BY HENRY TRYON. 161 
Pheidole, and only twenty-one* appear to have been described. 
Of this number six are stated to be Australian, five to inhabit 
the East Indian Archipelago, two India and Ceylon, one South 
Africa, six South America, whilst the habitat of the remaining 
one is uncertain. . 
I do not find any mention of ants belonging to this genus 
being harvesting species, except such as is contained in the short 
note of Mr. L. Roth, previously cited, relating to the habits of a 
particular insect which Mr. W. F. Kirby has identified with M. 
dimidiatus, Smith.+ 
The present species, as far as the workers are concerned, 1s one * 
of the largest of the genus, and appears to differ from those 
hitherto described, amongst which the following definition of its 
chief characters may serve to distinguish it :— 
MERANOPLUS, sp. 
Workers.—Length, 5.5 mm. Almost uniformly ferruginous, 
brown, abdomen red-testaceous or sometimes even almost 
black. Beset with long, thin, outstanding hairs. The whole 
upper surface, except the abdomen and the posterior por- 
tions of clypeus and metanotum and side of thorax, covered 
with coarse, often reticulated, longitudinal wrinkles. The 
pro- and mesonotum together form a convex disc, about as 
broad as long, bounded laterally by overhanging ridges, 
which are produced anteriorly into blunt teeth, and have 
tuberosities in the middle of their length. The metanotum 
* This number includes all the species referred to by Mr. F, Smith, 
who paid special attention to the Cryptoceride, under Meranoplus. 
[Vid. Trans. Ent. Soc., Lond., 2nd Series, Vol. II. pg. 213; ib. 8rd Series, 
Vol. I. p. 407; ib. Vol. V. p. 523; ib., 1876, p. 603; and Catalogue of 
Hym. Ins. in Col. B.M. Pt. VI. Formicide p. 198, 1858.] Dr. Mayr has, 
however, adverted to Mr. Smith’s inaccuracies [1.c. Introduction p. 4 and 
Journal des Museum Godeffroy Heft XII. p. 112, Hamburg, 1876], and 
indicated that some of these twenty-one species should be more correctly 
included in the typical genus of the family, and not in Meranoplus, 
as not possessing the generic characters really present in the typical 
species, viz., M. petiolatus, Smith and M. bicolor, Guér. 
+ “ Description of New Species of Cryptoceride.” Trans. Ent. Soc., 
Lond. 3rd Series, Vol. V., p. 523. 
