62 HYMENOPTERA. 



Stated above, I had read Say's description most care- 

 fully, and I did not find the two apical joints described as 

 being of the same length ; the description is, " the terminal 

 joint as long again as the penultimate," exactly as I found it 

 in our own house-ant. After a careful reinvestigation of the 

 subject I am of opinion that the English and American 

 house-ant is one and the same species, and that we shall do 

 right in retaining for the insect the name of Mijrmica molesta. 

 If the species had not proved to be identical with the 

 American one, I should have preferred to have used 

 Shuckard's name " domestica.'' The Pharaonis of Linnaeus 

 is described in the following w^ords : " F. rufa, abdomine 

 magis fusco ;" F. aniigiiensis of Fabricius is given as a 

 synonyme of Pharaonis, the only description of which is, 

 *' parva, testacea abdomine apice solo nigro," descriptions 

 that present to me an insurmountable difficulty when I 

 attempt to apply them, since I find they will equally well 

 suit half a hundred species. 



It must not be supposed for a moment that T charge Dr. 

 Roger with any wilful misrepresentation ; certainly not. I 

 will point out the error into which I believe him to have 

 fallen, by an incorrect appreciation of Say's description ; the 

 following, "the terminal one as long again as the penulti- 

 mate," does not mean, as Dr. Roger appears to have under- 

 stood it, that the terminal one is of the same length, but that 

 it is of twice or double the length; *' as long again" has 

 evidently been construed to signify that the terminal joint is 

 (again) of the same length as the penultimate one ; thus, it 

 will be found, that all the arguments used to prove my con- 

 clusions to be erroneous, confirm their correctness. 



I have entered somewhat into detail, but I trust not more 

 so than will be deemed necessary, in order to prove the 

 necessity of a careful investigation of synonyma before giving 



