MYRMICA LAEVIGATA. 35 



and opake ; the apex and sides of the abdomen more or less 

 fuscous ; the metathorax not spined ; the thorax is slightly 

 strangulated between the meso- and the metathorax ; the abdo- 

 men smooth and shining. 



Male. — Nigro-fuscous and subopake ; the abdomen shining ; the 

 flagellum and legs pale testaceous ; the scape more or less fus- 

 cous ; the antennae with short pubescence ; the thorax very 

 closely and delicately punctured; the scutellum convex; the 

 wings hyaline; the nervures pale testaceous. 



I have no doubt of this ant having been imported in mer- 

 chandise ; it is the Myrmica molesta of Say : I have carefully 

 compared British specimens with others brought from North 

 America by Edward Doubleday, from Dr. Harris, and I find them 

 to be undoubtedly the same species. The Rev. Hamlet Clark 

 brought it from Rio Janeiro, and describes it as being very an- 

 noying : he found it everywhere — indoors, out of doors, and 

 upon everything. In this country it is not found except in 

 houses, where it sometimes becomes so numerous as to be very 

 annoying ; it first appears to have attracted attention from that 

 circumstance in 1828, since which it has spread widely over the 

 metropolis. It cannot be considered indigenous, but will, I ex- 

 pect, remain with us, like the Blatta orientalis. 



PHEIDOLE, Westw. 



Pheidole, Westw. Ann. Sf Mag. Nat. Hist. vi. 87 (1841). 

 Myrmica, pt., Nyl. Acldit. Alt. Mon. Form. Bor. Eur. p. 42. 

 (Ecophthora, Heer, Ueber die Hausameise Madeira's (1852). 



Labial palpi 2-jointed ; maxillary palpi 2-jointed ; club of the 

 antennae 3-jointed ; worker major with the head very large, of 

 moderate size in the small worker ; antennae 1 2-jointed in the 

 workers and female ; wings with two submarginal cells and one 

 discoidal cell. 



14. Myrmica (Pheidole) laevigata. 



Operaria. — Rufo-testacea, laevis, tota nitidissima, nuda ; mandi- 



bulis, antennis, pedum articulis tarsisque pallescentibus ; nodo 



prirao angusto ; metathoracis spinis minutissimis. 



Myrmica pallidula, Nyl. Addit. Alt. Mon. Form. Bor. p. 42 ? 

 (Ecophthora pallidula, Mayr, Form.. Austr. p. 183 ? 

 Myrmica laevigata, Smith, Mon. Brit. Form. p. 130. 



Worker. — Rufo-testaceous ; the mandibles, antennae, articula- 



