found in Southern India. 49 



6. Atta floricola, Jerdon (p. 107). 



Worker not y^^^ o^ ^^ i'^ch long ; head oblong, square ; eyes 

 small, advanced ; jaws linear, pointed ; antennje very short, last 

 joint suddenly enlarged ; thorax very slightly grooved ; abdo- 

 minal pedicles about equal, narrow, raised ; abdomen long, oval ; 

 thorax and legs dark rufous j head and abdomen glossy dark 

 brown. 



I have obtained this very small ant, of which I have only seen 

 one kind of individual, in small numbers on flowers and leaves 

 at Tellicherr\^, and it appears to feed solely on vegetable secre- 

 tions. 



Genus Ocodoma. 



We now come to a set of Ants extremely numerous over all 

 India, and comprising several species very nearly alike, and pro- 

 bably confounded together by those who have not examined them 

 thoroughly. Almost all the species that I have seen have two 

 kinds of neuters, one of them of very large size compared with 

 the ordinary workers, and which are usually called warriors. 

 Some points in the history of the oeconomy of these Ants have 

 caused much interest among naturalists at home with regard to 

 the food of these httle creatures. The chief distinction of Oco- 

 doma from Atta consists in the former having some small spines 

 on the thorax. 



7. Ocodoma malabarica, Jerdon (p. 307). 



Worker ^th of an inch long ; head oval ; eyes moderate ; jaws 

 rounded, triangular, pointed and finely serrated ; antennae long 

 and slender ; thorax doubly notched and with some small tuber- 

 cles, especially two in the usual situation of the thoracic spines ; 

 first abdominal pedicle small and conic, second large, rounded ; 

 head, thorax and legs rufous ; abdomen blackish ; legs long. 



Warrior ^th of an inch long ; head enormous, rugose, striated, 

 deeply notched behind; eyes minute, advanced, lateral; jaws 

 triangular, bluntly toothed, and with an appendage at the base ; 

 thorax veiy rough, tubercled, with two minute rudimentary 

 spines; first abdominal pedicle small, narrow, barely raised; 

 second large, broad, raised, rounded ; antennae short ; antennae, 

 legs and abdominal pedicles rufous, the rest of the body blackish. 



This species of Ant appears to form a link between the two 

 genera Atta and Ocodoma, as shown by the rudimentar}' state of 

 the thoracic spines. I have found it chiefly about houses ; it 

 runs rapidly, lives both on insects and other animal matter, and 

 on sugar, bread, &c. At first sight I mistook it for a suiall spe- 

 cies of Formica, mentioned hereafter, F. vayans. 



Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xiii. 4 



