78 Mr. F. Smith on some new Oenera and Species 



2. Meranoplus suhpilosus. (Plate IV. fig. 2.) 



M, niger; tliorace abdomineque longitudinaliter striatis; thorace spiuis 

 diiabus postice armato ; corpore pubescente. 



Worker. Length 2^ lines. Black : the head subovate, nan'owed an- 

 teriorly, delicately and rather distantly punctm-ed, very finely and in- 

 distinctly aciculate, with a little strong abbreviated striation at the 

 posterior margin of the vertex. The thorax deeply striated ; the trans- 

 verse impressed line at the base of the metathorax profound ; the meta- 

 thorax with two straight, stout, acute spines directed backwards. Ab- 

 domen ovate, finely striated ; the nodes of the peduncle with an irre- 

 gular coarse rugose longitudinal striation ; the body, as well as the legs, 

 with a scattered, glittering, pale pubescence. 



Captured by Mr. H. W. Bates at St. Paul, Brazil. In the Collection 

 of the British Museimi, &c. 



Genus Ceratobasis, n. g. 



Head oblong in the $ and ^ ; eyes small and round, situated in a 

 groove at the sides of the head, into which the antennae are received 

 in repose ; the antennae subclavate ; the scape as long as the funiculus, 

 and gi-ooved beneath for its reception; the fimiculus twelve-jointed; 

 ocelli in a triangle on the vertex in the $ , but wanting in the ^ ; 

 mandibles incrassate, produced, with their inner edge serrated. The 

 thorax subovate in the $ , oblong and naiTowed posteriorly in the ^ ; 

 the superior -wrings with one marginal cell, open at its apex ; one sub- 

 marginal cell ; the discoidal cells obsolete ; legs stout and of moderate 

 length ; the claws of the tarsi simple ; the metathorax with a tooth on 

 each side of the insertion of the abdomen. Abdomen ovate, pointed at 

 the apex, attached to the thorax by a petiole, which is binodose ; the 

 first node oblong-quadrate, the second subglobose. The body squa- 

 mulose. 



Note. — In my 'Catalogue of the Formicidce ,' I included this insect 

 amongst those which form the gemas Meranoplus. The species was 

 received shortly before my work went to press, but the winged female 

 has come to hand subsequently. The neuration of the wings is very 

 different from that of the genus Meranoplus-, I have therefore removed 

 it from the genus in which I provisionally placed it. It is one of 

 the most singular insects in the whole family of the Formiddce. 



1. Ceratobasis shigidaris, (Plate IV. figs. 12, 13.) 



C. obsciu-e fusco-brunnea, supra squamis pellucidis tecta; capite elon- 

 gato ; alis rufo-brunneis. 



Female. Length -3 lines. Reddish-brown, with the head, thorax 

 above, and apical half of the second seginent of the abdomen very dark 

 bro\^ai ; thicldy covered with white setae, the abdomen most sparingly 



