276 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Abdomen having a bright green tinge in certain lights, and 

 covered with a short silky pile. 



I found the males and females swarming on the nests 

 about the middle of October. The nest is a large hill, very 

 like that of our F. rufa in size and shape, but covered by a 

 dome of minute stones instead of sticks. These insects 

 always form the exterior of the dome of some dark material : 

 near Sidney, where minute fragments of chocolate-coloured 

 ironstone abound, they form the hill entirely of it ; but in 

 other localities, where they are constrained to build with 

 fragments of white limestone, they carefully cover the nest 

 with a layer of charcoal, not more than one-eighth of an inch 

 in thickness, probably to increase the temperature of the nest. 



I have frequently observed the neuters of this species 

 *' milking" the larvae of a small black Cicada with their an- 

 tennae and fore legs, and greedily feeding upon the milky 

 secretion which the larvae exude from excretory ducts near 

 the anus. The hills of these insects smell strongly of formic 

 acid. 



2. F. Smithii, Lowne. — An undescribed species, very 

 similar in appearance to the last when alive, and extremely 

 abundant ; yet I never found the nest or perfect insects. 



Workers 3 lines long. Head and thorax bright red ; an- 

 tennae and legs dusky red ; scale of the peduncle and abdo- 

 men black. Head subemarginate behind and broad, nar- 

 rowed in front so as to be almost triangular. Eyes small. 

 Thorax with a deep strangulation between the meso- and 

 metathorax. Scale of the peduncle small and narrow, its 

 upper margin rounded and blunt. Abdomen ovate. Abdo- 

 men and legs covered thinly with gray pubescence. 



3. F. oeneovirens, Lowne. — Small worker scarcely 2 lines 

 long. Ferruginous, thinly covered with short hairs ; thorax 

 and abdomen with a bright green tint. Head broadest before, 

 and rounded behind. Eyes ovate and prominent, placed far 

 back on the head. Ocelli very distinct. Mandibles strong, 

 triangular, striated, and deeply dentated within. Clypeus 

 carinated in its centre. Thorax rounded in front, the poste- 

 rior portion compressed, with a strangulation between the 

 meso- and metathorax. Scale of the peduncle ovale. Legs 

 xexy long and slender. 



The large workers are Sg- lines long, with a nearly square 

 bright red head, considerably broader than the thorax. 



