No. 22.] HYMENOPTERA OF CONNECTICUT. 597 



females establish their colonies in depauperate colonies of fusca 

 var. suhsericea. 



Connecticut (Mayr) ; Branford, North Haven, New Haven 

 (H. L. V.) ; New Hartford, Stafford (W. E. B.) ; Cromwell, 

 Hartford (Forel) ; Colebrook (W. M. W.). 



F. truncicola obscuriventris Mayr. 



A single colony, found near the summit of one of the Litch- 

 field Hills (about 1,400 feet). 



Connecticut (Mayr); Colebrook (W. M. W.) ; Brookfield 

 (E. L. Dickerson). 



F. truncicola integra Nylander. 



Our largest and most conspicuous form of truncicola nesting 

 in great colonies which often comprise several nests. These are 

 in piles of large stones or in old logs and stumps. The ants stuff 

 all the crannies of their abodes with bits of dead grass, leaves, 

 etc. Like most other species of Formica, integra is much 

 given to attending aphids. It is most abundant in hilly regions, 

 where it prefers sunny glades or clearings in the forests. The 

 males and winged females appear in July. 



Connecticut (Mayr) ; Colebrook (W. M. W.). 



F. difHcilis Emery, var. consocians Wheeler. 



In this interesting species, as I have shown, the females, which 

 are yellow and hardly larger than the largest workers, are tem- 

 porary parasites in the nests of schaufussi var. incerta. Soon 

 after fertilization the queen seeks adoption in some depauperate 

 and probably queenless colony of incerta and there permits her 

 hosts to bring up her young. Later the incerta workers die off, 

 leaving the consocians as a pure and independent colony, which 

 grows rapidly in size and shows no evidence of its parasitic 

 origin. The nesting habits of diMcilis resemble those of in- 

 tegra on a small scale. 



Colebrook (W. M. W.). 



F. nepticula Wheeler. 



Like the preceding, this species has very small females, which, 

 in all probability, are social parasites in the colonies of some 

 other Formica, probably neogagates Emery. The males and 

 winged females make their appearance during July. 



Colebrook (W. M. W.). 



