The Ants of the Baltic Amber. 



121 



B 18728, XXB 790, B 8234, B 18448, XXB 1543, XXB 1358, B 18485, 

 XXB 1238, B 18387, B 18237, XXB 1037, XXB 465, B 19504, XXB 465, 

 XXB 799, B 19423, B 18904, XXB 37, B 1H536, B 18684, B 19063, 

 B5117, B 993, etc.), 99 workers, one female and 2 males in the 

 Klebs Coll. (K 1082, K 1042, K 4260, K 2638, a 24, « 9, « 96, K 3706. 

 «118, K819, K5766, K 4240, K4291, K3711, « 154, etc.), 2 workers 

 in the Brussels Museum (220 and 228), 2 workers in the Berlin Museum 

 (260 and 262) and 9 workers and 5 males in the Haren Coll. (7, 441, 

 926, 927, 781, 1841, 1650, 1570, 1978, 2427, 2425, etc.). In addition 

 to these I have also seen 76 of the 82 specimens mentioned by Mayk 

 as preserved in the Phys.-Oec. Soc. Koenigsberg Coll. Of the female 

 and male only single specimens were recorded by Mayr (629 and 6.')0|. 

 I have not been able to find the former specimen in the material 

 sent to me, as the slide numbered 10236/629 and labelled „Lasms 

 schiefferdeckeri Mayk. $ " bears a worker specimen instead. 



I have seen both the larva and worker pupse of L. schieffer- 

 deckeri. The block B 5458 contains 2 workers and a larva and there 

 are 3 blocks (B 78 646 and 2 without numbers) each containing a worker 

 pupa, enveloped in its cocoon, which is small and broadly elliptical 

 like the cocoons of our recent Lasii. 



Mayr called attention to the close resemblance of L. schieffer- 

 deckeri to the recent L. niger L., which is represented in Europe, 

 northern Asia and North America by a number of varieties {niger sens. 

 stv.^emarginatuSfameri- 

 canus, alienus, neoniger 

 etc.). The amber form 

 is smaller in all three 

 phases and less pilose 

 than the typical niger 

 and thus approach- 

 es the vars. alienus 

 and americanus more 

 closely, although the 

 females of these forms 

 are larger. Mayr is 

 probably right in re- 

 garding the amber 

 species as the ancestor 

 of the existing niger, 

 and the recent varieties 

 of the amber species, 



Fig. 58. Lashts schiefferdeckeri Mayr. Worker, bearing 

 a parasitic mite on the left hind tibia. B 5345. 



as already foreshadowed in the fluctuation 

 which varies considerably in size, pilosity 



