fusca Dumaguete, - Hindawi Publishing Corporation...are again taken at Dumaguete, it is inadvisable to include them amongthe Philippine ant-fauna. Nosuch doubt, however, can arise

40 Psyche [February

THE OCCURRENCE OF FORMICA FUSCA L.IN SUMATRA.

BY WILLIAM MORTON WHEELER.

In a preceding number of Psyche (Vol. 29, Aug. 1922, p.175) I cited the occurrence of two common North Americanants, Formica fusca L. and F. neogagates Emery, as having beentaken by Dr. J. W. Chapman at Dumaguete, on the Island ofNegros in the Philippines, and conjectured that they might havebeen introduced by commerce. Recently I have come to doubtthe provenience of the specimens to which I referred. It seemsthat when he left the Bussey Institution to teach at the SillimanInstitute in Dumaguete, Dr. Chapman was supplied by ourlaboratory with a number of empty vials to be used in collectingants and other insects. Possibly two of these vials containedsome specimens of F. fusca and neogagates that had been collectednear Boston by one of the students and had been accidentallyincluded among the material amassed by Dr. Chapman near theSilliman Institute. Since all this material was collected in asmall area he did not provide the individual vials with localitylabels. Until, therefore, the species of Formica above mentionedare again taken at Dumaguete, it is inadvisable to include themamong the Philippine ant-fauna. No such doubt, however, canarise in regard to the species of Formica discussed in the fol-lowing paragraphs.

Among a number of ants collected for me by Dr. DavidFairchild and his son Graham Fairchild in Northern Sumatra, Ifind a series of twelve workers, which evidently belong to thecommon circumpolar Formica fusca, though they may be regard-ed as representing a distinct variety, var. fairchildi var. nov.These specimens were taken by Dr. Fairchild March 8th, 1926above Kota Dah, at an altitude of 4000 ft., in a pine forest.Careful comparison with many specimens of the typical fuscareveals only the following slight differences: Body averagingslightly smaller (4-5 mm.); funicular joints of the antennae alittle shorter. Border of petiole distinctly sharper and morecompressed. Bristles on the flexor surfaces of the middle and

1927] The Occurrence of Formica fusca L. in Sumatra 41

hind tibia stouter, less reelinate and more conspicuous. Pubes-cence much as in the true fusca, but finer and somewhat moredilute on the upper surface of the gaster, but distinctly longer onits sides and venter. The gaster is somewhat more shining andmetallic, more as in the North American var. subcenescensEmery. The color is a deeper black than in fusca and the legsand palpi are more blackish, the mandibles and antennm some-what deeper red. One of the specimens has distinct bluishreflections like the Mexican F. subcyanea Wheeler. The maleand female, when discovered, will probably exhibit additionaldifferences.

We must, I believe, regard the var. fairchildi as a truetropical relict and not as a recent importation. Its occurrencein a remote locality, at a considerable altitude and among pinesmakes the latter supposition very improbable. It is quite dif-ferent from the var. japonica Motschulsky from Japan andChina, a form which we might, perhaps, expect to find in Indo-nesia. The present wide distribution of fusca and its manyvarieties throughout northern North America and Eurasia, andits very close relationship, if not identity, with F. flori Mayr ofthe Baltic Amber (Lower Oligocene Tertiary) suggest an evenwider distribution during the geologic past. Further investi-gations at high altitudes in Sumatra and possibly also in Javaand Borneo may show that fusca has survived also in otherlocalities in these tropical islands. A somewhat similar case ispresented by F. picea Nylander, a peat-bog ant which is widelydistributed over northern Eurasia and as far south as Switzerlandand Thibet, though it is not known to occur in North Americaor Japan. In 1913 Forel described from Taihorin, on the islandof Formosa, a variety of this ant (formosce) which like the abovedescribed fairchildi would seem to be a tropical relict.

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fusca Dumaguete, - Hindawi Publishing Corporation...are again taken at Dumaguete, it is inadvisable to include them amongthe Philippine ant-fauna. Nosuch doubt, however, can arise