SOME NOTES ON THE GENUS MYRMICA, LATR. 7 



Myniiica raf/ana, Curtis, Trans. Linn. See, xxi., 1854, p. 213. 



The characters in this species are similar to those of the preceding, 

 except that in the 5 and ^ the epinotal spines are considerably longer 

 and the space between is transversely rugose. The body is more 

 rugose, the nodes of the pedicle being longitudinally wrinkled. The 

 post-petiole is not, or scarcely, shining. The chief difference in the ^ 

 appears to be the fact that the tibite are only furnished with short 

 decumbent hairs. The antennae are said by Smith^" to be longer, but 

 in this character lacvinodis seems to vary. On the whole ruyinodis is 

 a little the larger of the two in all three castes. 



Forel" describes intermediate forms between the two species, in 

 which the length of the spines is intermediate, etc., under the name of 

 laerinodn-riniiHodiK. Some specimens sent me to examine by Hallett 

 from Glamorgan, had the spines shorter than in ordinary riujinodis, 

 but the space between rugose, etc. These may be called laevinodo- 

 rin/inodis, Forel. 



Distribution. — North and Central Europe ; Asia, not as far East 

 as laeriiutdis. 



I have taken males and winged females in the nests in July and 

 August, and at large in September. I found, however, several winged 

 females in a nest at Tiree in the MidEbudes in April this year. These 

 specimens would have passed the winter in the nest, not having been 

 able to leave for a marriage flight the year before. Forel''^ records find- 

 ing a winged female of laevmndis in a nest at Vaux in April, 1868. 



British distribution : — ENGLAND. — Cornwall, Devon, Somerset 

 S., Wilts. N., I. of Wight, Hants. S., Sussex, Kent, Surrey, Essex, 

 Middlesex, Berks., Oxford, Bucks., Suffolk, Norfolk, Hunts., Glosts. 

 W., Worcester, Warwick, Stalls., Lincoln, Leicester, Notts., Cheshire, 

 Lanes., Yorks. N.E., Yorks. S.W., Yorks. Mid., Durham, Northum- 

 berland, Westmoreland, Cumberland. 



SCOTLAND. — Dumfries, Ayr, Renfrew, Lanark, Peebles, Berwick, 

 Haddington, Edinburgh, Linlithgow, Fife, Kinross, Sterling, Perth S., 

 Perth Mid., Kincardine, Elgin, Easterness, Westerness, Main Argyle, 

 Dumbarton, Clyde Isles, Ebudes Mid., Sutherland E., Caithness, 

 Hebrides, Orkneys, Shetlands. 



IRELAND. — Derry, Armagh, Monaghan, Donegal, Louth, Dublin, 

 Kildare, Wexford, Westmeath, Mayo W., Galway, Cork S., Kerry. 



WALES. — Glamorgan, Carnarvon, Anglesey. 



This is the only ant I have any record for from Caithness. Morice^' 

 recorded that it was the only ant he could find in the Shetlands> 

 and all specimens sent to me from there by Waterston have proved to 

 be this species. Johnson^'' records it from Clare Island up to 1500ft., 

 and Hull has sent it to me, taken at West Allendale up to 1900ft. 

 Crawley found it carrying seeds of the Blue Cornflower [Centaurea 

 cyanits) in his garden at Seaton, Devon. When I stayed with him 

 there I had the pleasure of seeing the ants carrying these seeds. They 



43 Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 2, iii., 1855, p. 119. 



44 Fourmis de la Suisse, 1874, p. 78. 

 ^^ I.e., p. 414. 



46 Ent. Bio. Mag., 1894, p. 260. 



47 Proc. R. Irish Acad., xxxi., 1911, p. 3. 



