104 Lieut. -Col. Sykes's Descriptions 



had crowned the summit and lodged their burthen on the common 

 heap." 



On the 13th of October of the same year, after the closing thun- 

 der-storms of the monsoon, I found this species in various places si- 

 milarly employed as they had been in June preceding : one heap 

 contained a double-handful of grass- seeds. 



It is probable that the Atta providens, is a field-species of ant, as 

 I have not observed it in houses. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES. 

 PLATE XIII. Fig. 2. 

 2 a. Attaprovidens, ne\xter,\m.gn\fiedi. 2b. One of the mandibles. 2 c. One 



of the maxillae. 2d. The labium and its appendages. 



Formica indkfessa, Sykes. 

 Plate XIII. Fig. 3. 



9 Nigra, capite magno, thorace compresso, antennis pedibusque fer- 

 rugineis. Caput maximum atrum. Antennse ferrugineee, arti- 

 culo primo longissimo nigro. Mandibulse jDorrectse 6-dentat3e. 

 Thorax antice rotundatus, medio constrictus continuus, postice- 

 que attenuatus. Squama petiolaris transverse elevata, nigra. 

 Abdomen ovatum concolor. Femora ferruginea. Tibiee tarsse- 

 que fuscantes. 



Long. lin. £4-, lat. lin. 2. 



Habitat in India Orientali circa Poena. 



Mus. Dom. Sykes. 



$ capite multo minore, abdomine dilatato. 



This insect appi'oaches F. compressa. Fab., and infests houses. 



(Among the insects collected from the same nest there are many 

 specimens, of different sizes, having small heads, but they are uni- 

 formly much smaller than the individuals of both sexes above de- 

 scribed. Can they be males which have lost their wings, or are they 

 varieties of neuters ? — F. W. H.) 



The depths at which these ants have their nests under the foun- 

 dations of houses and about the roots of trees, baffled my attempts 

 to discover their internal ceconomy ; but I observed ants of three 

 sizes, although not differing very much in form, and not at all in 

 colour. The largest (of which a drawing is given) is the female, and 

 I have a specimen ^ths of an inch long : the next size is probably 

 the male ; the head and thorax are much smaller than in the female, 

 but the abdomen in proportion is larger. The third size is probably 

 the neuter, and differs only from the male in being more slender. 



