40 



HYMENOPTERA. 



fuscous ; the clypeus with a central longitudinal carina ; the man- 

 dibles serrated on their inner edge, with one or two stouter teeth 

 at the apex. Thorax rounded in front and narrowed behind, 

 the metathorax sometimes slightly ferruginous ; legs elongate, 

 the apical joints of the tarsi ferruginous. Abdomen small, ovate, 

 covered with short pale yellow silky pubescence, interspersed 

 with longer pale hairs -, the head and thorax have also some scat- 

 tered pale hairs ; the scale of the peduncle subovate. 



Hab. Adelaide. (Coll. F. Smith.) 



134. FORMICA NIGRO-^ENEA. B.M. 



Worker. Length 3* lines. Black, with a green tinge. Head 

 large, wider than the thorax, emarginate behind ; the clypeus 

 subcarinate, its anterior margin slightly notched in the middle ; 

 mandibles obscurely ferruginous, punctured and strongly dentate 

 within. Thorax short, rounded in front, much narrowed behind, 

 terminating almost in a point at the verge of the truncation of 

 the metathorax ; the apical joints of the tarsi obscurely rufo-pi- 

 ceous. Abdomen ovate, thinly covered with fine silky pale yellow 

 pubescence ; the margins of the segments thinly fringed with pale 

 glittering yellow hairs, a few hairs of the same colour sprinkled 

 over the head and thorax; scale subovate, small, rounded above. 



Hab. Melbourne. 



135. FORMICA PURPUREA. B.M. 



Worker. Length 4 lines. Head, antennae, thorax and legs, 

 bright red with a faint purple or blue tint ; sometimes with the 

 thorax posteriorly and the legs dusky, the purple tint being more 

 vivid ; abdomen bright violet, with sometimes a coppery tinge. 

 In form resembling F. rufa, but with the head more narrowed 

 anteriorly; the eyes smaller and placed more forward on the 

 head ; the antennae rather longer and more slender ; the thorax 

 with a deep strangulation between the meso- and metathorax ; 

 the scale of the peduncle small, narrow, with its upper margin 

 rounded and blunt. Abdomen ovate; the legs thinly covered 

 with short pubescence. 



Hab. Melbourne. 



136. FORMICA NIGRIVENTRIS. 



Formica nigriventris, Guer. Voy. Coq. Zool. ii. 203. Atlas, pi. 8. 



f. 4, 4 a, . 

 Hab. Australia (Port Jackson). 



