Species of British Formicidee. 129 



having a broad rufo-testaceous fascia ; sometimes the following 

 segment rufo-testaceoiis. 



I have not captured the male of this species ; the diagnosis is 

 from a specimen sent to me by M. Mayr of Vienna, and from the 

 only British example which I have seen in Mr. Dale's collection ; 

 the species is rare. I have usually taken it in winter in moss, 

 but once met with a colony in some decayed wood, and cap- 

 tured several females ; this was nearly twenty years ago, in 

 Colney Hatch Wood, since which I have not found it. The late 

 Mr. Wing found a colony at Lambeth, and Mr. Dale has taken 

 it in the New Forest and at Lulworth; he has also captured the 

 male, which I suspect to be the Stenamma alb'ipcnn'is. The 

 species very closely resembles the ^[. ivuscorum of Nylander, 

 which species is more strongly sculptured, and the thorax longer 

 and more deeply strangulated. The male has scarcely the slightest 

 trace of neuration in the wings. 



Sp. 12. Myrmica s'lm'iUhna. 



Opcraria. — Rufo-pallida, abdoniine fuscescente, basi pallido ; capite 

 longitudinaliter striolato ; thorace longitudinaliter striatim-ru- 

 guloso ; metathorace spinis parvis acutis dentiformibus. 



Mijrmka similllma, Nyland. MSS. ; Smith, Cat. Brit. Hym., 

 p. IIS; Curtis, Trans. Linn. Soc, xxi. 

 216, 10. 

 Worker. — Length | line. Head, thorax and nodes of the 

 abdomen rufo-testaceous; the mandibles, flagellum and legs 

 pale flavo-testaceons ; abdomen shining, rufo-fuscous, pale at 

 the base and extreme apex ; head longitudinally strigose ; an- 

 tennae 12-jointed. Tiiorax above rugose-striate ; nearly trans- 

 verse anteriorly or very slightly rounded, the angles acute, the 

 usual divisional suture between the meso- and metathorax obso- 

 lete ; the sides are doubly notched ; the metathoracic spines short, 

 dentiform and acute ; the thorax is gradually narrowed towards 

 the metathorax, which is truncate at the apex. Abdomen highly 

 polished, and more or less rufo-fuscous, varying a little in different 

 individuals; the nodes are finely rugose, the first being the most 

 coarsely so. The entire insect is very thinly sprinkled with short 

 erect pale hairs, most apparent on the abdomen at its apex. 



I received this insect some years ago from Mr. Dale, who in- 

 formed me that he had found them near his house git Glanvilles 

 Wootton, Dorsetshire. It is closely allied to M. t it be rum ; indeed 

 I had considered it to be that species, and as such had included 



VOL. III. N. S. PART IV. — APR. 1855. K 



