WHEELER AND MANN: ANTS OF PALESTINE. 169 
long as the concave declivity, armed with two small, rather acute 
teeth, which are directed upward and slightly backward and outward. 
Petiole more than twice as long as broad, in profile with a rather low, 
rounded node. Postpetiole about 14 times as long as broad, less than 
half again as broad as the petiole, in profile with a similar but some- 
what larger node. Gaster elongate elliptical, narrowed in front. 
Legs very long and slender; spurs of the posterior tibiae short but 
distinct. 
Gaster very smooth and shining, remainder of body more feebly 
shining. Mandibles subopaque, finely and densely striate; head, 
thorax, petiole, and postpetiole shagreened, the meso- and epinotum 
opaque, rugulose-punctate; the anterior portion of the head above, 
including the antennal foveae and excluding the clypeus, longitudi- 
nally rugose, becoming reticulately rugulose and punctate posteriorly; 
pronotum and upper surfaces of petiolar and postpetiolar nodes 
smoother and more shining. Epinotal declivity shining, feebly and 
transversely rugose. 
Hairs yellow, very short, blunt, sparse on the body, entirely lacking 
on the legs; very short, but distinct and oblique on the antennal 
scapes, especially towards their tips. Pubescence absent. 
Head, thorax, petiole, postpetiole, and antennae pale ferruginous; 
legs brownish yellow; gaster clear, pale yellow, with the posterior 
2 of the first segment dark brown. 
Described from eleven workers from Petra, Palestine. These were 
found in the early morning eating portions of the bait with which 
small mammal traps had been baited. 
This species differs considerably from either of the two previously 
described Palaearctic species of Deromyrma, cecconat Emery from 
Crete and rhaphidiiceps Mayr from Turkestan. The Cretan species 
is smaller (5.7 mm.), has the body black, the tibiae with oblique hairs, 
the petiolar node is angular in profile, the epinotal teeth are longer, 
the head is shorter and of a different shape behind and the antennal 
funiculi have an indistinct, 4-jointed clava. In coloration and the 
shape of the head phillipsi resembles rhaphidiiceps, but the latter is 
smaller, the occipital margin of the head has no reflected margin, the 
clypeal border is entire, the first funicular joint is longer than the 
second and the tibiae are hairy. 
5. Messor rufotestaceus Foerster. 8 .— Wady Gharandel, Sinai 
Peninsula and Petra, Palestine; in the former locality living in 
crater nests, in the latter under stones and more abundant. 
