NOTES ON HYMENOPTERA. 61 



one given by the eminent Hymenopterist Mr. Shuckard ; 

 admitting at the same time, tliat my inclination wouhl cer- 

 tainly have led me to have adopted the latter ; Say described 

 the species in the " Boston Journal of Natural History" for 

 1834, Shuckard's description will be found in the "Magazine 

 of Natural History" for 1838. 



It will naturally be asked what proofs exist of the identity 

 of the insects ; the following have guided me in arriving at 

 that conclusion. In the national collection will be found a 

 number of examples of a small Myrimca from North 

 America; these were originally gummed irregularly on a 

 large piece of card, with the note " house-ant" written at one 

 corner; they formed part of the fine collection of American 

 insects presented to the Museum by the late Edward Double- 

 day. Those specimens I carefully compared with British 

 examples of our house-ant, and I have no hesitation in pro- 

 nouncing them to be identical ; I should add, that I ex- 

 amined them under various magnifying powers. I in the 

 next place had recourse to Say's description ; this I most 

 carefully studied in connexion with the specimens, and, 

 excepting that the insect is described as being entirely 

 yellow, they agree exactly with the greater number of 

 British examples, in which the apex of the abdomen is more 

 or less fuscous ; in some examples, however, it is very 

 slightly, in fact scarcely perceptibly so ; every one who has 

 had occasion to work from Say's descriptions will know 

 that a slight discoloration would in all probability be passed 

 over unnoticed ; I also observed that some of the American 

 specimens were almost unicolorous. Dr. Roger says that if 

 I had carefully studied Say's description, I should have 

 found that the two terminal joints of the antennae are of the 

 same length, whereas in M, Pharaonis the penultimate 

 joint is only half the length of the terminal one. As I have 



