THE YOUNG 



NATUEmST. 



79 



BRITISH ANTS: 



By Mr. G. Carter Bignell. M.E.S. 



" Thzre IB no h&rm in making & mistake, bat (rrc&t 

 harm in making none. Show me a man who makes no 

 mifttikoH, and I will show yoo a man who h&s done 

 nothing." — Liebig. 



In writing a description of the British 

 Ants for the ''Youn^ Naturalist," I shall 

 try to avoid mistakes. There is one 

 thing certain. I shall not be enabled to 

 give its readers more information, than can 

 be found in the various works already pub- 

 lished on the history of these insects. I have, 

 however, been led to write this paper, as the 

 books to which I refer, are not always to be 

 obtained by young beginners, and as I think 

 with the editors, that if the readers of the 

 " Young Naturalist " had an opportunity of 

 knowing something about those little crea- 

 tures, that love of nature would increase, 

 and they would be induced to observe and 

 study them, and hence they would better 

 appreciate the appropriateness and beauty 

 of that passage in Holy Writ, when holding 

 them up to us as a pattern, the wise king 

 says " Go to the ant, thou sluggard ; con- 

 sider her ways, and be wise, which having 

 no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her 

 meat in the summer and gathereth her food 

 in the harvest." 



With these few remarks I shall commence 

 by saying that the latter part of this quota- 

 tion does not apply to the British Ants; for 

 none of these store grain for winter con- 

 sumption, as implied. During that part of 

 the year they are dormant. A solitary one 

 may be sometimes seen out, walking over 

 the formicarium of Formica rufa in a lethar- 

 gic state, for the purpose of giving alarm, 

 &c. Solomon, however, was so far correct 

 that some kinds do store grain. Mr. Mogg- 

 ridge, for instance, observed two species so 

 engaged in the south of France ; Dr. F. B. 

 White saw another species in Italy ; and 

 Mr. C. Horne, in India, saw some employed 

 in the same occupation. Doubtless many 

 more will be discovered to be equally provi- 



dent, when naturalists turn their attention 

 more earnestly to these little creatures. 



The Ants belong to the Fossorial group of 

 Hymenoptera. section Hcterogyna ; and are 

 divided as follows by Mr. E. Saunders, in 

 his paper read before the members of the 

 Entomological Society of London on the 

 3rd November, iSSo. (I may here mention 

 that most of the descriptions of the insects 

 in this history will be taken from that paper. 

 I have Mr. Saunders's permission for this. 

 And I hereby thank him for his uniform 

 kindness in naming specimens for me, when 

 I have been in doubt. This gentleman is a 

 Fellow of the Linnean Society and a Mem- 

 ber of the Entomological Society, whereby 

 he has access to the copious libraries of 

 these institutions and the British Museum 

 collections. We may, therefore, be well 

 assured, that the paper to which I refer was 

 carefully prepared, and is in ever}- respect 

 authoritative.; 



Genus Formica, 7 species. 



Lasius, 5 ,, (since the 



reading of Mr. Saunders's paper I have dis- 

 covered another, which makes it six.) 



Tapinonia 2 ,, 



Ponera 2 



Myrmica 5 ,, 



Stenamma i 



Asanorhof-trum i ,, 



Tetramorium i ,, 



Leptothorax 3 , 



Solenopsis 1 ,, 



Monomorium i ,, 



Myrmecina i 

 To this must be added two others, viz.: — 

 Pheidole megacephala (the house-ant of Mad- 

 eira), which has been discovered in too 

 many houses in London to be pleasant to 

 the owners); and Tapinonta gracilescens {sLnoiher 

 from Madeira), that has too well established 

 itself to be considered a stranger amongst 

 us. The latter has been taken in London, 

 Sydenham, and at St. Leonards-on-Sea. 

 (Continued on page 95.^ 



