No. 22.] HYMENOPTERA OF CONNECTICUT. 59I 



Brachymyrmex Mayr. 



B. heeri depilis Emery. 



The smallest of the New England ants. It nests under stones 

 in shady woods and has habits similar to those of Lasius. It at- 

 tends root Coccidse. The males and winged females make their 

 appearance about the middle of August. 



Colebrook (W. M.W.). 



Prenolepis Mayr. 



P. imparis Say. 



I have not found this ant in the Litchfield Hills. It makes 

 small crater nests in shady oak woods in soil usually containing 

 more or less clay. The workers visit trees for the purpose of 

 attending aphids, obtaining the secretion of extrafloral nectaries, 

 etc. After imbibing these liquids, the gaster often becomes so 

 distended that it is four or five times its normal size and the 

 insects walk with difficulty. In this replete condition imparis 

 workers may be said to represent a temporary stage of the more 

 extraordinary enlargement of the gaster seen in the honey ants 

 (Myrmecocystus) of the Southwestern States and Mexico. The 

 males and females of imparis often pass the winter in the 

 parental nest and celebrate their nuptial flight early in the spring. 



New Haven, Yalesville (H. L. V.) ; Branford (H. W. W.) ; 

 New Haven (W. E. B.). 



P. imparis var. minuta Emery. 



Differs from the preceding merely in the smaller size of the 

 worker. It is probably not a true variety but merely a nest 

 variation (incipient colony form). 



New Haven, Yalesville (H. L. V.). 



Subgenus Nylanderia. 



P. (N.) parvula Mayr. 



Undoubtedly occurs in southern Connecticut. I have taken it 

 as far east as Mamaroneck and Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y., but 

 have never been able to find it in the Litchfield Hills. 



Lasius Fabricius. 

 Key to Species. 



1. Maxillary palpi 6-jointed (Lasius s. str.) 2 



Maxillary palpi 3-jointed (subgenus Acanthomyops) 7 



