AUSTRALIAN HONEY-ANTS. 



257 



fact that in L. unicolor, which is probably the only species that does 

 not have this habit, the organ is much smaller, the valves proportion- 

 ally shorter and the layer of musculature much thinner. 



The venation of the fore wing in the male Lcptomyrmex, too, is 

 unlike that of any kno^vn ant (Fig. 3). The pterostigma is reduced 

 to a mere vestige. The radial vein is well developed and with the costa 

 encloses a long, narrow radial cell. The cubitus comes off from the 

 radius and describes a curve, terminating near the tip of the wing. 

 The media is well developed, its terminal portion describing a curve 

 similar to that of the cubitus. There is no cubital or discal cell. 

 The short transverse vein running from the pterostigma to the media 

 is divided into two portions, the anterior of which is regarded by Emery 

 as the base of the radius, the longer, posterior portion as representing 

 a fusion of a transverse cubital with the recurrent nervure. He 



Figure 3. Wing of male Leplomyrmex sp. from Cooktown, Northern 

 Queensland. 



believes, therefore, that the basalis, which is a fundamental cross-vein 

 in the Hymenopteran wing, is completely lacking in Leptomyrmex. 

 In support of this view he calls attention to a male ant from the 

 Sicilian amber (Miocene), which he formerly called Leptomyrmex 

 maravignoe, but for which he has recently established a new genus, 

 Lepfomyrmula. This insect is more primitive than Leptomyrmex in hav- 

 ing a vestige of the basalis arising from the media and in possessing 

 a developed pterostigma. 



Another peculiarity of the genus Leptomyrmex, to which attention 

 has not been called heretofore, is the absence of a queen, or female 

 caste in any of the known species. At any rate, no one has ever seen 

 a female Leptomyrmex. I shall return to this subject in the sequel. 



Very few observations have been recorded on the habits of any of 

 the species. Gilbert Turner has published a note on L. erythrocepha- 



