18 taIMNO.ua POLITA. PONRRIDjE. 



2. Tapinonia polita. 



Operaria. — Rufo-testacea, lsevis, tota nitidissima nuda ; anten- 

 na nnfarmibus; mandibulis, pedum articulis tarsisque pallide 

 testaceia. 



Tapinonia polita, Smith, Ilrit. Form. Trans. Ent. Soc n. s. Hi. 

 112. 2. 



Worker. Length 1| line. — Rufo-testaceous, smooth and 

 sinning ; head elongate, with a few scattered long hairs, and 

 slightly emarginate behind; the scape as long as the head ; the 

 Bagellnm about the same length, the two apical joints slightly 

 thickened ; thorax narrowed behind, and slightly strangulated 

 between the meso- and metathorax, the latter emarginate 

 behind, with the lateral angles rounded ; the scale decumbent, 

 rounded above ; abdomen ovate, sprinkled with a few long 

 hairs. 



The only specimen that I have seen of this insect is in the 

 collection of J. C. Dale, Esq., who took it in Wales. The T. 

 nit' us of Mayr. is most like it; but the scape of that insect is 

 distinctly shorter than the flagellum. and the scale is of a dif- 

 ferent form, being wider above. 



Fam. 2. Poneridse, Smith. 



The abdomen with a single scale or node ; the females and 

 \\ orkers furnished with a sting. 



Genus 1. PONERA. 



Formica, pt., Latr. Hist. Nat. Fov.rm. p. 195 (1802). 

 Ponera, Latr. Gen. Crust, et Ins. iv. 128 (1804). 



The maxillary palpi two-jointed, the labial palpi two-jointed ; 

 ocelli nnd eyes obsolete in the workers; the mandibles dilated 

 and dentate on their inner margin. The scale of the petiole 

 thickened, nodiform ; the first segment of the abdomen more or 

 less constricted ; females and workers furnished with a sting. 

 Anterior wings with one marginal, two complete submarginal, 

 and one discoidal cell. 



These characters are only applicable to the British, and one 

 or two known exotic species ; nearly all the latter have four- 

 jointed maxillary palpi, — the workers having eyes, but not ocelli. 



