CENTROMYRMEX. BOTHROPONERA. 95 



sparsely with short erect pale hairs, which are more densely set 

 towards the apex of. the abdomen beneath. Head, thorax and 

 abdomen with the characters of the genus. Head posteriorly, the 

 pro- and mesonotum rather sparingly but coarsely punctured ; 

 the mandibles, metanotum, coxae, femora and tibiae of the legs, 

 node of pedicel, and abdomen smooth, polished, shining; the 

 pronotum along the crescentic anterior margin with a broad but 

 slight depression, which is finely wrinkled. 



$ (of var. ceylonicus). "Reddish, moderately pubescent. Shining. 

 Head and thorax rather strongly punctured. Abdomen smooth 

 but for the minute piligerous tubercles or points." 



c? (of var. ceylonicus). With the characters of the genus. 

 " Head and thorax somewhat shining, irregularly sculptured, 

 abdomen smooth. Pilosity brownish, rather abundant. Black. 

 Legs and antennae brown." (Forel.) 



Length, 3-5-4 ; 4*5-5 ; <5 4'3 mm. 



ffab. Burma (Feet): Ceylon (Yerbury}. 



Dr. Porel has separated the Ceylon form as var. ceylonicus, 

 " distinguished by its smaller size, by its mandibles almost 

 without teeth on their masticatory margin, by its slightly shorter 

 and thicker antennae, and by the node of the pedicel, which is 

 much more transverse and squamiform, twice as broad as long 

 (in C. fece it is only one and a half times as broad as long)." 



Genus BOTHROPONERA. 



Ponera, pt., Jerdon, Madr. Jour. Lit. $ Sc. xvii (1851), p. 119. 



Pachychondyla, pt., Smith, Cat. vi (1858), p. 106. 



Bothroponera, Mayr, Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, xii (1862), p. 717. 



Type. B. pumicosa, Roger, from South Africa. 



Range. Ethiopian, Indo-Malayan and Australian regions. 



. Head without the mandibles quadrangular ; mandibles 

 broad, triangular, the masticatory margin equal to the inner 

 margin and armed with 7 or 8 teeth ; clypeus transverse, produced 

 backwards in an angle between the antennal carinje, arched an- 

 teriorly ; anteunal carinae rather short, broadened and laminate 

 below, covering the base of the antennae ; antenna? 12-jointed, the 

 flagellum gradually thickening towards the apex ; eyes moderately 

 large, placed at the sides, a little in front of the middle line of the 

 head. Thorax comparatively broad, rounded above, the metanotum 

 obliquely truncate at apex ; the pro-mesonotal suture well marked, 

 the meso-metanotal suture more or less obsolete above, entirely so 

 in all Indian species ; legs moderately long and stout, femora and 

 tibiae cylindrical, claws simple. Pedicel one-jointed ; node at least 

 as high as the metanotum, seen from the front oval or rounded, 

 either flat anteriorly and posteriorly, or gently convex in front, 

 concave posteriorly ; abdomen massive, the constriction between 

 the basal two segments well marked ; sting powerful, exserted. 



