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XXIII. On the Genus Myrmica, and other indigenous Ants, 
By Joun Curtis, Esq., F.L.S. &e. 
` Read March 21, 1854. 
NOTWITHSTAN DING the valuable volume published by Latreille in 1802 * upon the 
Ants, the species inhabiting our island were but imperfectly known until very recently. 
That talented naturalist divided the Formicide into several families or sections, which 
he subsequently named; and he found simple and admirable characters for dividing the 
European forms into two groups. 
It is one of the characteristics of the Hymenoptera, that the abdomen is attached to 
the trunk by a neck or petiole, more or less attenuated +. Every one is familiar with the 
structure of the Wasp, which is a good example of the petiolated Hymenoptera. In the 
Ants, however, this connecting portion or petiole is very peculiar in its form, being fur- 
nished on the upper surface with scales or nodules f. This forms the basis of Latreille's 
subdivision of the Ants, one section having a single scale, the other two nodules on the 
ird ERLERNTE RR md edis 
It is true that the valuable monographs of Nylander $ and Foerster || have lately cleared 
the way and placed us in a better position, but owing to the fact that each species of Ant 
exhibits three phases, the study of the family becomes complicated, and unless one can 
detect and examine a nest, when the Ants begin to swarm, it is not easy to decide with 
certainty upon the relationship of individuals; consequently there are many species 
. whose history is not complete, and many points remain unsettled. The workers, or 
neuters as they are called, of most species are abundant enough, and the females of some 
families resemble them, but the males are generally very different, whilst the females are 
often deprived of their wings; and even amongst the workers there are two kinds varying 
in size if not in other respects; so that to an unpractised eye a nest might appear to be 
inhabited by five different kinds of Ant. $ ; 
With such a complication of materials it is not surprising that errors in our nomen- 
elature should exist, and I present this Essay to the Linnean Society more with the hope 
of inducing young and zealous entomologists to study this interesting family, than with 
any great expectation of producing much myself that is new, or of rendering the nomen- 
lature perfect. 
PR 
+ oe Re in € short that the connecting portion is invisible, and the Saw-flics (Tenthredinidæ) 
are altogether an exception, the abdomen being sessile ; but it is remarkable that the larvee in that j family resemble 
caterpillars, and have not only feet, but a greater number than any other larvæ of insects, amounting in some species 
to twenty-two, whilst in Lepidoptera the maximum is sixteen feet. 
+ Vide the plates to Mr. Smith's Monograph of the Genus Cryptocerus 
$ Adnotationes in Monogr. Formic, Borealium Europe, 1846. 
in the Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S. vol. ii. p. 213. 
| Hymenopt. Studien, 1tes Heft, 1850. , 
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