470 Mr. F. Smith on 



XXXVII. Observations on Ants of Equatorial Africa. 

 By Frederick Smith, Esq., Pres. Entom. Soc. 



[Read 5th January, 1863.J 



In the " Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa," by M. 

 du Chaillu, the seventeenth chapter is devoted to the ants of that 

 region ; the author informs us that he is acquainted with ten 

 species, and then proceeds to give some account of the habits of 

 the more remarkable ones ; particularizing the Bashikouay ant, 

 the Red ant, the Nchellelay, the Little ant, the Red-leaf ant, and 

 the Nest-building ant. 



I have been fortunate enough to have an opportunity of ex- 

 amining some specimens of an ant, which I think I shall be able 

 to identify with the Bashikouay ant ; and also to prove that it is a 

 species of the genus Anomma; not having any relationship with 

 the insect figured in M. du Chaillu's book, which is not an ant at 

 all, but a large worker, or soldier, of some species of Termes. 

 The specimens of the Bashikouay ant which I have examined 

 were found in the skin of a large Gorilla, lately imported into this 

 country. 



The following is a description of the ant: — 



Destitute of eyes ; of a semi-opake dull red ; the head and 

 mandibles darker than the body; the head slight, widest in front 

 in small specimens ; in the large workers or soldiers, it is oblong- 

 quadrate ; the sides being parallel, with a faint contraction'in the 

 middle ; the mandibles curved, with an acute tooth in the middle 

 of their inner margin, their apex acute ; the head very large, 

 more than twice the width of the thorax, and deeply emarginate 

 behind ; two teeth on the pectus, at the base of the middle coxae. 



In the fourth volume of " The Proceedings of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia," Dr. Savage has described one 

 of the travelling ants of Equatorial Africa, which he names 

 Anomma rubellum, and thus briefly describes : — " rubrum, subni- 

 tidum, antennis, coxis, geniculis tarsisque rubris, versus marginem 

 diaphanis." The habitat is the west coast of the Gaboon river, near 

 the equator. 



Dr. Savage then proceeds to give a very interesting account of 

 the habits of the Anomma ; the following is a brief abstract of some 

 of its more remarkable features : — 



They are exceedingly ferocious, have no permanent dwelling, 



