i6o 



HYMENOPTERA 



CHAP. 



was declared by Nylander and Smith to be its male ; it was 

 however shown some years ago by Andre that this is a mistake, 

 and that S. westwoodi is really the male of another ant that 

 had till then been called Asemorhoptrum lippidnm. This correc- 

 tion left the workers and females of Formicoxenus nitidalux 

 destitute of a male, but Adlerz has recently discovered that the 

 male of this species is wingless and similar to the worker, the 

 female being a winged Insect as usual. It is very curious that 

 the characters by which the male is distinguished from the 

 worker should vary in this species ; but according to Adlerz this 

 is the case, individuals intermediate in several points between 

 the males and workers having been discovered. This pheno- 

 menon of quite wingless males in species where the female is 

 winged is most exceptional, and is extremely rare in Insects ; but 

 it occurs, as we shall see, in one or two other Myrmicides. Charles 



Darwin made the very 

 reasonable suggestion 

 that winged males may 

 be developed occasion- 

 ally as an exceptional 

 phenomenon, and it is 

 very probable that this 

 may be the case, though 

 it has not yet been 

 demonstrated. Formi- 

 coxenus nitidulus occurs 

 in England in the nests 

 of Formica n/fa and of 

 F. congerens, but we 

 are not aware that the 

 male has ever been 



FIG. 69. A nergates atratulus. Europe. A. male, with found ill this country. 

 part of hind leg broken off ; B, female, with wings-: C, T , Avevrinte* i<? 



female, after casting the wings and becoming a queen. 



allied to Formicoxenus, 



and occurs in Central Europe, but has not been found in Britain ; 

 the female, as in Formicoxenus, is winged and the male wingless, 

 but there is no worker-caste ; the male is a rather helpless creature, 

 and incapable of leaving the nest. The species lives in company 

 with Tetriuiio riii in caespitum, a little ant very like Mi/rinica, and not 

 uncommon in South-East England. The female Aner gates is at 



