rOLYKHACHIS. 



393 



length of their legs, which in walking i-cai.sed tlitnn well above the 

 ground. On being touched they emitted a strong pleasant smell, 

 like that of the tuberose. 



463. PolyrhacMs armata, Le Gmll. (Formica) Ann. Sac. Ent. Fr. x 

 (1841), p. ••U3, J ; Forel, Jour. Bomb. X. K. Soc. viii (1893), 



pp. 26&;34, $. _ 



Polyrachis defeusus et pandarus, Smith, Jour. Linn. Sue. ii (l8->/ ), 

 pp. 59 .^' 02, ^ ^ . 

 ^ . Black ; head, thorax and node of pedicel coarsely punctured ; 



legs and abdomen opaque, granulate ; pubescence entirely wanting. 



Head oval, narrowed posteriorly ; clypeus vertically subcarinate ; 



median lobe broad but short, its anterior margin widely emarginate. 



Thorax higher than the head, gibbous; pronotal, metauotal and 



Fig. 132. — Poltjriiavhia aruiafa, ^ . 



pedicel spines stout, moderately long, subequal, pronotal spines 

 pointing divergently forwards, metanotal and pedicel spines 

 divergently backwards ; legs long, robust, tibiae without spines or 

 hairs. Xode of pedicel cubical ; the anterior lateral angles with a 

 short vertical tooth, the posterior angles spiued ; abdomen globose. 

 2 • Similar, the thorax very massive ; the mesonotum and 

 scutellum gibbous ; the thoracic and pedicel spines much thicker 

 and somewhat shorter. 



Length, g 9-10'5 ; 2 ll'o mm. 



Hai). Assam, and throughoiit the whole of Burma and Teiias- 

 serim ; extending to Borneo, Java and the Philippines. 



P. defensus, Smith = P. armata var. minor, Forel (Jour. As. Soc. 

 Beng. Iv (1886), p. 241). Both forms occur in Burma and are 

 common. In sculpture and form of the thoracic and pi'dicel 

 spines they are exactly alike, but P. defensus is invariably smaller 

 (length 7-8 mm.), and as invariably has the abdomen red. I am a 

 little in doubt as to w hether P. definsus should not be considered a 

 good species, for the two forms never intermingle or occur in the 

 same nest. I once found a huge nest of the larger variety built 

 inside a Forest Department Inspection bungalow. It extended 

 across a window and a portion of the outer wall. The nest 

 measured 4'-3" x 2' 7" x o^". 



