Prof. 0. Ilcer on the House Ant of Madeira. 323 



second joint somewhat longer than the first. The pergamcnta- 

 ceous stalk or stipes of the maxilla; with a thin membranous, 

 ciliated sheath (case or cover). 



Antenna? m Me males seventeen-jointed, the first joint thicker 

 but not lomjer than the next succeeding joints ; in the females, 

 labourers, and soldiers twelve-jointed, with a rather long shaft 

 and eleven-jointed Hagcllum, the three last joints of which form 

 a slight, gradually attenuated club. 



Wings with three cubital and two discoidal cells; the middle 

 cubital cell stipitate. 



The tibia in the females, labourers, and soldiers with a pec- 

 tinate hook. 



The back of the metathorax with spines. 



The abdominal pedicle two-jointed, the first joint clavate. 



The family consists of males, females, labourers, and large- 

 headed soldiers. 



This genus belongs to the group Myrmicidie ; it differs alto- 

 gether from Myrmica, Latr., by the much shorter two-jointed 

 palpi, by the seventeen-jointed antennae in the males, and the 

 venation of the wings ; in this last point it approaches nearer 

 the genus Atta, but in this the maxillary palpi are five-jointed, 

 and the metathorax is unarmed with spines. In the two-jointed 

 palpi our genus agrees with Pheidule and Typhlupone, Westw. ; 

 the latter genus belongs to the group Ponerid/e, and cannot 

 therefore come into consideration ; the former is founded by 

 Westwood on an Indian species, the Atta providens, Sykes ; 

 but from this, (Ecophthora differs in the much longer first joint 

 of the tarsus, the anteriorly sharper-toothed mandibles, the 

 maxillary-case produced beneath, by the fusiform second joint 

 of the maxillary palpi, the much less deeply notched upper lip, 

 the differently shaped abdominal pedicle, and the marked division 

 of the neuters into two forms, widely differing in the structure 

 of the head. 



(Ecophthora pusilla, Heer. 



Allied species to it are the Myrmica omnivora, L. Latr., 

 Myrmica nana, Latr., and Atta megacephala, F. Latr., both the 

 latter of which must certainly belong to the genus (Ecophthora. 

 The Myrmica omnivora, Latr., is spread overall tropical America, 

 and also appears in Egypt as one of the pests of the country. 

 More recently it has also spread northw'ards, and in Kasan as 

 in London does great mischief in houses. From this M. omni- 

 vora, our ^Madeira kind is distinguished (over and above the 

 generic characters) by the armed thorax, and by not having 

 both the segments of the node or abdominal pedicle (die beiden 

 Glieder des Knotchens) cylindrical. With the Mi/rmica nana, 



21* 



