﻿ANTS — PONERIDES 



171 



basal part is usually concealed within the more anterior segment, 

 the hind margin of which embraces it very closely. On the 

 middle of the dorsal aspect of this articulation there is usually 

 placed a stridulating organ, consisting of an elongate band or 

 patch of very fine lines ; this gives out a sound when the second 

 segment is moved in and out of the first at a time when the 

 posterior edge of the latter is slightly depressed. 



We follow Forel in including the Australian bull-dog ants — 

 Myrmecia — in Ponerides, as well as the Odontomachi. The 

 former have, however, a definite pedicel, consisting of two nodes 

 (Fig. 76). In the Odontomachi the mandibles are approximate 

 at their bases, being inserted on the middle of the front of the 

 head (Fig. 77). 



This sub-family includes a considerable number of species, 

 and is found in all parts of the world. Extremely little is 

 known as to the habits, but the true Ponerides do not, so 

 far as is known, occur in large communities, and it seems 

 probable that they are destitute of the powers of combined 

 action that are so remarkable in the Camponotides, and in some 

 of the Myrmicides and Dorylides. Most of the species that 

 have been described are known by only one sex, so that very 

 little knowledge exists as to the sexual distinctions ; but from 

 the little that is known it would appear that the three sexual 

 forms are not so differentiated as they are in most of the Cam- 

 ponotides and Myrmicides. 



The species of the genus Leptogenys are believed by Emery 

 and Forel to possess an 

 apterous female. Mr. 

 Perkins has observed that 

 the Hawaiian L.falcigera 

 has workers with differ- 

 ent kinds of sting, but 

 no true female. Males of 

 this species are, however, 

 abundant. Wroughton 

 has recently discovered 

 that one member of this 

 genus is of Termito- 

 phagous habits, but this is not the case with L.falcigera. Dino- 

 ponera grandis (Fig. 75) is the largest of the Ponerides, its 



Fig. 75. — Dinqponera grandis, worker. Amazons. 



