468 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Hab. Many parts of New Zealand coast (v.L.); Aus- 

 tralia ; Singapore. 



ELEUTHEEOBLASTEA. 



Hydridse. 



67. Hydka viridis. — Hydra viridis, Linnaeus, 1767, Svst. 

 Nat., 1320; Hincks, 1868, Hist. Brit. Hyd. Zooph., 312; 

 Coughtrey, 1876, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (4), xvii., 24. 

 Hab. Ponds near Dunedin. 



Art. XLIV. — On the Habits of Neto Zealand Ants. 

 By W. W. Smith, F.E.S. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 2nd October, 



1895.] 



At the present tune the number of endemic ants described 

 by F. Smith, Mayr, Hutton, Forel, and Emery comprise 

 nineteen species, representing three sub-famihes, included in 

 nine genera and three sub-genera. Professor Forel, in his 

 recent classification, has carefully corrected the nomencla- 

 ture and generic arrangement of the New Zealand Formi- 

 cidce. This is a valuable service to students of the native ants, 

 while his masterly definitions of their specific characters 

 should be a safe guide to theni when describing new species 

 or varieties. Professor Emery has also lately described and 

 figured''' a new species (Discothyrea antarctica) from New 

 Zealand, and removed Orectognathus i^erplexiis, Sm., to the 

 genus Struviigenys, which species now remains as S. perplexa, 

 Sm. It is highly satisfactory to have our interesting native 

 ants described and classified by those eminent specialists on 

 Formicid(X. 



Professor Emery's observations on the occurrence of 

 Discothyrea antarctica in New Zealand as a case illustrating^ 

 the " cosmopolitanism and great antiquity " of most genera 

 of the Gonerina are equally applicable to several other genera 

 occurring at the Antipodes. The genus Huberia of Forel is 

 represented at present by two species : H. striata, Sm., the 

 largest native ant, occurs in large and small communities 

 distributed over both Islands ; H. brouni, Forel, was dis- 

 covered by Captain Broun at Eotorua, but has not as yet 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxvii., p. G3G. 



