Dec, 1909.] Wheeler : Observations on European Ants. 185 



The perplexity into which one is thrown by the observations above 

 recorded is not lessened by an examination of the literature. M. 

 minutiim was first described by Mayr more than half a century ago,* 

 and it seems to have been little studied since that time. Mayr saw 

 only worker specimens, which he records as coming from Lombardy 

 and from Lido, the very locality in which I happened to find the 

 species. These specimens were taken by Prof. Strobel in sweeping, 

 possibly in the very field in which I made my observations. Even in 

 his later accountf Mayr cites only the worker. In 1891 Forel gave a 

 full description of all three phases, which he cited from various parts 

 of Africa. $ He gave the length of the female as 4-4.5 mm. and says 

 that its '' wings are unknown." Apparently he believed that his 

 female specimens were dealated. The most recent monographer of 

 the European ants, Emery, § gives the length of the M. minutum 

 female as 3.4-3.7 mm., and states that it is " winged." There is, 

 therefore, a discrepancy between Emery's account and my own, and 

 we must suppose, either that M. minutum has two forms of females, 

 or that Emery's statement refers to some other form, for I can 

 hardly doubt that the species I observed is really the one described by 

 Mayr, since the workers not only agree perfectly with his account, 

 but came from the type locality. My specimens are, in fact, topo- 

 types, owing to the very small size of Lido and the restricted area on 

 the island which can be inhabited by these ants. 



Not only will it be necessary, therefore, to reexamine the material 

 of M. minutum in our collections, but this should also be done with all 

 the other small black species of Monomoriiim {eheninum, carbonarium 

 and minimum). I am satisfied that the American form called M. 

 minutum var. minimum Buckley by Emery || should be regarded as 

 specifically distinct, as all three of its phases are not only larger 

 (worker nearly 2 mm., female 4.5-5 mm., male 3.5-4.5 mm.) than 

 those of minutum (worker 1.4-1.6 mm., female 3.4-3.7 mm., male 



* Formicina Austriaca, 1855, p. 453. 



t Die europaischen Formiciden, 1861, p. 72. 



t Formicidse, in Hist. Phys. Nat. Polit. Madagascar, par A. Grandidier, 

 1891, p. 165. 



§ Beitrage zur Monographic der Formiciden des palaarktischen Faunen- 

 gebietes, V. Deutsch. Ent. Zeitschr., 1908, pp. 666 and 680. 



jl Beitrage zur Kenntniss der nordamerikanischen Ameisenfauna, Zool. 

 Jahrb. Abth. f. Syst., VIII, 1894, p. 274. 



