56 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XL VIII 



assigned it. Still the case is interesting if only because 

 it suggests the further question as to whether the ergato- 

 morphic males in the genera above cited may be regarded 

 as originally frontal ergatandromorphs, with worker 

 head and thorax and male gaster, that have become the 

 only males of the species. If this is true, the ergato- 

 morphic males may have arisen by mutation from patho- 

 logical or teratological forms and have been preserved in 

 certain species in which peculiarities of habit rendered the 

 fecundation of the virgin females in the nest by wingless 

 males more advantageous than the type of mating ex- 

 hibited by the nuptial flight. A moment 's reflection shows 

 that the nuptial flight is a highly advantageous institu- 

 tion in common ants that form large colonies, but must be 

 as decidedly disadvantageous in the case of very small, 

 rare ants whose colonies are very sporadic and comprise 

 only a few individuals. This is actually the condition 

 seen in all the species with ergatomorphic males in the 

 genera P oner a, Cardiocondyla, Formicoxenus, Symmyr- 

 mica and Technomyrmex, and may be supposed, there^ 

 fore, to account for the substitution of the wingless, erga- 

 tomorphic for the normal winged males in these species. 



LITERATURE 



Adlerz, G. Zwei Gynandromorphen von Anergates atratulus Schenek. 



Arkiv. for Zool, V, 1908, No. 2, 6 pp., 2 pis. 

 Donisthorpe, H. S. J. K. Formica sanguinea, Ltr., at Bewdley, with 



an Account of a Slave-raid, and Description of two Gynandro- 



morphs, etc. Zoologist, 1909, pp. 463-466, 2 figs. 

 Donisthorpe, H. S. J. K. Some Notes on the Genus Myrmica. Ent. 



Record, XXV, 1913, pp. 1-8, 42-51, 1 pi., 10 text figs. 

 Mayr, G. Die Ameisen des batischen Bernsteins. Beitr. Naturk. 



Preussens, 1. Konigsberg, 1868, pp. iv 4- 102, 5 pis. 

 Santschi, F. Fourmis de Tunisie Captures en 1906. Bev. Suisse 



Zool, XV, 2, 1907, pp. 305-334, 7 figs. 



Roumanie. Formicides Capturees par Mr. A. L. Montandon. 

 Bull Soc. Sci. Bucharest, XIX, No. 4, 1910, pp. 648-651. 

 Wheeler, W. M. Some New Gynandromorphous Ants, with a Review 

 of the Previously Recorded Cases. Bull Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist, 

 XIX, 1903, pp. 653-683, 11 figs. 



