PONERIDES — BULL-DOG ANTS 



173 



Fig. 76. — Myrmecia pyriformis^ 

 Australia. Female after 

 casting wings. 



fauna, and will probably be ultimately treated as a distinct sub- 

 family. There are about thirty species. 



The ants of this genus are well known to the residents in 

 Australia, where they are called " bull- 

 dog ants." They form large mounds of 

 earth for their nests. The workers, and 

 females (Fig. 76) are much alike except 

 during the period when the latter are 

 still carrying their wings. The males, 

 however, differ considerably, being of 

 more slender form, and possessing only 

 insignificant mandibles, and straight 

 antennae with a quite short basal joint. 



Forel considers Myrmecia to be the 

 most formidable of all the ants ; the 

 hills are said to be sometimes five feet 

 high, and the colonies are immense in 

 numbers, while the Insect is an inch or 

 more in length, and armed with a very powerful sting, the use 

 of which on the human Iwdy is said to give rise in some cases 

 to serious symptoms. On the other hand, w^e have seen state- 

 ments to the effect that the sting of 3Iyrmecia has only veiy 

 evanescent sequelae ; it is also said that the ant-hills have only 

 a slight elevation, so that probably both these points differ 

 according to the species. It appears from a communication of 

 Miss Shepherd's that the formidable Mijrmecia forficata has its 

 larvae destroyed Ijy a parasitic Hymenopteron {Eucharis myr- 

 meciae) of brilliant colour and considerable size, so that we have 

 the curious fact of the hordes of this most formidably armed ant, 

 which possesses also large eyes, falling a victim to a brilliant and 

 very conspicuous Insect. Particulars of this case of parasitic attack 

 are still wanting. There are other cases known of the larvae of 

 ants ])eing destroyed by parasitic Diptera and Hymenoptera, but 

 in none of them have any sufticient observations been made as to 

 the mode in which the attack is made. Lowne says that M. gidosa 

 itself attacks large beetles of the genus Anoplognathus and buries 

 them ; and he also adds the very curious statement that M. nigro- 

 cincta, when running, is able to take leaps of a foot in length. 



The Odontomachi were formerly considered a distinct sub- 

 family, distinguished by the peculiar mandibles (Fig. 77). 



