14 HYMENOPTERA. 



Formica compressa, Hardw. Zool. Journ. iv. 114. 



St.Fary. Hym. i. 214. 17- 



Jerdon, Madr. Journ. (1851) 119 ; Ann. ^ Mag. Nat. Hist. 

 2ud ser. xiii. 103. 



Smith, Journ. Proc. Linn. Soc. ii. 53. 

 Formica indefessa, Sykes, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond.i. 104. pi. 13. f. 6. 



Hah. India (Madras, Bengal) ; Hong Kong ; North China 

 (Shanghai); Philippine Islands ; Australia? 



Female. Length 6-7 lines. — Black : the flagellum, coxic and 

 femora, and the base of the abdomen beneath, usually more or 

 less ferruginous ; the head rather narrower than the thorax ; the 

 body shining ; the wings hyaline, slightly fuscous anteriorly, with 

 the nervures fusco-ferruginous ; the scale emarginate above, sub- 

 quadrate, with the lateral angles above rounded. Abdomen ovate. 



Male. Length 4 lines. — Black : the head small, subtriangular 

 above; the body beneath, the legs, mandibles and flagellum 

 usually testaceous, differing in depth of colour ; wings subhyaline, 

 yellowish anteriorly. 



Mr. Jerdon says, " This species is well known in India as the 

 Black Ant ; it is found in every part of the country ; it lives in 

 numerous societies under ground ; the warriors are very nume- 

 rous. At certain times great numbers of the winged males and 

 females are seen at the mouth of the nest; they remain there for 

 several davs, when they take wing in vast numbers, always at 

 night." 



45. Formica gigas. PI. III. fig. 30. B.M. 



Formica gigas, Latr. Hist. Nat. Fourm. 105. pi. 2. f. 6. ^ major. 



Smith, Proc. Linn. Soc. ii. 53. 

 Formica angusticoUis, Jerdon, Madras Journ. Lit. and Sc. (1851 ) 

 120? 



Worker minor. Length 8 lines. — More elongate and narrower 

 than the larger worker ; the head much narrower and not widened 

 behind the eyes ; the legs proportionably longer, the scale of the 

 abdomen of the same conical form. 



Female. Length 12 lines. — Of the same colour as the workers, 

 the head scarcely as wide as the thorax ; the eyes placed high on 

 the head ; the head elongate ; the thorax ovate ; the scutellum 

 very convex ; the scale of the abdomen deeply notched. 



Male. Length 8 lines. — Blackish-brown : the coxae, femora, 

 apical joints of the tarsi and the flagellum i)ale testaceous ; thorax 

 elongate-ovate, shining on the disk; wings hyahne, the anterior 

 pair yellowish in front; the head much narrower than the thorax. 



Hab. India ; Malacca ; Singapore ; Borneo. 



