118 



FORMICID>^. 



portion strongly curved and passing into the steeply-sloped apical 

 ])ortion. Pedicel elongate, the joints clavate, gradually thickening 

 into a rounded node at apex ; abdomen very broad, cordate, convex 

 above. 



Mi/rmicaria hrunnea, so far as my experience goes, is a very 

 common ant in Burma and Tenasserim, and also at Kandy in 

 Cevlon. It always nests in the ground, by preference at the foot 

 of a tree, heaping up the excavated earth in grains round the 

 entrance, making a sort of fortification. oMcssrs. Kothney and 

 Wroughtoii compare the heaps to volcanic craters. I have never 

 .seen Myrmiraria attending aphidic, bugs, or lepidopterous larA'se, 

 nor have I found any ant-cattle or other insects in their nest. 

 The one common species is often found on trees, and abounds on 

 the flowers of mango-trees in Burma. A nest at the foot of a 

 mango-tree in my compound at Maulmain was to my knowledge 

 continuously inhabited by a jjopulous colony of M. hrunnea for 

 six years ; but Mr. liothney bas recorded the existence of a nest 

 in Barrackpore park, which apparently occupied the same site for 

 over twenty years. 



Kci] to the S'peeies. 



a. Head more or less striate ; mandibles finely 



striate ; pronotiuu anteriorly convex, not 



raised -V. hriuuicd. p. 1 18. 



b. Head and mandibles smooth, not striate ; pro- 



notum raised in front, laterally tuberciilate 



above, not convex M . hirmaua, p. 119. 



137. Myrmicai'ia brunnea, Saunders, Trana. Ent. Soc. iii (1841), 

 p. ')7, pi. v, i\<x. -2, J ■ 

 Myrmica fodieiis, Jerdon, Madr. Jour. L. S. xvii (1851), p. 115, 

 S $ ; Emery, JJull. Soc. Ent. Ital. xxiii (1891), p. 100. 



^ . Chestnut-brown, shining ; mandibles finely and closely, 

 head and thorax more or less ^\■idely, longitudinally striate ; the 



Fig. 55. — Myrmicaria brunnea, ^. a. Antenna, h. Tliorax in profile. 



nodes of the pedicel smooth or only slightly rugulose ; abdomen 

 polished and smooth ; pilosity long, abundant, reddish yellow, 



