AUSTRALIAN HONEY-ANTS. 



261 



pointed, vestigial mandibles, showing that the food of the larva is 



purely liquid and imbibed directly from the regurgitating workers. 



The sensory papillae on 



the maxillae and labium 



are well-developed. The 



body shows three well- 

 marked thoracic and five 



or six abdominal seg- 

 ments. It is covered 



with extremely short 



hairs. The larva of L. 



varians var. ruficeps is 



similar, but the skin is 



entirely naked. The 



larva of L. unicolor has a 



short, rounded head (Fig. 



4 c), much like that of 



other ant larvae, though 



the mandibles are very 



feebly developed. The 



body is covered with 



hairs which are some- 

 what sparser and stiffer 



than in nigriveiitris. 



On disturbing the colonies I found that the ants seldom attacked 



me with their mandibles, but usually hurried about over my hands, 



face and clothing like a lot of long-legged spiders, filling the air with 

 the rank, rancid butter, or " Tapinoma" odor so characteristic of most 

 species of Dolichoderinae. This excretion is discharged as a liquid 

 from the anal glands and is so sticky that my skin felt as if it had been 

 varnished. This was especially noticeable after opening nests of 

 L. varians var. ruficeps. L. unicolor, however, emits a more delicate 

 and pleasant modification of the Tapinoma odor and the liquid is not 

 discharged in sufficient quantity to make the skin perceptibly sticky. 

 Additional notes on habits are given in connection wdth the taxonomic 

 descriptions of each of the species and varieties in the latter part of 

 this paper. 



I found no myrmecophiles in the nests which I examined, but the 

 following brief notes show that the species of Lcptomyrmc.r, like other 

 ants, have their Arthropod guests, enemies and mimics. October 19 

 on a footpath near Katoomba, N. S. W., I picked up a specimen of 



Figure 4. a. Larva of Leptomyrmex nigri- 

 ventris, b. head of same from above, c. head of 

 larva of L. unicolor. 



