490 Mr. F. Smith's descriptions of ncic species 



Amhlyoj)one ceplialotes. 



AVorker. — Lengtli 4 lines. Black, with obscure rufo- 

 piccous tints ; the mandibles, antennae and legs ferru- 

 ginous. Head more than twice the width of the pro- 

 thorax, subquadrate with the posterior angles rounded, 

 the anterior margin narrowly obscurely rufo-piceous, a 

 deep central channel anteriorly, extending from the inser- 

 tion of the antenna} to the middle of the head ; longitudi- 

 nally striated, excepting the central and posterior areas, 

 which are somewhat distantly punctured. Thorax elon- 

 gate, shining, strangulated in the middle ; the prothorax 

 subglobose and distantly punctured ; the mesothorax 

 abbreviated ; the metathorax elongate, narrower than the 

 prothorax, the sides nearly parallel, obliquely tnuicate 

 posteriorly ; shining and distantly punctured. Abdomen 

 smooth and shining; the first segment or node subglobose; 

 the two following large, the second largest, both very 

 convex and rounded ; the apex of the abdomen rufo- 

 piceous. 



This species is very distinct from Amhh/opone australis, 

 the type of the genus, described by Erichson in AViegm. 

 Archiv. 1842 ; it is most closely allied to A. ohscuru, 

 Smith, Cat. Form. 109. Erichson gives the number of 

 the joints of the antenna3 in this genus as 11-articulate ; 

 in the figure given of the type, they are represented 

 1 2-articulate, and this is the true number both in the 

 female and worker, the male having, as usual, an additional 

 joint. 



Collected by Mr. Lawson at Auckland. 



The genus Orectof/nothus was established by myself in 

 the year 1854, in the " Transactions of the Entomological 

 Society," vol. ii.. New Series, 1852 — 1854, on a species 

 of Avhich only a fcvr workers had been obtained in New 

 Zealand ; a second species has been found at Tairua by 

 Captain Brown : an examination of the latter renders it 

 necessary to give the generic characters with some impor- 

 tant additions. 



There are four genera of ants, all bearing a general 

 facial resemblance ; these are, Daccton, Perty ; Cerafo- 

 hasis. Smith, and Stricmigenys, Smith, all from Brazil ; 

 the genus Orectofjnathus, of New Zealand, being the 

 fourth. AVinged females of the two first genera are 

 known ; and althouo-h the neuration of the anterior wing 



