100 FORHICIDJE. 



with a very broad dentate masticatory margin ; clypeus narrow, 

 transverse, produced back to an angle between the antennal 

 carinse, and carinate down the middle, the anterior margin 

 transverse ; antennal carinae short, broadly laminate in front, 

 covering the base of the antennas ; antennae 12-jointed, only 

 slightly clavate towards the apex, the basal two joints of the 

 flagellum subequal ; eyes larger in proportion than in the genus 

 Potiera. Thorax : the pronotum broad, convex ; the mesonotum 

 prominent, more or less gibbous, the pro-meso- and meso- 

 metanotal sutures well marked ; the metanotum tectiforrn, pinched, 

 and more or less acute along its basal portion above (more so in 

 the sole Indian species than in the type of the genus), the apex 

 obliquely truncate posteriorly; viewed from the back the apical 

 face is subtriangular ; legs stout, moderately long, the basal joint 

 of the tarsus in the posterior legs longer than the tibiae. Pedicel 

 one-jointed, node of various shapes ; abdomen short, cylindrical. 



$ . Very similar to the ; pronotum only slightly depressed, 

 forming part of the dorsum of the thorax; mesonotum short, flat, 

 with a U-shaped impressed line ; scutellnm and postscutellum 

 slightly gibbous ; metanotum short, the basal portion much shorter 

 than the apical truncate portion ; legs, node of the pedicel and 

 abdomen as in the . 



121. Mesoponera melanaria, Emery (Ponera), Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. 

 1893, p. 260, footnote, $ ; Forel (Ponera), Jour. Bomb. N. H. Soc. 

 xiii (1900), p. 323, . 



$ . Dark castaneous brown, smooth and somewhat shining ; the 

 mandibles, antennae and legs much lighter, inclining to reddish. 

 Pilosity almost absent, confined to a few erect somewhat long hairs 

 on the clypeus and mandibles, and on the apex of and beneath 

 the abdomen. Head with the cheeks somewhat flattened, the 



Fig. 52. Mesoponera melanaria, 



posterior lateral angles rounded, not prominent, as broad in front 

 as posteriorly. Node of the pedicel very convex in front, flat, 

 almost concave, posteriorly, not so broad at the apex as at base. 

 For the rest the characters of the genus. 



$ . Exactly similar to the , lighter in colour, with the sex 

 differences as noted under the generic characters. 



Length, $ 7 ! 5-8'5 ; $ 9mm. 



Hob. "Western India (Wroughton) ; Ceylon (Yerbury) ; Lower 

 Burma (Binglicmi). 



