688 
ZOOLOGY: H. SHAPLEY 
Proc. N. a. S. 
pupal stages, but occasionally persist to the adult state. Wheeler de- 
scribed four adult workers of this kind in 1905, naming them pterergates,* 
but such forms are apparently very uncommon. As far as I know, only 
six were on record before 1919. Since then, in addition to the ants dis- 
cussed in the present note. Professor Wheeler has kindly sent me one 
pterergate taken in Nova Scotia, I have found one, taken by Blaisdell, 
in the collection of the California Academy of Sciences, and one in a nest 
of Pogonomyrmex in Pasadena. 
The record of species and localities for these nine pterergates is as 
follows 
Pogonomyrmex californicus subsp., taken by Blaisdell, 1885, Powai, California. 
Cryptocerus aztecus, taken by Wheeler, 1900, Cuernavaca, Mexico. 
Myrmica scabrinodis var. (3), taken by Wheeler, 1904, Bronx ville, New York. 
L-asius flavus, taken by Bondroit, 1910, Landelies, Belgium. 
Leptothorax curvispinosus, 1911, Weymouth, Nova Scotia. 
Myrmica scabrinodis, taken by Keys, 1913, Yelverton, England. 
Pogonomyrmex californicus, taken by Shapley, 1920, Pasadena, California. 
All of the above, except Lasivis, are Myrmicine ants. 
From a local nest of the red Californian Harvester, Pogonomyrmex cali- 
fornicus Buckley, I have taken during the last two years more than 1700 
workers, nearly one-half of which have vestigial wings in various stages of 
development. A summary of observations on this unique nest is given 
in the following paragraphs. An analysis of the development of the wing 
venation is reserved for later publication. 
table; I 
NUMBKRS AND RELATIVE FrKQUENCY OF PTERERGATES 
GROUP 
DATE 
PTERERGATES 
NORMAIv 
WORKERS 
PERCENTAGE 
PTERERGATES 
a 
Prior to Nov. 11, 1919 
13 
11 
54 
b 
Nov. 11, 1919, to June 1, 1920 
89 
87 
51 
c 
June 6, 1920 
266 
324 
45 
d 
June 8, 1920 
56 
100 
36 
e 
Oct. 15, 1920 
49 
51 
49 
f 
Oct. 19, 1920 
87 
159 
35' 
g 
Oct. 19, 1920 
8 
16 
33 
h 
Oct. 24, 1920 
172 
249 
41 
Total 
740 
997 
42.6 
1. The occurrence during 1919 and the early months of 1920 of equal 
numbers of pterergates and normal workers suggested that Mendelian 
factors might be involved in the appearance of wing vestiges. The pter- 
ergates became relatively much less frequent, however, in June, 1920 
(table 1), suggesting that the tendency to develop vestiges was less pro- 
nounced or entirely absent for the 1920 brood; but on October 15 the per- 
