FORMICA NIGRA. 



13 



Formica nigra, Linn. Faun. Suec. p. 427, 1723; Syst. Nat. i. 

 963.4. 



Scop. Ent. Cam. p. 834. 



Fabr. Syst. Ent. 392. 6 ; Ent. Syst. ii. 352. 10 



Losana, Form. Piem. 317. 11. 



Latr. Hist. Nat. Fourm. 156. 



St. Fary. Hym. i. 206. 7- 



Nyland. Adno. Mon. Form. Bor. 920. 16; Form. Fr. et 

 d' Alger. 67. 24. 



Schenck, Beschr. Nass. Ameis. 49. 



Smith, Brit. Form. p. 109. 8. 



Mayr. Form. Austr. p. 83. 20. 

 Lasius niger, Fabr. Syst. Piez. 415. 1. 

 Formica fusca, Foerst. Hym. Stud. Form. p. 83. 



Female. Length 3|-4 lines. — Fuscous, and covered with shining 

 silky cinereous pile ; the mandibles, anterior margins of the face, 

 the flagellum, articulations of the legs and the tarsi pale testa- 

 ceous ; head narrower than the thorax, the latter as well as the 

 scutellum smooth and shining above ; wings milky-white and 

 iridescent, the nervures yellow-testaceous. Abdomen oblong- 

 ovate, the scale emargiuate above, the lateral angles rounded, 

 the sides nearly straight. 



Worker. Length H-2 lines. — Of the same colour as the fe- 

 male ; the ocelli very minute ; the scale of the petiole very 

 minutely notched above ; the thorax usually fusco-testaceous ; 

 the margins of the apical segments of the abdomen slightly 

 ciliated with short pale glittering hairs. 



Male. Length 1J-2 lines. — Dark fuscous; the antennae and 

 legs pale rufo-testaceous ; a distinctly impressed line before 

 the anterior ocellus ; the scape and the tibiae slightly pubes- 

 cent ; the scale of the petiole small and very slightly emarginate 

 above ; wings as in the female, but frequently having the dis- 

 coidal cell obsolete. 



This is a most abundant species, and is found everywhere ; 

 it is plentiful even in London gardens and squares, and is com- 

 monly known as the Garden-ant ; although its usual habit is to 

 build in banks, it is frequently found in walls of gardens and out- 

 houses. In the month of September 1855, I observed at Dover 

 immense clouds of this ant passing over the town towards the 

 sea ; and subsequently, on passing along the beach, I observed 

 a line of their floating bodies extending from the town at least 

 a mile towards St. Margaret's — the line consisted of males and 

 females, and was about a yard broad. 



