90 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



principal characters mentioned by continental myrmecologists is the 

 distinct dark brown or black band across the base of the first segment 

 of the gaster ; Farren White-^ however, says that the abdomen in this 

 subspecies is not so distinctly banded as in vylamleri, and Saunders^ 

 that the black bands on the body are narrower than in nylandcri, and 

 often wanting. F. Smith himself realized that the determination of 

 this ant as iinifaaclatns was incorrect, though he made no attempt to 

 rectify it. He says", " The iiiufasciatns of British collections is not 

 that which continental Hymenopterists consider to be Latreille's 

 species .... the ^ has the abdomen nearly entirely fuscous, 

 only the base and apex pale ; it cannot be said to have ' une bande 

 noire transverse sur le bord posterieur da premier segment.' " 

 Again he says'', " M. iniifasciata of Nylander is certainly not the 

 unifaaciata of Smith's Essay, nor have we seen it in any British 

 collection." 



Nylander^ followed by Snlith^ suggests that Latreille confounded 

 this species with M. ciu</alata, Schenck, which, however, differs in 

 having its antennse entirely yellow. 



In August, 1912, I paid a visit to Dr. Forel in Switzerland, taking 

 with me all the specimens of Leptotliorax from the various Oxford 

 and Cambridge Museum collections, as well as those from several 

 private ones, for his inspection, and all the ants labelled vnifasciatus 

 were re-named by him tiihermii, Fab. (sensii fitricto), with two exceptions 

 referred to below. Dr. Forel also named as tubentm (s.str.) all 

 specimens labelled iinifasciatiis in the British Museum and Saunders 

 collections shown him by my friend Mr. Donisthorpe, on his visit in 

 October, 1912. 



In recent years several subspecies and varieties of tuhenuii, distinct 

 both from mjlanderi and that hitherto known as nuifasciatas, have been 

 discovered in this country. In April", 1904, 1 found an incipient colony 

 ( $ , ^ ,andlarvfe)nearPangbourne, which was named by Forel as "corti- 

 ^alis, Sch., var. with longer spines"; in June, 1912, I found a colony at 

 Seaton, Devon {^ s, $ s, ^ s), -which Forel named " tiibcrnni, ¥., var., 

 approaching interiKptas, Sch." ; and in July, 1912, Donisthorpe and 

 I found numerous colonies, with all sexes, of a sub-species named the 

 same year by Forel " tiibenuii, F., var. tubero-a[tinis, For." Among 

 the ants in the Hope-Westwood collection at Oxford were two ^ s 

 from Hayling Island, presented by Saunders, that Forel named 

 affinis, Mayr, and in the Cambridge Museum are a number of ^ s 

 from the Isle of Wight (Perkins) that Forel considered " tubenini, F., 

 with spines similar to cortiealis, Sch." With these exceptions, all 

 the ants labelled iimfasciatKs were re-named by Forel as tuberinn, F., 

 [s.str.) It seemed desirable, therefore, to correct the errors in the 

 naming of this group of ants in Britain, an:^ with this end in view I 

 have ruade a careful examination of all the specimens in public and 

 private collections throughout the country that I could obtain, in 



3 Ants and their Ways, 1883, p. 226. 



" Syn. of Brit. Heterogyn and Foas. Hy., 1880, p. 220. 



6 Cat. Brit. Foss. Hy., Foniiicidae, 1858, p. :-Jl. 



'' Cat. Hy. Ins. B.M., pt. vi., Formicidae, 1858, p. 120. 



7 Si/n. Form. France et Algerie, Ann. Sci. Nat., 4 aerie, T. 5, p. 92, 1856. 

 « loc. cit., p. 120. 



» Ent. Bee, vol. xxiv., no. 3, p. 63, 1912. 



