304 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Nylander finds the males and females dm-ing the month of July ; 

 so that, making an allowance for difference of latitude, we 

 may safely conclude, I imagine, that the latter end of May or 

 during the month of June would be the season for those 

 sexes ; in fact their appearance would be simultaneous with 

 those of our common wood-ant (Formica rufa). At Bourne- 

 mouth, F. congerens takes the place of F. rufa: I did not 

 observe a single nest of the latter ant : these species very 

 closely resemble each other, the workers being difficult to 

 separate, but the males and females are readily distinguished : 

 a few females still occasionally appeared during the month 

 of August, and these are at once known from the same sex of 

 F. rufa by their abdomen being opaque black, that part of 

 the body being highly polished and shining in F. rufa. F. 

 aliena of Foerster is also found here, and by no means un- 

 commonly : this species belongs to the burrowing section of 

 ants : it constructs subterranean galleries, and excavated 

 roads or tunnels, branching off from the nest in all directions ; 

 these tunnels have numerous outlets, from whence the ants 

 are to be seen constantly issuing, running with great rapidity 

 from one outlet to another. This ant closely resembles the 

 common garden ant (F. nigra), but it is very distinct; its 

 habit is different ; it is smaller, runs with much greater velo- 

 city, and differs in other particulars from the more generally 

 distributed F. nigra. F. aliena is not uncommon on the sand 

 hills at Deal, on the cliffs at Bournemouth, and, I apprehend, 

 on most of the large commons throughout Hampshire, Kent 

 and Surrey. F. cunicularia is very plentiful here, as are also 

 F. fusca, F. umbrata and F. flava ; but I have not detected 

 either F. rufa, F. sanguinea or F. fuliginosa. Tapinona erra- 

 tica is very common ; it is found in small communities on 

 bare spots on open commons : these spots it appears to 

 prefer, particularly those situations where the turf has been 

 recently cut : it is a burrowing ant, very active, but, as far 

 as I observed its habit, makes no attack when its communi- 

 ties are disturbed. Of Myrmicidse, only the commoner spe- 

 cies have yet been detected ; but 1 may observe upon the 

 immense number of nests that are to be found of Leptothorax 

 Acervorum : this minute ant is found in every situation, — in 

 the woods, in stumps of felled fir trees, in banks, on the 

 cliffs, on open commons, in fact in all conceivable situations: 



