KAMILIFB OF HKTKKfXIYNA. 98 



lef»s numerourt, j)()sser<.sing wiiigrt and arc produced only for the propa- 

 gation of their s|)e('ie!<. * * * Thtw instH'ts have attracted the 

 attention of the observers of Nature from tlie earliest time; and 

 their untiring exertions for the welfare of the community, their de- 

 votion to the young and their carefulness in the collection and storing 

 up of various materials, have led to their being regarded ai§ examples 

 of surprising instinctive foresight." ( Westwood). 



While considerable has been ])ublished concerning the habits of 

 certain of our sj)ecies, the scientific study of these most interesting 

 creatures has been sadly neglected, owing doubtless to the want of a 

 knowledge of generic characters, which have nowhere, until now, 

 been tabulated in the English language ; these tables, however, in 

 consequence of the neglect of the study and the ignorance existing 

 concerning our sjiecies, nnist necessarily l)e very incomplete. The 

 c(»llection of the American Entomological Society, so rich in most of 

 the other series, is exceedingly meagre in this, and it is notorious that 

 in the many collections sent in, from time to time, for determination, 

 very few ants are re{)resented and then only the most common, which 

 may be partly accounted for by the fact that as a majority of the 

 species are subterranean in their habits and of small size, they are 

 apt to escape the nt)tice of collectors. 



The series is characterized by the petiole of the abdomen having 

 (me or more scales, or nodes, and the societies consisting of three 

 sexes, males, females and workers. It is divisable into five families, 

 in the following manner: • 



Table of Families. 



Petiole with a single joint. 

 Abdomen proper (not including petiole) not constricted between segments 1 

 and 2. 

 Insertion of the mandibles distant. 

 (Hypeus always distinct and often very large; frontal crest more or less 

 long, not surrounding the iu.sertion of the autennse ; petiole almost 



always surmounted by an erect scale ...FORMICID.ffi. 



Clypeus very small or even indistinct ; frontal crest very short, surround- 

 ing the insertion of the antennae in front ; petiole depressed, nodi- 

 fonu ; % large, with the abdomen long and cj'lindrical : 9 imd J 

 not positively known, the former probably larviform.DORYL.ID.ffi. 

 Insertion of the mandibles contiguous or nearly so ( J 9 )• 



ODONTOMACHID-ffi. 



Abdomen proper constricted between segments 1 and 2 PONERID.ffi. 



Petiole composed of two joints MYRMICID^. 



