88 HYMENOPTERA. 



Stigma dark brown ; the head emarginate at the vertex j the 

 scale of the petiole notched, 



This is the finest addition that has been made to the 

 British Formicidce for many years; like F. rufa, this species 

 builds a heaped-up nest, but one of much smaller dimensions ; 

 those which I observed not being more than eight or ten 

 inches in diameter at the base, and this at the middle of 

 autumn. According to the observations of Dr. Nylander, 

 Dr. Mayr and others, the sexes of this species are developed 

 during the month of July ; consequently as I did not discover 

 it until the end of August, I only obtained the workers. 

 The male and female I have described from specimens trans- 

 mitted to me by Dr. Mayr. This species was fii-st discovered 

 by Dr. Nylander in Finland, and first described by him in 

 his fine monograph of the Formicidce of that country. The 

 species cannot fail of being recognized, the deep notch of the 

 head is at once striking and distinctive. 



Formica umbrata. — For the first time I took all the 

 sexes of this species from the nest ; they closely resemble 

 those of F.flava^ but present the following differences : — the 

 worker has the scape and legs of the antennae covered with 

 a fine whitish pile, and the eyes are pilose. The female is 

 readily separated, having the head fully as wide as the thorax, 

 and the wings dark fuscous at the base. The male is quite 

 black, and has dark smoky wings. 



Tapinoma erratica. — This ant is extremely abundant 

 at Bournemouth, where it was first captured, in this country, 

 by Mr. Dale; it is certainly a widely -distributed species, 

 having been found in Surrey, Hants, Middlesex, and in 

 Cornwall at the Land's-£nd ; it is doubtless overlooked, or 

 confounded with F, nigra ; from the latter it is to be dis- 



