126 FoRMiciu.i:. 



this genus the apex of the pedicel is fixed to the upper margin of 

 the base of the abdomen, as noted above, and the upper surface of 

 the abdomen itself is more or less Hat, the lower surface convex. 



Cremasfot/aster bites virulently, but I do not think uses its sting 

 much. Like very many other ants it tends and keeps "ant- 

 cattle." According to Messrs. Aitken and Taylor, some species 

 build special byres for their "cows." C. difformis, physothorax 

 and iujiatus have the metathorax remarkably large and swollen, 

 with a hollow on each side interiorly, communicating exteriorly by 

 a tiny aperture. In live specimens there seems to be a continual 

 flow from this aperture of a sweet fluid, and .1. have watched the 

 workers of Cithnsothorax licking one another's thoraces A'igorously. 

 No species, so far as I know, stores food ; but Mr. Wroughton has 

 recoi-ded having witnessed Creuiasfogaster j>erclefjans robbing Hoho- 

 myrmed- of grain, which the latter was harvesting. 



Many instances have been noted of woodpeckers, and these, so 

 far as I know, belonging exclusively to the genus Mlcropternus, 

 dio-ging their nest-holes in nests of Cremastogaster. Three such 

 nests which I myself found in Burma belonged to M. phctfoceps, 

 Blyth. Of these, two had been excavated in the nests of C. ebe- 

 nina, Forel, and the third in the nest of C. artife.r, Mayr. In 

 none of the nests were there any ants left. They had either 

 deserted or been eaten up. That the ants, however, sometimes 

 continue to inhabit their nest after it has been taken possession of 

 by the woodpecker is recorded by Wroughton in a note sent to him 

 by Mr. Aitken. 



Ke>/ to the Si>ecies *. 



A. Metathorax uot swollen : metanotum 

 hispinous. 

 a. Head smooth and shining, at most with 

 a few half-obsolete striae auteiiorly. 

 a'. Club of llagellum of autenua? 4- 



iointed <^'- wrviif/htoni, p. 128. 



h'. Club of fiagellum of autenua? 3- 

 joiuted. 

 «-. Pronolum sculptured. 



a\ Priiuotiuu convex, rounded iu 

 front. 

 «<. Lateral augles of pronotum 



promnrent C. contemta, p. 1-30. 



b'-. Lateral angles of pronotum 



uot prominent C. OuddluCj p. 132. 



b^. Pronotum fiat above, rounded iu 

 front. 

 a\ Eyes elongate C. hodysoni, p. lol. 



* C. ferrarii, Emery, which is unknown to me, and of which the description 

 is very brief, has been omiUed in this liey. A translation of the description is, 

 however, given further on (p. 144). 



