MANN! wis OF THE Fill ISLANDS. 466 



Opaque, except gaster which is Bhining. Mandibles Bomewhat Bhining, 

 ahallowrj punctate. Head, thorax, epinotum, petiole, postpetiole, and le^s 

 \n\ densely punctate. Gaster striate basally. 



Stiff erect hairs very sparse on head and body, and Bhorl curved hail 

 sparserj distributed <>n head, more abundant <>n appendages. Spongiform 

 app sndagi s t i n « - on ventral Burface .- 1 1 1 < I posterior border of petiole, Btronger on 

 postpet iole. 



Dark brown. Mandibles, funiculi, and tarsi lighter. 



Female. Length 5 nam. 



Very similar to the worker, except in thoracic structure and in the stouter 

 epinotal spines. The wings are clear, with fuscous veins and stigma. 



Mai . Length 3.90 mm. 



Head, excluding eyes, much longer than broad, sides posterior to eyes 

 slightly convex, posterior corners very narrowly rounded, border deeply ex- 

 cised. Mandibles well. developed, acute, their blades at middle with a broad, 



triangular tooth. Clypeus at middle elevated into a broad carina, anterior 

 herder feebly concave. Eyes Convex, about one third as long as head, sit uated 

 at a distance from base of mandibles a little less than their longitudinal diame- 

 ter. Antennae 13-jointed, scape shorter than eye, first funicular joint more 

 than half as long as scape, remaining joints elongate, cylindrical and subequal, 

 except the terminal which is oik 1 and one half t imes as long as the penult imate. 

 Thorax robust. Parapsidal furrows strong. Epinotum with flattened base 

 and declivity, concave between the spines which are reduced to blunt tubercles. 

 Petiole slender, the node longer than broad and rounded above. Postpetiole 

 slightly longer than broad, a little broader than the petiole. Gaster long and 

 narrowed apically, genitalia prominent. 



I lead, thorax, petiole, and postpetiole densely punctate and opaque. Gaster 

 shining, with short striae at base of apical segment. Wings densely hairy. 



Dark brown. 



Viti Levu: Nadarivatu (Type-locality), Waiyanitu, Vesari. Ka- 

 davu: Buke Levu. 



Belongs in a group with lon'ac Emery and chyzeri Emery from Xew 

 Guinea, resembling the latter in having the basal mandibular spine 

 situated dor-ally; S. nidifex differs from chyzeri in being much larger, 

 the basal mandibular tooth is long and slender, similar to the terminal 

 teeth; the thorax and petiole entirely different. 



It is rather a common ant in certain localities, but the colonies are 

 difficult to locate. The favorite noting site is between two layers of 

 -tone, though nests were found also beneath stones and, more rarely, 

 in rotten logs. The colonies sometimes contain upward of a hundred 



