BY HENRY TRYON. 157 
tionship) in which it excavates its galleries.* Two species at 
least in Queensland are almost entirely nocturnal in their habits, 
are found in decaying and decayed wood, and probably con- 
tribute towards the destruction of forest trees. 
The following is a description of the workers of this harvest- 
ing ant :— 
PHEIDOLE sp. ? 
Workers (major).—Length, 5 m.m. (nearly 34 lines); head 
and thorax, reddish chestnut brown, front border of head 
and mandibles almost black, 2nd node of petiole and 
abdomen very dark brown, legs, yellow-brown; hairy ; 
dull, except abdomen, which is bright; mandibles, striated, 
with punctures here and there on the entire outer surface, 
masticatory margin with three very obtuse blunt low 
teeth ; shaft of antenne not reaching beyond the middle 
of the length of the head. Head longer than broad, with 
parallel sides; posterior angles rounded and swollen with 
a deep longitudinal groove dividing the posterior portion ; 
the whole surface of head densely and_ finely punctate ; 
covered with wrinkles, which are anteriorly longitudinal, 
converge as the groove is approached, and are transverse 
and reticulated on the posterior surface. Clypeus almost 
smooth, with a rounded emargination on its anterior border. 
Frontal lamine short and widely divergent. Thorax 
densely finely punctate. Pronotum and mesonotum not 
distinct, forming an elevated disc, with rounded-angular 
sides and truncated posteriorly, transversely wrinkled, not 
transversely impressed ; metanotum with two sharp teeth, 
with transverse wrinkles anterior, and densely punctate only 
between and posterior to them. Petiole densely finely 
punctate, anterior node compressed, transverse, emarginate 
above, posterior node not compressed, transverse, with a 
blunt cone on either side. Abdomen smooth, silky, 
microscopically netted. 
Workers (minor).—Length nearly 3 m.m. Reddish-brown, 
joints of legs and tarsi yellow-brown; dull, except abdo- 
men, which is silky-bright ; with erect hairs here and there, 
see Be eat ane i) SRE AG ie ee 
* Mr. H. O. Forbes had painful experience of this fact on his first 
acquaintance with Myrmecodia, the life history of which he has so well 
illustrated. [‘‘A Naturalist’s Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago,” 
pp. 79-82. | 
M 
