^0 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [Bull. 



14. Gaster finely and densely pubescent, with gray, silky luster 



fusca var. subsericea 

 Gaster scarcely pubescent, finely shagreened, shining with 

 a submetallic luster fusca var. subaenescens 



15. Color light brown, with darker head and gaster subpolita 



Color black or dark brown, with reddish legs .neogagates 



F. sanguinea rubicunda Emery. 



This subspecies of the holarctic " blood-red slave-maker," or 

 sanguinary ant, is less common than the next. It usually nests 

 under stones in grassy places along the edges of woods. It obtains 

 slaves, or auxiliary workers, by kidnapping the larvae and pupae 

 of subsericea. The males and winged females appear during 

 July and August. 



New Haven (B. H. W.) ; Colebrook (W. M. W.). 



F. sanquinea subinfegra Emery. 



This variety has the same auxiliary species as the preceding, 

 and the somewhat smaller males and winged females make their 

 appearance during the same months. 



New Haven (H. L. V.) ; Colebrook (W. M. W.). 



F. sanguinea aserva (Forel). 



Rarer than the preceding form of sanguinea. The slaves, 

 which are present in the colonies only in very small numbers or 

 are altogether absent, belong to subsericea. 



Colebrook (W. M. W.). 



F. exsectoides Forel. 



This '' mound-building ant of the Alleghanies," as McCook 

 has named it, is found nesting in open glades or clearings and is 

 not uncommon in the more hilly portions of the State. The 

 mounds which it constructs of earth and vegetable debris, are 

 regularly dome-shaped and usually vary from three to four feet 

 in diameter at the base and from one to two feet in height. They 

 are exposed to the sun, though often covered with living grass 

 except at the summit. (See plate v.) The entrances are very 

 numerous and mostly confined to a broad girdle around the base. 

 A single colony often extends over several n^unds. The work- 

 ers, which are easily distinguished from those of our other species 

 of Formica by the excised posterior border of the head, are very 

 pugnacious. Like the European exsecta, they have a habit 

 of sawing off the heads of other ants. It is known that the 



