The Ants of the Baltic Amber. 
7 
Table V. 
Subfamilies 
No. of 
genera 
No. of 
species 
No. of 
specimens 
examined by 
Mayr 
No. of 
specimens 
examined by 
Andre 
No. of 
specimens 
examined by 
Wheeler 
Total No. of 
specimens 
examined 
Ponerinae . 
8 
10 
24 
2 
85 
111 
Myrmicinse 
15 
30 
50 
7 . 
175 
232 
Dolichoderinse 
7 
20 
869 
438 
6201 
7508 
Camponotinse 
13 
32 
518 
243 
3066 
3827 
Total 
43 
92 
1461 
690 
9527 
11678 
If we reduce the numbers of the genera, species and individnals 
of the last table to percentages we have the following: 
Genera 
Species 
Individuals 
Ponerinse 
18,6% 
10,8% 
0,9% 
Myrmicinse 
34,6 °/o 
32,6 % 
2,1% 
Dolichoderinse 
16,2% 
21,7% 
64,2% 
Camponotinse 
30,2% 
34,7 °/o 
32,7% 
In other words, although less than l°/ 0 of the individual ants are 
Ponerince, they represent more than J /io the s P ec i es and nearly 
1 / 5 of the genera. And while the Myrmicinse genera constitute a little 
more than 1 / 3 of the total number, and the species a little less than 
Ys, the number of individuals is only a little more than 2%. Yery 
different is the condition in the Dolichoderince, which embrace only 
about 1 / 6 of the genera and 1 / 5 of the species, but nearly 2 / 3 of all 
the individuals. The Camponotince, finally, are not far from consti- 
tuting 1 / 3 of all the genera, species and individuals. While the pro- 
portional representation of species of the different subfamilies would, 
I believe, not be very different in the recent ant fauna of many 
tropical or subtropical regions as large as that in which the Baltic 
amber was formed, the individual representation would be very ^ifferent, 
for the Ponerince would be more abundant and the Dolichoderince 
much less abundant as compared with the Myrmicince and Camponotince. 
The explanation of this singulär condition is in part, at least, 
attributable to the selective action of the amber on the one hand and 
to the peculiarities of habit of the different subfamilies of ants on 
the other. It is well known that no large and powerful insects are 
preserved in the amber, for the obvious reason that vigorous orga- 
