FORMICA. 335 



shimmeriug appearance. Head, thorax and abdomen minutely 

 but very closely punctured. Mandibles broad, witb the teeth 

 on the masticatory margin minute, in certain lights longi- 

 tudinally finely striate ; clypeus convex medially, Aertically 

 carinate, its anterior margin arched; frontal area smooth and 

 shining ; antennae long and slender, the scape extending well 

 beyond the top of the head. Thorax : the constriction at the 

 meso-metanotal suture deep, the inetanotum viewed from the side 

 regularly arched. Node of the pedicel laminate, with the sides 

 and upper margin sharp, the latter scarcely arched, transverse ; 

 abdomen somewhat depi'essed, almost as broad as long. 



5 . Very similar to the g . larger ; the thorax above in some 

 specimens brownish, abdomen darker than in the ^ ; wings sub- 

 hyaline, somewhat lacteous. 



Lenfjth, ^ 5-7 ; $ 9 mm. 



Hnh. Procured at Lahoul, on the frontier of Tibet {Sage). 

 Widely spi*ead in JN'orthern and Central Europe and Northern 

 Asia. 



383. Formica ruflbarbis, Fabr. Bnt. Si/st. ii (1793), p. 355, ^; Ford, 

 J'jio: Bomb. jV. H. Soc. viii (189ij, p. 403, ^ . 

 ■;' Formica fraterua et F. defensor, S»iitlt, •2nd Yark. Miss. 1878, 

 p. 11, $ ^* 



5 . In colour very similar to F. truncicola, but less pilose, 

 having only a few scattered hairs on the abdomen and front of 

 the head. Pubescence sericeous, dense, giving the insect a much 

 more opaque look than 1\ truncicola : frontal area not shining, 

 opaque. 



2 . Closely resembles the ^ . Wings slightly more hvaline 

 than in F. truncicola. 



Lemjth, ^ 5-6 ; $ S mm. 



Hah. Himalayas over 10,000 ft. (Smijihles), Sikhim {Mollcr), 

 Lahoul, Dharmsala (Sage). Outside our limits found both in 

 Europe and Xorth America. 



Var. clara, Forel, has the head and thorax of a brighter yel- 

 lowish red. 



* Smith, I. c, also describes the following, but the description is wholly 

 insulBcient for the identification of the species he had before liim : — " Formica 

 CANDIDA. Femiiia. — F. nigra nitidissiiua ; rainidibulis, antennis. pcdihiisquc 

 rufcscentibus ; squama lata, subiriaiigidarihr, inair/ine supra rutundato. — 

 Shininjr black, the mandibles, antenna^ and legs ferruginous; the latter 

 slightly fuscous above, as are also a lew of the apical joints of the ilagelluiu 

 above. The head tlie width of the thorax ; the clypeus with a siiarp central 

 carina, the frontal ;irea semiopaque and witli a fine cinereous pile, which also 

 covers the squama, legs, and thorax on the sides and beneath. Abdomen 

 oblong-ovate, very smooth and shining, and with a sprinklinir of pale hairs at 

 the a])ex : the extreme a])e\ pale testaceous. Female, length 3i\ Imes (7 uim.). 

 — Hal). On the road across the I'aniir from .Sarikol to I'anja (April uud 



This may possibly be F. fusca, Linn., or a form of the same, or of F. gaijates, 

 Latr. 



