42 [July, 



grey specimens, smaller than ordinary examples of either form, and certainly bearing 

 no more resemblance to one than to the other, but their time of emergence is pre- 

 cisely that of the form or species which we call crepuscularia (formerly laricaria). 

 If, on account of difference of colouring, we still continue to look upon crepuscularia 

 and hiundularia as distinct species, we shall, for the sake of consistency, be com- 

 pelled to make one or two more species to admit these grey and blackish forms. — Id. 



The male of Formicoxenus nitidulus, Nyl. — In vol. xx, p. 16, of this Magazine, 

 I pointed out that Mons. E. Andre had shown in his " Species des Formicides 

 d'Europe," that the male of Formicoxenus was still unknown to collectors. Mons. 

 Andre has, however, in his First Supplement, p. 11, published last October, described 

 the sought-for male, which has been discovered by M. Grottfried Adlerz, and was 

 described by him in his " Myrmecologiska Studier," Ofv. af Kongl. Vet. Akad. 

 Forh., 1884, p. 43. For the benefit of our Englisli Hymenopterists I therefore give 

 a translation of the chief distinguishing characters of this male, and I fancy that, 

 in all probability, it may be found in many collections mixed with the workers, 

 which it seems so closely to resemble. 



Formicoxenus nitidulus, Nyl. — $. Exactly like the ^, except the following 

 characters : head more narrowed behind, wliich gives it a more oval form ; mandibles 

 very short, narrow at the apex, which is obliquely truncate, its apical angle pro- 

 jecting in a blunt tooth ; ocelli small, but always distinct ; antennae of twelve joints 

 (the worker has only eleven) , the scape shorter and thicker than in the $, never 

 more than half the length of the flagellum, the basal joints of the latter are longer 

 than in the workers, and the joints of the club are narrower, in fact, the club is not 

 well defined, and might be held to consist of four or five joints ; thorax like that of 

 the $ , but rather longer; no wings or alar articulations ; abdomen with the petiole 

 like that of the other sex, and with five segments beyond it, which are slightly 

 narrower than in the ? or § ; genital armature small. 



M. Andre also observes that, according to M. Adlerz, there exists in every colony 

 of Formicoxenus a certain number of specimens intermediate in the form of the 

 thorax and in the development of the ocelli and genital organs, between the males 

 and the workers, and that therefore these characters cannot be relied on to dis- 

 tinguish them, but that the number of abdominal segments and antennary joints, as 

 well as the shape of the mandibles, remain constant. — Edwaed Saundees, St. 

 Ann's, Mason's Hill, Bromley, Kent : May ISth, 1886. 



The female of Crahro signatus, Panz. — The male of this rare species is so distinct 

 from all its allies that there is scarcely any chance of its being overlooked, its 

 rounded curved posterior tibial, and the little spine on the posterior femora at once 

 affording characteristic distinctions, but with the female things are very different. 

 It resembles that sex of dimidiatus so closely that it requires a very careful examina- 

 tion to detect its characteristics. There is a something in the general build of the 

 insect that makes it look distinct, and yet it is not easy to point out in what the 

 distinction consists. Mr. Harwood has very kindly given me the only female which he 

 has captured at Colchester, where he has also taken the male, and after a careful 

 comparison of it with ? dimidiatus, the following characters appear to me to be of 

 value in dittinguishing it : — 



