1888.] (51 



ANOCHETUS GHILIANII, SPIN., $? 

 BY EDWARD SATJNDEKS, P.L.S. 



Hitherto only workers o£ this curious ant have been known, and 

 they have occurred but rarely. Mr. Walker, however, as recorded on 

 p. 17 of the current volume of this Magazine, took it in some numbers 

 both at Tangier and Gibraltar, but also only in the worker sex. Mr. 

 Geo. Lewis, while at Tangier, had the good fortune also to meet with 

 it, and obtained some large specimens with unusually long bodies, 

 which he took- to be females ; of these, he tells me, he found one, as a 

 rule, in each nest, and on one occasion only three. He kindly gave 

 me the specimens, and, on examination, finding the ocelli distinctly 

 visible, whereas in the worker they are absent, I felt little doubt that 

 they were true females, although they appeared to differ from the 

 worker in nothing else but size. I communicated one to Dr. Emery, 

 of Bologna, and he writes that he doubts if it can be called a true 

 female : that he knows the female of A. Mayri (a neotropical species), 

 and that that has rudimentary wings, and he would rather suggest that 

 these may belong to a form intermediate between the worker and 

 female, and adds that he thinks it possible that the true female may 

 not exist. At any rate, the discovery is one of great interest, for 

 which we are much indebted to Mr. Lewis. 



As little is known of the habits of this strange creature, I add 

 some remarks communicated to me by Mr. Lewis : — " The Anochetus 

 constructs galleries under stones on the stiff clay slopes behind the 

 town of Tangier (the slopes which are noted for the Very remarkable 

 beetle fauna found on them). The communities are not large, and are 

 found generally on one side of a stone near the edge ; often another 

 species of ant occupies another part of the under surface. The ants 

 are sluggish, like Ponera, and they lie close together, so that five or 

 six may be taken on a wetted finger. The female was rare in March 

 and April, and I usually only saw one in a nest, but once I saw three. 

 The females are noticeable at once by the length of the abdomen. I 

 think I took nearly all the females I baw, and you have them all. 

 I have never seen any larvae, and, therefore, cannot judge whether the 

 Histeridce go after them. The curious form of the species attracted 

 my attention, but I did not know it was of special interest to any one 

 until "Walker told me when I saw him at Gibraltar." 



St. Ann's, Mount Hermon, Woking : 

 July IQth, 1888. 



