THE ANNALS AND MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. XIII. — Observations on the Genus Typhlopone, with descrip-tions of several exotic species of Ants. By J. O. West-wood, F.L.S. [With a Plate.] Having in my * Introduction to the Modern Classification of Insects' figui'ed an insect from the collection of C. C. Ba-bington, Esq., under the name of Typhlopone futv a, and which, without hesitation, I considered to be a neuter Ant^, it be-comes necessary, — now that Mr. Shuckard has, in a previous page of these Annals, stated his conviction that it is the female of a genus belonging to another family, in which neuters do not exist, — that I should give my reasons for the opinion I have advanced, that it belongs to the family of the Ants, and is a neuter insect, and which I still retain. Ignorant although we are of the males of this genus, it is not only upon a comparison of known individuals of Typhlopone with the females and neuters of the Ants, and with the females of the MutillidcB, that I found my opinion ; we are now ac-quainted with four facts relative to the habits of these insects. 1st, One of Mr. Shuckard's specimens is stated by him still to retain within its jaws the wing of a Termes. 2ndly, Another, of which the head alone remained, had attacked and pertina-ciously retained hold of the leg of an ant, which had evidently pulled off the body of the Typhlopone, in order to rid itself of its incumbrance. 3rdly, Mr. Raddon has obtained many specimens of Typhlopone, found alive in casks of sugar from the West Indies. And 4thly, Mr. Babington's three speci-mens were also found in sugar. Now these are circumstances * I have in this paper continued to employ the term ' neuter' for the abor-tive sex of the Heterogyna and other social Hymenoptera, although it is certainly improper, such individuals being, in fact, females, with partially developed female organs. The term * worker', which has also been applied to them, is not exclusively their own, because the real productive females, amongst the humble-bees and wasps, work as much as the so-called 'neuters'. It would perhaps be better to term them ' pseudo-females.' Ann. §• Mag. Nat. Hist. Oct. 1 840. g
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