CREMASTOGASTEE. 125 



Eange. Both hemispheres. 



. Head more or less square from the front, the angles rounded ; 

 mandibles strong and thick, but comparatively narrow, the masti- 

 catory margin with generally 4 teeth ; maxillary palpi 5-, the labial 

 palpi 3-jointed ; antennae (in all Indian species) 11-jointed, the club 

 of the flagellurn formed of the 4, 3, or 2 apical joints ; eyes lateral, 

 of moderate size ; ocelli generally absent. Thorax comparatively 

 yarrow, compressed and constricted at the junction of the iueso- 

 and metanotum ; pro-mesonotal suture not always distinct ; meso- 

 metanotal suture deeply marked ; metanotum bispiuous posteriorly ; 

 legs long and slender. Pedicel with the 1st joint more or less 

 broadened, anteriorly concave or flat above ; 2nd joint with 

 rounded, slightly raised node, often longitudinally grooved ; apex 

 of pedicel attached to the upper basal surface of the 1st abdominal 

 segment ; abdomen more or less cordate or subcordate. 



$ . Resembles the ; in some species ergatoid, wingless, and 

 with the form of the thorax nearly identical with that in the , 

 but the abdomen in these cases serves to distinguish the sex at a 

 glance, being enormously massive and large. Ocelli present, but 

 often distorted and incomplete. Metanotal spines stouter, and 

 thicker at base ; in some species absent. Wings : the front wing 

 with only one cubital and one discoidal cell. 



c? . Head narrower than the thorax, the occiput broad ; eyes 

 large, placed rather high up on the sides of the head ; ocelli not 

 prominent ; mandibles narrow, with the apex acute ; antennae 12- 

 jointed, the scape short, about equal to the basal three joints of 

 the Hagellum, the latter with no distinct club, but the apical joint 

 the longest. Thorax somewhat as in the $ , but the metattiorax 

 unarmed ; legs slender ; wings more ample, longer and broader pro- 

 portionately than in the $ . Pedicel and abdomen as in the ; 

 genitalia not prominent. 



The maj. and $ min. in this genus do not differ, except a 

 little in size, in most of the species. Cremastoyaster is essentially a 

 tree ant, and the majority of the species build brown-papery 

 looking nests of vegetable fibre, more or less, at least in the well- 

 established nests, of a globular shape, and with little projecting 

 eaves covering the numerous entrances into the interior ; the 

 interior itself is crowded with a mass of galleries, chambers, &c. 

 with dividing-walls made of the same brittle papery material. 

 A few species construct their nests in the hollows of trees, and 

 still fewer in the ground or under stones. The same species 

 varies in its nesting-habits in different parts of the country. 

 C. royenhoferi, Mayr, for instance, in Burma always builds the 

 ordinary papery nests fixed round the branch of a tree ; but in the 

 Eastern Dec-can, Wroughton found it building in the hollows of 

 trees. 



The Indian species of Cremastor/aster, when excited or moving 

 quickly, turn their broad, subcordate abdomen over their backs, 

 the feat being more easily performed owing to the fact that in 



