Mar., 1908.] Proceedings of the Society. 57 



far south as the Equator and they are of wide distribution. This genus can be sepa- 

 rated into five groups, all of which are found in North America. These groups cen- 

 ter about F. sangninea, exsecta, rufa, pallidefulva and fusca. The genus appa- 

 rently originated in the Rocky Mountains, probably in Colorado as the species 

 belonging to it are found there in greatest number and variety. It is unfor- 

 tunate therefore that the European forms should have been known and described 

 before those of America, as they are probably only varieties of the latter. The con- 

 sideration of the different groups is interesting because of the differences in haliit. 

 The sanguined group represented by the well-known sanguined form of Europe, 

 which differs slightly from our own, includes a number of distinct species and the 

 commonest form with us is rubicunda. The ants belonging in this group can be dis- 

 tinguished by the distinctly notched clypeus. The exsecta group is represented by 

 the European exsecta. In this division the clypeus is entire but the posterior margin 

 of the head is incised and the species have the habit of cutting off the heads of their 

 foes. The rufa group is represented by rufa and a few other forms in Europe and 

 many forms in this country and could be again divided into smaller groups. Rufa 

 forms are exceedingly abundant in Colorado ; and in the Rocky Mountains in general, 

 at an altitude of between 7,000 and 9,000 feet. Some of these forms very closely 

 resemble the European rufa, pratensis and truncicola. The pallidefulva group 

 which is recognized by the very slender thorax and the small colonies is not repre- 

 sented in Europe. F. schaufussi is the common species of this division and it is 

 widely distributed in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. The fusca group 

 is the most widely distributed of all and is represented throughout the northern 

 hemisphere. It is represented in Alaska and in Colorado in the mountains up to an 

 altitude of 1 2,000 ft. In the west fusca runs into many varieties, while subsericea is 

 one of the commonest forms with us in the eastern states. The species of this group 

 are recognized by the slender antennae. Concerning the habits of the insects Dr. 

 Wheeler said that the forms belonging to the pallidefulva and fusca groups were 

 widely distributed while those belonging to the other groups — sanguinea, exsecta 

 and rufa — were parasitic upon them and hence sporadic in occurrence. In studying 

 a species — difficilis — of one of the parasitic groups (tnicrogyna), in which the queens 

 are of very small size, it was found that the queen layed its eggs in the nest of schau- 

 fussi, the parasitized forms, where they were cared for by the workers of schaufussi 

 which in turn died off owing to the fact that there was no queen of the latter to con- 

 tinue the species. In Tunis Dr. F. Santschi found a species of Bothriomyrmyx 

 parasitic in the nest of Tapinoma. In this case the queen of the former kills that of 

 the latter and rests upon its dead body where it is immune to attack. Gradually it 

 acquires the odor of the new nest and is adopted by the Tapinoma workers, who die 

 off in due time, because they have no queen to propagate their species. Huber found 

 that the workers of sanguinea went out and robbed the nest of fusca of young, 

 brought them to their own nests and reared them. In experimenting with these tonus 

 in Connecticut last summer Dr. Wheeler found that by removing the wings of the 

 sanguinea queens he changed their instinct and behavior. When new queens were 

 placed with, fusca workers, the latter attacked the queen sanguinea but later she retali- 

 ated, killed them off and gathered the cocoons of fusca and cared for them. It is 

 probable that under normal conditions a weak colony is sought by the sanguinea queen 

 for the purpose of establishing her own formicary. Thus, the queen possesses all the 



