24 8 



ANTS. 



.itVmilics with the Don lime. Little is known of the minute Leptanillii 

 (Fig. 149) except that they are hypogrcic and probably live in small 

 colonies. In the present chapter I shall consider only the Dorylii and 

 I'A-itonii. treating the two groups in succession in an endeavor to bring 

 out their similarities and differences, even at the risk of some repetition. 

 The Dorylin;e seem to have undergone much greater morphological 

 differentiation in the Old than in the New World, for although Emery 

 recognizes only three genera of Dorylii, Dorylus, ^Euictus and sEnic- 

 tot/cton. the first of these covers a number of subgenera (Anomma, 

 Dor\lns s. sir. T\phloponc, Dichthadla, Alaoponc, Rhognnts and 

 Shnckaniut ), several of which have been regarded by other authors as 

 distinct genera. All the species of Dorylus s. lot., some two dozen in 

 number, are confined to Africa (excluding Madagascar), southern 



FIG. 142. Dorylus fimbriatus of South Africa. Male and workers of different sizes ; 



natural size. (Original.) 



Asia and the adjacent larger islands. The workers are completely 

 blind, without vestiges of eyes, and vary greatly in size in the same 

 colony, from large soldiers with to< -thed mandibles and excised clypeus, 

 through intermediates to small workers with small heads and mandi- 

 bles, more convex clypeus and sometimes fewer antennal joints (Fig. 

 62). The females ( dichthadiigynes) are huge, unwieldy creatures, 

 blind and wingless like the workers, and with a peculiar pygidium and 

 an enormous gaster to accommodate the voluminous ovaries. The 

 males (dorylaners) are also very large, with great eyes and ocelli, 

 sickle-shaped mandibles and peculiar genitalia. The wings have only 

 one cubital cell. All three of the phases have but a single joint in the 

 pedicel of the abdomen. 



Owing to the extraordinary differences between the phases, the 

 nomenclature of the species of Dorylus has been in great confusion. 

 At first only the male of one of the African forms, D. helvolus, was 

 known and this was consigned by Linne to the genus Vespa (1764). 



