274 Mr. F. Smith's Revision of 



XX. Revision of an Essay on the British Formicidae, 

 published in the Transactions of the Society. By 

 Frederick Smith, Esq. 



[Read 7 th Dec. 1867.] 



Since the publication of my first " Essay on the British For- 

 micidae," several additional species have been discovered, and 

 much interesting information obtained ; it therefore appeared to 

 me to be desirable that a revised list should be laid before the 

 Society. Two important works on the Ants of Europe have 

 also appeared — first, "The Ants of Austria," by Dr. Mayr : and, 

 subsequently, a "Synopsis of the Ants of France and Algeria," 

 by Dr. Nylander ; both these works are of the highest entomo- 

 logical excellence. I have adopted the divisions into which Dr. 

 Mayr has divided the genus Myrmica, this will very greatly 

 facilitate the discrimination of the species. 



In my former paper I particularly alluded to the fact of various 

 Coleoptera being found in the nests of Ants, and I enumerated 

 several species of the genera Myrmedonia, Lomechusa and Claviger ; 

 I also recorded the discovery of a specimen of Batrisus, which 

 I at that time supposed to be the Batrisus formicarius, I have 

 since ascertained that it is the B. venustus ; since the publication 

 of my observations on these Myrmecophilous Beetles a long list 

 of rarities has appeared. 



Mr. Janson has given a powerful stimulus to our researches by 

 his observations and instructions published in the Entomologist's 

 Annual for 1857; his researches however were confined to five 

 species, and there are five times that number of ants in this 

 country, therefore much has yet to be done. I would particularly 

 direct attention to the nests of F. sanguinea and F. cunicvlaria : 

 the former is not uncommon at Weybridge and in the neighbour- 

 hood of Blackwater, Hants. F. cunicularia is to be found on Hamp- 

 stead Heath and in many places in the neighbourhood of London. 



The connection between the Ant and the Beetle still remains a 

 mystery, although I have lost no opportunity of endeavouring to 

 penetrate and unravel the history for some years past, and have 



