AUSTRALIAN HONEY-ANTS. 259 



under the large roots of some tree, and when in a log, it is nearly 

 always in the very heart. The entrance is large, often an inch or 

 more in diameter, and leads into a gallery varying from a foot and a 

 half to two feet in length. This gallery is frequently broader than 

 the entrance and both in logs and in the ground terminates in a large 

 chamber sometimes 3-5 inches in diameter. In no case did I see the 

 ants excavating, nor did I find any pellets of earth or wood surrounding 

 the entrance of the nest. From this negative observation, the large 

 size of the nest ca\dties and the very slender and frail stature of the 

 ants, I infer that they do not excavate nests, but simply take posses- 

 sion of cavities that have been made and later abandoned by lizards 

 or small marsupials (phalangers). 



Unlike other Dolichoderine ants the Leptomynnex workers forage 

 singly and never in files. They are, in fact, endowed wath great ini- 

 tiative and appear to be far and away the most intelligent of the Doli- 

 choderinje. Their ordinary gait as they move about on their long legs 

 is stately and elegant, but may be greatly acceleTated if they are 

 frightened. The appearance of these ants is peculiar owing to the 

 gaster being bent forward over the thorax. In L. unicolor the gaster 

 is thrown so far forward that its dorsal surface is applied to the dorsal 

 surface of the thorax as shown in Fig. 12. In the other species the 

 retroflexion is less pronounced, the gaster being carried nearly at a 

 right angle with the thorax or inclined slightly forward (Figs. 5 

 and 6). While walking or running with the gaster in this position, 

 the insects resemble diminutive motor-cars, so that they have been 

 called by some of the Australians " motor-car ants." The long thorax 

 certainly resembles the body, or tonneau, the turned up gaster the 

 canopy, and in such forms as crythrocephalus and ruficeps the red head 

 suggests the large head-light of a motor car. 



Usually the ants are seen running along or across roads through the 

 woods. They forage mostly on the ground, but do not hesitate to 

 climb trees and shrubs. They are all highly carnivorous. I have 

 seen them capturing and carrying home a great variety of insects 

 (flies, beetles, moths) and even earthworms. The prey is taken into 

 the nest and there dismembered so that its juices can be more readily 

 imbibed. I doubt whether these ants ever attend honey-dew-pro- 

 ducing scale-insects or other Homoptera. 



In all the colonies which I examined, except those of L. unicolor, 

 I found a certain percentage of repletes, i. e. individuals having the 

 gaster so greatly distended with a perfectly colorless liquid, that it 

 was quite spherical, with its intersegmental membrane tensely ex- 



