The Ants of the Baltic Amber. 
121 
B 18728, XXB 790, B 8234, B 18448, XXB 1543, XXB 1358, B 18485, 
XXB 1238, B 18387, B 18237, XXB 1037, XXB 465, B 19504, XXB 465, 
XXB 799, B 19423, B 18904, XXB 37, B 18536, B 18684, B 19063, 
B5117, B 993, etc.), 99 workers, one female and 2 males in the 
Klebs Coli. (K 1082, K 1042, K 4260, K 2638, « 24, « 9, « 96, K 3706, 
«118, K819, K5766, K 4240, K4291, K3711, «154, etc.), 2 workers 
in the Brussels Museum (220 and 228), 2 workers in the Berlin Museum 
(260 and 262) and 9 workers and 5 males in the Haren Coli. (7, 441, 
926, 927, 781, 1841, 1650, 1570, 1978, 2427, 2425, etc.). In addition 
to these I have also seen 76 of the 82 specimens mentioned by Mayr 
as preserved in the Phys.-Oec. Soc. Koenigsberg Coli. Of the female 
and male only single specimens were recorded by Mayr (629 and 630). 
I have not been able to find the former specimen in the material 
sent to me, as the slide numbered 10236/629 and labelled „ Lasius 
schiefferdeckeri Mayr. $ “ bears a worker specimen instead. 
I have seen both the larva and worker pupse of L. schieffer- 
deckeri. The block B 5458 contains 2 workers and a larva and there 
are 3 blocks (B 78 646 and 2 without numbers) each containing a worker 
pupa, enveloped in its cocoon, which is small and broadly elliptical 
like the cocoons of our recent Lasii. 
Mayr called attention to the close resemblance of L. schieffer- 
deckeri to the recent L. niger L., which is represented in Europe, 
northern Asia and North America by a number of varieties {niger sens. 
str. , emarginatus,ameri- 
canus, alienus, neoniger 
etc.). The amber form 
is smaller in all three 
phases and less pilose 
than the typical niger 
and thus approach- 
es the vars. alienus 
and americanus more 
closely, although the 
females of these forms 
are larger. Mayr is 
probably right in re- 
garding the amber 
species as the ancestor 
of the existing niger , 
and the recent varieties as already foreshadowed in the fluctuation 
of the amber species, which varies considerably in size, pilosity 
Fig. 58. Lasius schiefferdeckeri Mayr. Worker, bearing 
a parasitic mite on the left hind tibia. B 5845. 
