WHEELER AND MANN: ANTS OF PALESTINE. 169 



long as the concave declivity, armed with two small, rather acute 

 teeth, which are directed upward and slightly backward and outward. 

 Petiole more than twice as long as broad, in profile with a rather low, 

 rounded node. Postpetiole about 1| times as long as broad, less than 

 half again as broad as the petiole, in profile with a similar but some- 

 what larger node. Gaster elongate elliptical, narrowed in front. 

 Legs very long and slender; spurs of the posterior tibiae short but 

 distinct. 



Gaster very smooth and shining, remainder of body more feebly 

 shining. Mandibles subopaque, finely and densely striate; head, 

 thorax, petiole, and postpetiole shagreened, the meso- and epinotum 

 opaque, rugulose-punctate; the anterior portion of the head above, 

 including the antennal foveae and excluding the clypeus, longitudi- 

 nally rugose, becoming reticulately rugulose and punctate posteriorly ; 

 pronotum and upper surfaces of petiolar and postpetiolar nodes 

 smoother and more shining. Epinotal declivity shining, feebly and 

 transversely rugose. 



Hairs yellow, very short, blunt, sparse on the body, entirely lacking 

 on the legs; very short, but distinct and oblique on the antennal 

 scapes, especially towards their tips. Pubescence absent. 



Head, thorax, petiole, postpetiole, and antennae pale ferruginous; 

 legs brownish yellow; gaster clear, pale yellow, with the posterior 

 I of the first segment dark brown. 



Described from eleven workers from Petra, Palestine. These were 

 found in the early morning eating portions of the bait with which 

 small mammal traps had been baited. 



This species differs considerably from either of the two previously 

 described Palaearctic species of Deromyrma, cecconii Emery from 

 Crete and rhaphidiiceps Mayr from Turkestan. The Cretan species 

 is smaller (5.7 mm.), has the body black, the tibiae with oblique hairs, 

 the petiolar node is angular in profile, the epinotal teeth are longer, 

 the head is shorter and of a different shape behind and the antennal 

 funiculi have an indistinct, 4-jointed clava. In coloration and the 

 shape of the head phillipsi resembles rhaphidiiceps, but the latter is 

 smaller, the occipital margin of the head has no reflected margin, the 

 clypeal border is entire, the first funicular joint is longer than the 

 second and the tibiae are hairy. 



5. Messor rufotestaceus Foerster. U . — Wady Gharandel, Sinai 

 Peninsula and Petra, Palestine; in the former locality living in 

 crater nests, in the latter under stones and more abundant. 



