Genus 1. MYRMICA. Myrmica, Latr. Gen. Crust, et Ins. iv. 131. The number of joints varying in the different divisions into which the genus is subdivided, the maxillary palpi from 6 to 1, the labial palpi from 4 to 2. Ocelli obsolete in the workers. Females and workers armed with stings; the petiole of the abdomen with two nodes. Pupae usually naked, not enclosed in cocoons, but casting off a thin pellicle on arriving at the perfect condition or imago.

Published as part of Smith, F., 1858, Catalogue of the hymenopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part VI. Formicidae., London :British Museum on page 114