HONEY .INTS. 49 



Blake even asserts that ' the intestine of the insect i3 

 not continued beyond the thorax,' which must surely be 

 a misprint; and also that there is no connexion between 

 the stomach and the intestine ! These statements, 

 however, are entirely erroneous ; and, as M. Forel has 

 shown, the abdomen does really contain the usual 

 organs, which, however, are very easily overlooked by 

 the side of the gigantic crop. 



I have therefore been much interested in receiving 

 a second species of ant, which has been sent me by 

 Mr. Waller, in which a similar habit has been evolved 

 and a similar modification has been produced. The two 

 species, however, are very distinct, belonging to totally 

 different genera ; and the former is a native of Mexico, 

 while the one now described comes from Adelaide in 

 Australia. The two species, therefore, cannot be de- 

 scended one from the other ; and the conclusion seems 

 inevitable that the modification has originated inde- 

 pendently in the two species,^ 



It is interesting that, although these specimens 

 apparently never leave the nest, and have little use 

 therefore for legs, mandibles, &c., the modifications 

 which they have undergone seem almost confined to 

 the abdominal portion of the digestive organs. The 

 head and thorax, antennae, jaws, legs, &c., differ but 

 little from those of ordinary anta. 



' I have since received another species from Australia with th« 

 same peculiarity. 



£ 



