NATURALIST. 



819 



BRITISH ANTS— By O. C. BIONELL. 



(Continued Jrom paqc 303 J 



cell, and one sub-marginal ; abdomen 

 smooth and shining ; nodes of the petiole 

 irregularly rugose ; legs finely pilose. 

 Length, 4 mill. 



Female. — Black-brown, the clypeus, man- 

 dibles, antenna;, legs, and the underside of 

 the thorax, and nodes of the petiole, reddish 

 testaceous ; head rugose, antennse twelve- 

 jointed, the scape thick, and about as long 

 as the nine following joints of flagellum ; 

 mesothorax smooth in front, longitudinally 

 rugose behind ; metathorax with two hori- 

 zontal spines ; abdomen shining, finely 

 pilose ; nodes of the petiole rugose, basal 

 node nearly quadrangular, the second some- 

 what rounded in front, truncate behind : 

 legs finely pilose. Length, 4 mill. 



Worker. — Thorax more rugose ; other- 

 wise like the female. Length, 3 mill. 



Habitat. — Rare. Isle of Wight ; London 

 district. 



The following species are without doubt 

 importations, and occur only in green- 

 houses or bakehouses, where the heat 

 through the winter enables them to hold 

 their footing in this country. 



Tetramorium guineense (Kollari. 

 Smith.) 



A notice of the capture of this insect will 

 be found in The Entomologist's Annual, for 

 1871. It was taken at Sheerness in 1866. 

 Mr. Smith says, " Tetramorium Kollari is of 

 the same size as the common Leptothorax 

 acervorum, and at first sight looks very like 

 it ; but it has four-jointed maxillary palpi ; 

 Leptothorax has them five-jointed ; in both 

 the labial palpi arc three-jointed. The most 

 obvious distinctions — those indeed which 

 will at once serve to separate the species — 

 are, first, the colour of the head . in L. aar- 



vonoH, it is black or dark brown ; in T. 

 Kollari, it is palish red, the same colour as 

 the thorox. Another distinction is, that the 

 former insect has the head very deli- 

 cately striated longitudinally, whilst in the 

 latter it has a number of longitudinal carina;, 

 between which it is coarsely punctured ; the 

 thorax is also rugosely punctured ; the 

 antennae are entirely pale ; the club in L. 

 acervoruvi is blackish." 



Tetramorium simillimum, Smith. 



Worker. — " Head, thorax, and nodes of 

 the penduncle rufo-testaceous ; mandibles, 

 flagellum and legs pale flavo-testaceous ; 

 abdomen rufo-fuscous, shining, and pale at 

 the base and apex ; thorax rugose-striate, 

 the anterior margin transverse, the angles 

 acute ; thorax continuous, not strangulated 

 between the mesoand metathorax, the spines 

 short and acute ; metathorax truncate ; 

 nodes of the petiole finely rugose. The 

 insect is thinly sprinkled with short erect 

 pale hairs, most apparent at the apex of the 

 abdomen." 



Found in a greenhouse at Exeter, and at 

 Glanville's Wootton, Dorset. 



Genus PHEIDOLE, Westw. 



1. Pheidole megacephala 

 (laevigata, Smith.) 



(The house Ant of Madeira.) 



Worker. — Rufo-testaceous ; mandibles, 

 antenna;, articulations of the legs, and tarsi 

 pale testaceous; head, thorax, and abdomen 

 highly polished and smooth ; the prothorax 

 forming a neck, being narrowed towards the 

 head ; metathorax truncate and very deli- 

 cately reticulateil ; the spines very minute; 

 the first node pctiolated, the second widest 

 and globose; in the worker major the 

 head is very largo, from throe to four limes 

 larger in proportion than that of the small 

 worker. Length, 3 mill. 



{To be concluded c:i /.i^. \ 3 ) 



