FOBMICA. 335 



shimmering appearance. Head, thorax and abdomen minutely 

 but very closely punctured. Mandibles broad, with the teeth 

 on the masticatory margin minute, in certain lights longi- 

 tudinally finely striate ; clypeus convex medially, vertically 

 carinate, its anterior margin arched; frontal area smooth aud 

 shining ; antennae long and slender, the scape extending well 

 beyond the top of the head. Thorax: the constriction at the 

 meso-metanotal suture deep, the metanotum viewed from the side 

 regularly arched. Node of the pedicel laminate, with the sides 

 and upper margin sharp, the latter scarcely arched, transverse ; 

 abdomen somewhat depressed, almost as broad as long. 



$ . Very similar to the , larger ; the thorax above in some 

 specimens brownish, abdomen darker than in the $ ; wings sub- 

 hyaline, somewhat lacteous. 



Length, 5-7 ; $ 9 mm. 



Hab. Procured at Lahoul, on the frontier of Tibet (Sage). 

 Widely spread in Northern and Central Europe and Northern 

 Asia. 



383. Formica rnfibarbis, Fabr. Ent. Syst. ii (1793), p. 355, ; Ford, 



Jour. Bomb. N. H. Soc. viii (1894;, p. 403, . 

 ? Formica fraterna et F. defensor, Smith, 2nd Yark. Miss. 1878, 

 p. 11, *. 



. In colour very similar to F. truncicola, but less pilose, 

 having only a few scattered hairs on the abdomen and front of 

 the head. Pubescence sericeous, dense, giving the insect a much 

 more opaque look than F. truncicola; frontal area not shining, 

 opaque. 



$ . Closely resembles the . Wings slightly more hyaline 

 than in F. truncicola. 



Length, $ 5-6 ; $ 8 mm. 



Hab. Himalayas over 10,000 ft. (Smylhies), Sikhim (Moller), 

 Lahoul, Dharmsala (Sage). Outside our limits found both in 

 Europe and North America. 



Var. clara, Forel, has the head and thorax of a brighter yel- 

 lowish red. 



* Smith, I. c., also describes the following, but the description is wholly 

 insufficient for the identificat.on of the species he had before him :- 

 CANDIDA Femina.F. nigra nitidis&ima ; mandibuhs, aniennts, pedtbusyue 

 rufescwtibus ; squama lata, subtriangulariter, margine wpra rotundato 

 Shining black, the mandibles, antenna- and legs ferruginous ; the latter 

 slightly fuscous above, as are also a few of the apical joint* ot the flagelluu. 

 above " The head the width of the thorax ; the dypeus with a sharp central 

 carina, the frontal area seimopaque and with a One cinereous pile, which 

 covers the squama, lega. and thorax on the s.des and beneath Abdomen 

 oblong-ovate, q very .mJrth and shining, and with a sprmklmg of pale hair* at 

 the apex ; the extreme apex pale testaceous. Female, length i 3 1 lines (< mm.) 

 -HA. On the road across the Pamir from Bankol to Panja (April and 



M Thi's may possibly be F. fusca, Linn., or a form of the same, or of F. gagatc*, 

 Latr. 



