1952] 
Gregg — Formica opaciventris 
17 
pronotum and on all coxae. The distinct scutellar trichomes 
of opaciventris are lacking on my specimens of exsectoides, 
but this cannot be assumed to be the result of rubbing and 
old age, for the youth of these females is attested by their 
retention of wings. Wheeler (1913) alludes to small tufts 
of flexuous hairs on the mes'onotum in his description of 
the queen of exsectoides but does not definitely state that 
they are trichomes. He also states that the color is like 
that of the worker, being deep red, with the gaster black 
and the mandibles, legs, vertex, funiculi, and dorsal por- 
tions of the thorax sometimes brownish or dark red. One 
of my specimens of exsectoides has no infuscation of the 
head or thorax except on the vertex, while the other female 
is heavily infuscated on all parts. Any minor color differ- 
ences, therefore, which exist between exsectoides and 
opaciventris probably should be regarded as inconsequential. 
Finally, the scale on the petiole of opaciventris has spatulate 
corners, but there is no such trait in exsectoides typicus. 
A worker and a female of the ant exsectoides var. davisi 
Wheeler (1913), labeled “cotype”, have also been examined, 
and I am in agreement with Creighton that this form is a 
synonym of the eastern exsectoides. The only detectable 
differences between these insects are that the davisi female 
has somewhat shorter hairs and is practically devoid of 
gastric pubescence. 
Wheeler further described the variation hesperia from 
diminutive workers, and Creighton has recently invalidated 
it too. A cotype worker of this ant (in the Creighton collec- 
tion), checked against specimens of exsectoides which I 
have from Illinois and New York, showed the ant to be 
almost identical with the small workers of the typical 
species, particularly with respect to color, hair pattern, 
and shape and size of the petiolar scale. The scale is not 
like that of F. dakotensis , as contended by Wheeler, but 
has rather a sharp, elevated, and evenly curved superior 
border. Dr. Creighton (1950, p. 514), seems to be quite 
justified in submerging hesperia as a synonym of exsect- 
oides. The sole difference I could find between the two is an 
insignificantly broader head with slightly shallower oc- 
cipital emargination, but this is the sort of variation one 
