WHEELER: ANTS OF THE GENUS FORMICA. 501 
Connecticut: Suffield (Geo. Dimmock); Branford, Cheshire, Mt. 
Carmel, New Haven (H. L. Viereck); New Haven, Salisbury 
(W. E. Britton); Cromwell, Hartford (A. Forel); Winsted, Norfolk, 
Colebrook (Wheeler). 
Rhode Island: Providence (Davis). 
Massachusetts: Sherborn, Wellesley, Andover (A. P. Morse); 
Essex County, Mt. Tom, Springfield (G. B. King); Springfield 
(J. A. Allen); Arlington, Cambridge (Mus. Comp. Zodl.); Readville, 
Woods Hole, Boston (Wheeler); Medford (W. H. Dall). 
New Hampshire: Holderness (A. P. Morse); Canobie Lake, West 
Ossipie (G. B. King); Mt. Moosilauke, 1,700 ft. (Wheeler). 
Vermont: Hyde Park. 
Maine: South Harpswell, Sebascoegan Island, Casco Bay (Wheeler). 
Nova Scotia: Digby (J. Russell). 
Ontario: Toronto (R. J. Crew); Ottawa (Centr. Exper. Farms Coll.) ; 
Guelph, Port Stanley (W. H. Wright). 
This is the most abundant Formica in temperate North America 
and one of the most abundant insects, next to Lasius niger var. ameri- 
canus, at least in the Eastern United States. Its colonies, which are 
often rather large, nest in sunny places under stones or in low flat 
“beds,” or mounds, often a meter or more in diameter. Owing to 
its great abundance, it is the favorite host of the Nearctic forms of the 
sanguinea, rufa, and exsecta groups. It is a very cowardly ant and 
rarely resents disturbance of its nests unless it happens to be acting 
as the “slave,” or auxiliary of sanguinea. Although the pure form of 
subsericea may be readily recognized, there occur forms which in 
sculpture and pilosity connect it with the true fusca and with the 
varieties subaenescens and argentea, and the workers of such forms are 
not always easy to identify. 
85. F. FUSCA FUSCA var. ARGENTEA Wheeler. 
F. fusca var. argentata Wheeler, Amer. nat., 1902, 36, p. 952, nota 8; Ants, 
1910, p. 570. 
F. fusca var. argentea, nom. nov. Wheeler, Psyche, 1912, 19, p. 90. 
Worker. Length 4-7 mm. 
Closely related to the var. subsericea but differing in the somewhat 
more slender body, longer legs, in the character of the pubescence, and 
in color. The pubescence is more glistening white and denser, so 
that the whole body has a silvery luster. The body is dark reddish 
brown or brownish black, instead of black, the mandibles, corners of 
