IV 



PONERIDES BULL-DOC, AXTS 



173 



FIG. 76. Myrmecia pyr ifcrmis. 

 Australia. Female 

 casting wings. 



fauna, and will probably be ultimately treated as a distinct sub- 

 family. There are about thirty species. 



The ants of this genus are well known to the residents in 

 Australia, where they are called " 1 mil- 

 dog ants." They form large mounds of 

 earth for their nests. The workers, and 

 females (Fig. 76) are much alike except 

 during the period when the latter are 

 still carrying their wings. The males, 

 however, differ considerably, being of 

 more slender form, and possessing only 

 insignificant mandibles, and straight 

 antennae with a quite short basal joint. 



Forel considers Myrmecia to be the 

 most formidable of all the ants ; the 

 hills are said to be sometimes five feet 



high, and the colonies are immense in Australia. Female after 

 numbers, while the Insect is an inch or 

 more in length, and armed with a very powerful sting, the use 

 of which on the human body is said to give rise in some cases 

 to serious symptoms. On the other hand, we have seen state- 

 ments to the effect that the sting of Myrmecia has only very 

 evanescent sequelae ; it is also said that the ant-hills have only 

 a slight elevation, so that probably both these points differ 

 according to the species. It appears from a communication of 

 Miss Shepherd's that the formidable Myrmecia forjicata has its 

 larvae destroyed by a parasitic Hymenopteroii (Eucliaris myr- 

 meciae] of brilliant colour and considerable size, so that we have 

 the curious fact of the hordes of this most formidably armed ant, 

 w r hich possesses also large eyes, falling a victim to a brilliant and 

 very conspicuous Insect. Particulars of this case of parasitic attack 

 are still wanting. There are other cases known of the larvae of 

 ants being destroyed by parasitic JMptera and Hymenoptera, but 

 in none of them have any sufficient observations been made as to 

 the mode in which the attack is made. Lowne says that J/i ////A-.-,^ 

 itself attacks large beetles of the genus Anoplognathus and bun- s 

 them ; and he also adds the very curious statement that M. nigro- 

 cincta, when running, is able to take leaps of a foot in length. 



The Odontomachi were formerly considered a distinct sub- 

 family, distinguished by the peculiar mandibles (Fig. 77). 



