List of a Small Collection of Ants (Formicidae) obtained 

 IN Queen's County, Nova Scotia, by the late Walter 

 H. Prest. — By Harry Piers, Curator of the Provincial 

 Museum, Halifax, N. S. 



(Presented 26 May. 1922) 



The names, distribution and relative abundance of even 

 the commoner species of Ants occurring in Nova Scotia, are, I 

 believe, practically unknown. It is therefore advisable to 

 publish a short list of a few forms which the late Walter Henry 

 Prest, of Halifax, was able to gather during a single month's 

 field work shortly before his death. Everything pertaining 

 to the Ant fauna of the province is of interest in connection 

 with the general geographical distribution of these insects. 



Mr. Prest, when a lad living at Moose River, Halifax County, 

 became much interested in the Ants which he found in his home 

 district, and he made extensive notes on their habits as he ob- 

 served them. Having no descriptive works with which he 

 might identify the various forms he met with, in fact possessing 

 no books at all on the subject, he gave the various kinds tenta- 

 tive designations of his own, under which he classified his 

 records. 



In later years he specialized in the study of geology, and 

 became widely known as a particularly well-informed student of 

 and writer on the Gold Measures and pleistocene geology of 

 Nova Scotia, in which subjects he was recognized as quite an 

 authority. During these years his youthful studies of Ants 

 were laid aside but not forgotten. The subject was taken up 

 with revived interest in the summer and autumn of 1919, when 

 he did some collecting at Pleasantfield, Queen's County, and 

 about Halifax. Hearing from him of his interest in this neg- 

 lected subject, I strongly urged him to collect and study all the 

 forms he might meet with; and as books were not available to 

 assist in questions of ^identification, I suggested that he send 

 what he collected to Prof. William Morton Wheeler, of the 

 Bussey Institution, Forest Hills, Boston, Mass., who is now 

 the foremost authority on this family of insects in North 

 America, and that he himself should make notes on his observa- 

 tions on all the specimens obtained, with the view of publish- 

 ing something on the subject when sufficient material had 

 accumulated. 



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