FORMICA, 305 



striction between mesonotum and epinotum shallow ;" epinotum horizontal 

 above and sloping at the base, both surfaces when seen in profile straight, 

 and forming a distinct angle at their juncture. Scale rounded, gaster small. 

 Long. 3- 8-6- 8 mm. 



Black somewhat shining, legs and antennae darker or lighter reddish brown. 

 I possess a specimen from Scotland in which the mandibles, scapes, and legs are 

 clear yellow. The colour and pubescence is much as in the worker. 



Head, without mandibles, about as broad as long, somewhat rugosely 

 punctured, the sculpture being rough and close, but formed of distinct, close 

 punctures, without small scattered punctures ; clypeus entire, carinate ; 

 frontal area dull and punctured. Thorax broader than head, with very sparse 

 hairs, somewhat pubescent ; mesonotum distinctly punctured, especially 

 anteriorly, alutaceous between the punctures, with some scattered larger, 

 and small, punctures ; scutellum nearly smooth in centre, punctured at 

 sides, somewhat shining. Scale broader than in the ty, rounded ; gaster 

 almost without hairs except the bristles on the margins of the segments, 

 distinctly punctured and pubescent. Wings slightly yellowish, pterostigma 

 brown. Long. 7-10-6 mm. 



$ Black, scapes dark brown, tips of mandibles brownish yellow, legs and 

 genitalia yellow, last joint of tarsi, and femora sometimes darker. 



Head narrowed anteriorly, broad posteriorly ; clypeus entire, convex, 

 carinate ; frontal area dull, punctured. Thorax broader than the head, 

 with very sparse, short black hairs ; mesonotum dull, closely punctured. 

 Scale not or only slightly and widely emarginate at apex, glabrous ; gaster 

 long, narrow, shining, very finely punctured, with short, close pubescence, 

 but without outstanding hairs. Wings greyish, a little darker than in the 

 $. Long. 7-8-5 mm. 



Original description of Formica fusca Linnaeus [Syst. Nat. Ed. 

 10 1 580 (1758)] : 



" F. cinereo-fusca, tibiis pallidis. 



Fn. suec. 1022. Formica fusca. 



Raj. ins. 69. Formica media, nigro colore splendens. 



Habitat in Europae terra sabulosa." 



Habitat. 



Formica fusca is widely distributed through North and Central 

 Eurasia ; but in Southern Europe occurs only in mountainous 

 country, and there often at considerable elevations (up to 2400 

 metres in the Alps, according to Forel). This form is also widely 

 distributed through Boreal America. Wheeler states that on care- 

 ful examination he is unable to detect any important differences 

 between the form which he described as the var. glacialis from 

 Maine and the true European fusca. The wings of the males and 

 females in the American form are perhaps slightly darker, but the 

 tint is variable in European specimens. The sculpture, colour, and 

 pubescence are identical in the two forms. The specimens from 

 Newfoundland, including in all probability those from St. Pierre 

 and Miquelon, Newfoundland, mentioned by Emery [Zool. Jahrb. 

 Syst. 7 660 (1893)], and the specimens from Nova Scotia and New 

 Brunswick agree very closely with the co-types from Maine. The 

 western forms are often a little more like subsericea in pubescence 



