92 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



AnteniifB 12-jointed. Clypeus not concave in the middle, but generally witb 

 a small median ridge and two or more lateral strife. Legs without hairs. 



L. tubeiiivi, Fabr, 



Thorax finely rugose. A slight impressed line between the mesonotum and 

 metatotum. Spines of epinotum broad at base, and long, about two-thirds as- 

 Jong as the basal face of epinotum. 



Yellow ; club of antennae, legs and mandibles of the same colour ; top of head 

 often darker ; a broad dark band across the base of the first segment of gaster. 



L. 2-5-3-Omm Subsp. nylanderi, Foerst. 



Widely distributed and fairly common. Colonies small, with on& 

 or more queens. Nests usually in stumps and roots. 



Thorax not quite so finely rugose as in the preceding. Spines very broad at 

 base, horizontal, and extremely short. 



Eeddish yellow ; club of antennae, mandibles and legs of the same colour ; top 

 of head darker; first segment of gaster dark brown. 



L. 2-5-3-2mm Sub-sp. corticalis, Sch. 



I have taken this description partly from Schenck," and partly 

 from Forel,^- as I have been unable to see a typical example. This, 

 subspecies may be distinguished from nylanderi. by the absence of the 

 impressed line betv^^een the meso- and metanotum, the shorter spines,, 

 and darker colour. A variety with longer spines was taken by me 

 near Pangbourne in 1904, and named by Forel. The following is the 

 description of the ^ . 



Thorax finely rugose, less than in nylanderi. Spines very broad at base,, 

 long, about two-thirds as long as the basal facs of epinotum. 



Eeddish yellow ; mandibles, whole of antennse, and legs of the same colour ; 

 top of head dark brown ; whole of gaster as seen from above, except a small patch 

 on the fi'ont of first segment, black-brown. 



L. 2-3mm. Sub-sp. corticalis, Sch., var. with longer spines. 



As mentioned above, a ? and ^ , with larvae, were found in an empty 

 beech-nut in a wood near Pangbourne. Forel ^•'' mentions a similar 

 variety from the Tyrol. According to Schenck" and ForeP' corticalis^ 

 nests almost entirely under bark. Among the ants in the Cambridge 

 University Museum are the following : a single ^ from the Isle of 

 Wight (Perkins), that Forel says is "nearly corticalis." It has the 

 antennal club no darker, and the short broad spines and coloration of 

 the typical corticalis. As there is only one ^ , I have not placed it 

 under corticalis, though I have little doubt that it is this subspecies. 

 Also a number of ^ ^ (no data except " Perkins collection "), called by 

 Forel " tiiberuni with spines almost corticalis." The spines are very- 

 short, but the antennal club is dark brown, and in other respects the 

 ants are exactly similar to titbertim (s.str.), so I prefer to consider them 

 a short-spined variety of tuber ton {s.str.). 



All the following subspecies have the club of the antennas darker 

 than the rest, in some cases nearly black. 



Thorax coarsely rugose. Spines long, more than two-thirds as long as the basai 

 face of epinotum, extremely narrow, hardly wider at the base than at the point, 

 and slightly curved. 



" Bescli. Nassau. Ameis., 1852, p. 100. 



1'^ Loc. cit., p. 85. 



^ Ameix. Zool. Mas. MUnclien, 1911, p. 268. 



" Loc. cit., p. 101. 



15 Founii. de la Suisse, 1874, p. 180. 



