THE AUSTRALIAN HONEY ANT. 499 



from the basal segments outwards. The antenna is also 

 thickly clothed with short hairs, and especially towards 

 the apex with leaf -shaped sense hairs. The clypeus is 

 rounded, with a slightly developed median loLe and a 

 row of stiff hairs round the anterior border ; it is not 

 carinated. 



The mandibles have six teeth, those on one side be- 

 ing rather more developed and more pointed than those 

 on the other. They decrease pretty regularly from the 

 outside inwards. 



The maxilla3 are formed on the usual type. The 

 maxillary palpi are six-jointed, the third segment being 

 but slightly longer than the second, fourth, or fifth ; 

 while in 3Iyrmecocystus the third and fourth are greatly 

 elongated. The segments of the palpi have on the inner 

 side a number of curious curved blunt hairs besides the 

 usual shorter ones. 



The labial palpi are four-jointed. The eyes are ellip- 

 tical and of moderate size. The ocelli are not developed. 



The thorax is arched, broadest in front, without any 

 marked incision between the meso- and meta-notum ; 

 the mesonotum itself is, when seen from above, very 

 broadly oval, almost circular, rather broader in frunt 

 and somewhat flattened behind. The legs are of mod- 

 erate length, the hinder ones somewhat the longest. 

 The scale or knot is heart-shaped, flat behind, slightly 

 arched in front, and with a few stiff, slightly diverging 

 hairs at the upper angles. The length is about two- 

 thirds of an inch. 



The following refers to a new species of mite which 

 I have found in nests of Lasius flavus, and of which Mr. 

 Michael has been good enough to draw up the following 

 description. 



Ueopoda formicaei^, sp. nov. 



This species, although it falls strictly within the ge- 

 nus Uropoda, and not within Kramer's genus Trachy- 

 notus as defined by that writer, still in most respects, 

 except the very distinctions upon which the genus is 



