Species of British JFormicida:. 99 



insects, living in societies, consisting of males, females, and 

 workers — the males and females winged, the latter only tempo- 

 rarily so : the workers being divided into two classes, one consisting 

 of labourers, which are exclusively occupied in the formation of 

 the nests, or in feeding the young brood ; the second division con- 

 sists of soldiers or guards, these not only defend the citadel from 

 the attacks of other insects, but also in some species capture 

 and make slaves of others : the only one which does so in this 

 country being the Formica sanguinea, which is very abundant 

 in Hampshire, where 1 once witnessed an attack upon a nest of 

 Formica fusca — workers and pupae were both carried off by the 

 sanguine Ants. On examining a colony of this species, I found 

 workers of F. fusca, F. flava, and a few individuals of Myrmica 

 rubra, all living in community. 



Although the Formicidce have been divided into sections, each 

 composed of societies which follow one habit of economy — as 

 mining-Ants, timber-Ants, mason-Ants, &c. — still each species is 

 constantly found under different phases of habit ; the wood-Ant 

 will be found in a decayed tree, or, as I have observed it, in a turf 

 bank : but these deviations are not frequent in this species, which 

 is one of the most constant in habit. The jet-ant, F. fuliginosa, is 

 also very constant in forming its habitation in decaying trees, but 

 this also I have found excavating its galleries in a sand-bank ; 

 such deviations give us opportunities of extending our admiration 

 of the wonderful ingenuity constantly shown by these insects, in 

 adapting their habits to the circumstances into which accident 

 sometimes throws them. 



Genus Formica. 



The maxillary palpi 6-jointed ; the labial palpi 4-jointed. An- 

 tennce, the scape elongate, usually more than two-thirds of the 

 length of the flagellum : the flagellum 12-jointed in the females 

 and workers, IS-jointed in the males ; the scape in the male 

 not quite half the length of the flagellum ; eyes lateral, ovate ; 

 ocelli 3 in a triangle. Males and females winged, constant in 

 the former, temporary in the latter sex ; the superior wings 

 having one marginal, one submarginal, and one discoidal cell ; 

 eyes of the males large and prominent, genital organs exserted. 

 Abdomen composed of 6 segments in the females and workers, 

 and of 7 in the males, the first segment in all the sexes forming 

 a flattened scale : jieither of the sexes furnished with a sting. 



The pupa enclosed in a silken cocoon spun by the larva. 



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