SIK J. LUBBOCK ON ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS. 185 



Aphides, and compare them with those returning full of honey, 

 we shall see a marked difference in size. 



On a new Species of Honey- Ant, Camponotus inflatus. 



I have, indeed, no reason to suppose that in our English ants 

 any particular individuals are specially told off to serve as recep- 

 tacles of food. M. "Wesmael, however, has described* a remark- 

 able genus (Myrmecocystus rnexicanus), brought by M. de Normann 

 from Mexico, in which certain individuals in each nest serve as 

 animated honey-pots. To them the foragers bring their supplies, 

 and their whole duty seems to be to receive the honey, retain it, 

 and redistribute it when required. Their abdomen becomes enor- 

 mously distended, the intersegmental membranes being so much 

 extended that the chitinous segments w r hich alone are visible ex- 

 ternally in ordinary ants seem like small brown transverse bars. 

 The account of these most curious insects given by MM. de 

 Normann and Wesmael has been fully confirmed by subsequent 

 observers; as, for instance, by Lucas f, Saunders +, Edwards §, 

 Blake ||, Loew% and McCook. 



On one very important point, however, M. Wesmael was in 

 error ; he states that the abdomen of these abnormal individuals 

 " ne contient aucun organe ; ou plutot, il n'est lui-meme qu'un 

 vaste sac stomacal." Blake even asserts that " the intestine of 

 the insect is not continued beyond the thorax," which must surely 

 be a misprint ; and also that there is no connexion " between the 

 intestine and the cloaca " ! These statements, however, are en- 

 tirely erroneous ; and, as M. Forel has shown, the abdomen does 

 really contain the usual organs, which, however, are very easily 

 overlooked by the side of the gigantic stomach. 



I have now the honour of exhibiting to the Society a second 

 species of ant, which has been sent me by Mr. Waller, in which 

 a similar habit has been evolved and a similar modification has 

 been produced. The two species, however, are very distinct, and 

 the former is a native of Mexico, while the present comes from 

 Adelaide in Australia. The two species, therefore, cannot be 



* Bull, de l'Acad. des Sci. de Bruxelles. 

 t Ann. Soc. Ent. de France, v. p. 111. 

 { ' Canadian Entomologist,' vol. vii. p. 12. 



§ Proc. California Academy, 1873. II Ibid. 1874. 



% American Nat. viii. 1874. 

 LTNN. JOUKN. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. XV. 14 



