NOTES, ETC. 71 



season my anticipations have proved to be too true. The 

 Rev. W. White observed this ant in great numbers swarming 

 in a baker's shop in the Borough ; so great were its numbers 

 that it was running over everything, — bread, biscuits, buns, 

 &c. ; it could not in fact fail to attract the notice of everyone ; 

 in consequence of which, the poor tradesman stated he had 

 unfortunately lost the best part of his customers. Here then 

 is a serious evil, a pest far more to be dreaded than the M. 

 molesta, and one which will prove a sore annoyance in every 

 house into which it manages to intrude itself. We have 

 given figures of this formidable intruder in the plate that 

 illustrates the " Annual." 



This ant is of a black colour, with the feet and antennae 

 pale ; it is full one-third larger than the M. molesta ; I am 

 here speaking of the small workers; the insect belongs to the 

 family Attidm, which is distinguished from that of the 

 Myrmicidce by the colonies consisting of four distinct forms ; 

 namely, males, females, large and small workers ; the large 

 workers have their heads greatly enlarged, from three to four 

 times larger in proportion than that of the small workers, the 

 latter having heads of an ordinary size; other structural 

 differences of course separate the families Attidce and 

 MyrmiddcB, but these are unnecessary to be pointed out 

 here. 



Having mentioned large and small workers, it may be 

 questioned whether there exists any positive distinction 

 between them ; this is a point that has been much disjuited ; 

 some believe that one is a mere modification of the other, and 

 that if communities of ants were carefully examined, a set of 

 links would always be found forming a progressive chain of 

 development from the most minute to the most gigantic indi- 

 vidual in the community ; that difference of size, and enlarge- 

 ment of particular parts, are simply degrees of approach to 



