250 fORMICIDJE. 



squamiform, with a distinct upper margin ; 2nd node globose ; 

 abdomen oval. 



Length, If. 7'5-8 ; $ 2-5-3 mm. 



Hah. Becorded so far only from. Ceylon (Yerbury 4' Green). 



The great difference in size between the I/ and of this species 

 recalls the species of Phtdologiton. 



283. Phidole rhombinoda, Mayr, Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, xxviii 

 (1878), pp. G75 & G78, I/ ; Forel, Rev. Suisse Zool. x (1902), 

 pp. 178 & 195, I/ $ ; id. Jour. Bomb. N. H. Soc. xiv (1902), 

 pp. 533 & 544. 



I/. Very dark brown, shining, the head anteriorly and the 

 mandibles, sides of the thorax and of the pedicel chestnut-red, 

 scape of the antenna) and the legs brownish yellow. Head, thorax 

 and abdomen covered with scattered erect pale reddish hairs. Head 

 rectangular, as broad posteriorly as in front and a little longer 

 than broad, somewhat coarsely longitudinally striate, the stria; 

 rnnning into reticulations on the apex of the lateral lobes ; 

 mandibles smooth, with some slight scattered punctures ; clypeus 

 einarginate in the middle, with a smooth shining medial portion 

 above the emargination ; antennal carinae short, divergent ; 

 antennal groove broad and shallow, punctured within ; scape of 

 the antenna) falling short of the top of the head by about halt' 

 its length. Thorax transversely sculptured and striate, the pro- 

 notum convex anteriorly, laterally obtusely tuberculate, the trans- 

 verse mesonotal ridge and meso-metanotal suture very deep and 

 distinct ; basal portion of the inetanotum smooth and shining, 

 metanotal spines short, stout, acute and erect. Pedicel broad in 

 front of the 1st node and laterally subdentate ; 1st node transverse, 

 not einarginate above, with no appendix beneath ; 2nd node about 

 three times as broad as the 1st node, anteriorly convex, transversely 

 striate, posteriorly slightly constricted, and paler in colour ; abdo- 

 men from above broadly oval, nearly circular, obscurely striate at 

 base. 



$ . Head, thorax and pedicel light castaneous brown, antenna? 

 and legs a paler shade of the same, abdomen very dark brown, 

 almost black ; head, thorax and abdomen highly polished and 

 shining, the sides of the thorax and posteriorly, the basal portion 

 of the metanotum delicately rugulose ; pilosity as in the I/ . 

 Head oval ; antenna? long, the scape extending beyond the top 

 of the head by fully one-third of its length from insertion ; eyes 

 lateral, remarkably large, and placed about the middle of the head. 

 Thorax : the pronotum laterally tuberculate, the transverse ridge 

 and the meso-metanotal suture very deep and distinct as in the I/ ; 

 metanotum laterally bidentate. Pedicel as in the I/ ; the 2nd 

 node only proportionately somewhat bell-shaped ; abdomen broadly 

 oval. 



$ . Light reddish brown, the posterior margins of the abdominal 

 segments narrowly testaceous. Head, pro-, meso- and metanotum 

 and base of abdomen longitudinally striate, the scutellum and 



