found in Southern India. 103 



■■- 3rd Tribe. Formicites. 



We now come to the last family, containing those ants that 

 have no sting, and the abdominal pedicle of one knot only. It 

 comprises two genera, Pohjergus and Formica, but I do not think 

 we possess any species of the former genus. 



Genus Formica. 



This genus comprises two distinct forms, the one with spines 

 on the thorax, the other unarmed, which certainly ought to 

 form two genera, inasmuch as this distinction is made to separate 

 Atta from Oecodomaf. 



* Without spines on the thorax. 



32. Formica compressa, Fabr. ? Jerdon (p. 119). 



Syn. F. indefessaX, Sykes, Trans. Ent. Soc. i. p. 104. 



Worker, length y^oths to ^ an inch ; head oblong, notched 

 behind; eyes medial, of moderate size; jaws triangular, toothed; 

 antennae long ; thorax widened anteriorly ; abdominal pedicles 

 somewhat diamond-shaped above, much raised and thin as seen 

 laterally ; legs rufous, the rest of the body black. 



Wan-ior, y%ths of an inch long; diflfers from the ordinary 

 worker in the head being proportionally much larger, and the 

 jaws having blunt teeth. 



Male, length y^^ths of an inch; has a small triangular head, 

 lateral eyes, three ocelli, the thorax raised in front, and the abdo- 

 minal pedicle broader ; wings do not reach to end of abdomen. 



Female, ^ths of an inch long ; very similar to the male, has 

 the jaws strongly toothed, somewhat oblong, and the abdomen 

 proportionally large. 



This species, well known in India as the Black Ant, is found 

 throughout every part of this country which I have traversed, 

 except the western coast, where I have never seen it. It appears 

 to me that it lives in very numerous societies in the ground, the 

 entrance to the nest being often round the trunk of a tree, or 

 close to some building. The warriors are very numerous. 

 Their food is chiefly vegetable secretions, sugar, &c., and 

 Colonel Sykes has given an interesting account of the devasta- 

 tions committed by them on preserves, sugar, &c. They bite 

 rather severely, but the pain is quite momentary. At certain 

 times great numbers of the winged males and females are seen 

 at the mouth of the nest, and they remain there for several days. 



t In the former part of this pajwr, p. 49 et seq. this name is misprinted 

 Ocndoma. 



X Col. Sykes's specimens of F. indefessa are in the Museum at the East 

 India House. — F. M. 



