resembling the male of the typical fusca. Mandibles nar- 

 row, edentate. Thorax robust, gaster slender. Petiole thick, low, 

 transverse, with very blunt, feebly excised border. Opaque; gaster 

 more shining. Pubescence grayish, long and dense. Black; gaster 

 dark brown, mesonotum sometimes with a pair of yellow spots. An- 

 tennae dark brown. Genital appendages distinctly infuscated. Legs 

 pale yellow. Wings as in the female. 



Type locality. — Colorado. 



Colorado: Boulder, Canyon City, Longmont (P. J. Schmitt); 

 Colorado Springs, Colorado City, Salida, Denver (Wheeler); South 

 Boulder, Salina, Modern (T. D. A. Cockerell); Greeley (J. M. 

 Aldrich); Rocky Ford (H. O. Marsh). 



New Mexico: Pecos and Las Vegas, 6,400 ft. (T. D. A. Cockerell). 



This beautiful and easily recognized variety occurs in Colorado only 

 at altitudes below 7,000 feet, usually nesting in the sandy soil of river 

 valleys. It is conspicuously common in the streets and parks of 

 Colorado Springs, where it makes flat mounds consisting of numerous 



