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XV. Essay on the Genera and Species of British Formicidce. 

 By Frederick Smith, Esq. 



[Read December 4th, 1854.] 



In offering the present Essay to the notice of the Entomological 

 Society, I beg that it may be considered as an attempt to form a 

 correct census of the number of indigenous species of Ants ; this 

 family of insects has hitherto obtained so small a share of inde- 

 fatigable research, that it will be evident, the present list must 

 not be considered as one which approaches a complete Fauna, but 

 which embodies descriptions m.erely of all the present known species 

 inhabiting Great Britain. Every care has been bestowed upon their 

 identification with the species described by Nylander, Foerster, 

 and others ; and, in most instances, aided by a comparison with 

 typical specimens presented by those eminent Entomologists to 

 the author : possessing these valuable and most efficient aids, I 

 present the following Essay with a greater degree of confidence 

 than I otherwise could have assumed. 



Tribe HETEROGYNA. 

 Family FORMICID/E. 



The FormiciJcs, or Ants, is composed of a large group of in- 

 sects, probably exceeding in the number of its species that of any 

 family of Hymenoptera : the Ichneumoiiidce alone, in my opinion, 

 may probably equal it. It is true that the known British species 

 are few in number, for the metropolis of these insects lays in the 

 tropics, from whence they appear to diverge, gradually becoming 

 less numerous as they approach the frigid regions of the arctic 

 circle. The number of species which inhabit the New World, if we 

 may form a calculation from the observations of an intelligent and 

 indefatigable Naturalist, Mr. W. H. Bates, must, as he justly ob- 

 serves, " exceed all that can be reasonably imagined ;" for he con- 

 tinues, "I think it will reach the number of 400 species in the 

 the Valley of the Amazons alone ; there appears to be a distinct 

 species of Myrmica in every twig and stem in the woods." If 

 f uch be the case in so limited a district, what must be the number 

 when those which inhabit the vast lands of Africa, India, Southern 

 Europe, and the remaining portions, South and North America, 



