744 AUSTRALIAN TBJLVlTID.f:, 



portion; 1st segment large, cylindrical, thrice the length of the 

 2nd; 2nd short, cylindrical; 3rd longer; 4th to tip elongate, slender 

 at the base, broader and rounded at the apex. Prothorax narrow, 

 almost sti'aight along the front margin, rounded on the sides and 

 behind ; legs long, the thighs contracted at the base, stout, 

 cylindrical; tibiae long, with stout spines at the apex; tarsi as in 

 winged insect. Abdomen large, very broad in the middle, 

 rounded at the extremities; cerci large, conical and hairy. 



Worker. — Upper surface of the head brown, with two spots in 

 front and a pale suture through the centre of the head; the rest 

 pale ochreous, with the centre of the dorsal plates slightly darker. 

 Length 3| lines. Head broad, rounded, swelling out on the sides, 

 but contracted at the base of the antennte, the summit rounded, 

 with a pale transverse suture above the clypeus meeting the cross 

 suture through the forehead; antennae 15-jointed, lighter-coloured 

 but similar in form to those of the soldier; clypeus rounded behind 

 and lobed, concave in front; labrum narrow at the base, sloping 

 on the sides, broadest and rounded at the tip; jaws large, with 

 two stout teeth near the tip, arcuate beneath, with a blunt tooth 

 and an angular indentation below, swelling out again at the base 

 of the jaw. Thorax very narrow. Abdomen large, elongate-oval, 

 rounded at the tip; cerci rather small, conical. 



I am indebted to Mrs. Black, of Lol worth Station, North 

 Queensland, for this species and for an interesting account of their 

 nests and habits. Mrs. Black says: — " This white ant builds a 

 dome-shaped nest from 2-3 feet in height, and 3-4 feet in diameter, 

 upon the dry basaltic ridges close to the homestead. I opened 

 some nests in May, and found several queens. The black gins 

 with me preferred to use their hands in excavating the centre of 

 the nests, and soon became adepts in finding the queens. ' 



About the middle of November Mrs. Black found a lot of 

 winged termites flying about the house, and thereupon went out 

 and examined a nest close to the house whence she obtained plenty 

 of winged termites, with the workers and soldiers, which she 

 brought down when visiting Sydney, thus completing the series. 



