44 Annals of the South African Museum. 



$ . Clypeus triangular, with a small conical protuberance on the 

 anterior margin. Frontal carinae very short and feebly developed. 

 Ocelli small. Head not wider than the pronotum at its widest. 

 Antennae filiform and long, reaching back to the apical margin of 

 the 2nd abdominal segment ; scape a little longer than the distance 

 between the two posterior ocelli. Pronotum moderately long and 

 plainly visible from above. Mesonotum with a central depression 

 extending from the base to a little beyond the middle, and with traces 

 Of lateral grooves. Node of the petiole similar to that of the £ , 

 but not so high and with the lamellar tooth less acute. The basal, 

 ventral tooth of the 1st abdominal segment is larger than in the $ . 

 Abdominal constriction feeble. Pygidium pointed, but not spined. 



P. taesatus, Fabr. (Plate I., figs. 6, 10.) 

 Suppl. Ent. Syst., p. 280, 1798. {Formica tarsata.) Mayr, Verh. 

 Zool. Bot. Ges. Wien, vol. 16, p. 894, $ , 1866. Forel, Gran- 

 didier Hist. Madag., vol. 20, p. 136, 2 , 1891. Smith, Cat. 

 Hymen. Brit. Mus., vol. 6, p. 92, $ , 1858. (Ponera spiniventris .) 

 Ibid., p. 105, ? . (Pachycondyla simillima.) 



$ . 17-20 mm. Black, masticatory margins of mandibles, lobes 

 of frontal carinae and tarsi reddish black. Head, thorax, legs and 

 antennae with a fine, inconspicuous yellow pubescence, and sparsely 

 and irregularly beset with longer yellow hairs. Pilosity and 

 pubescence of abdomen scantier, apical segment with yellowish-red 

 bristles. Mandibles with a row of large punctures along the masti- 

 catory margin, elsewhere with a few shallow punctures. 



Head evenly and finely striate, the striae running diagonally from 

 the centre outwards. Pronotum with larger striae running arcuately 

 from front to base. Meso- and epinotum transversely and rather 

 obliquely striate, the striae finer than on the pronotum. Mesopleurae 

 finely punctate. Dorsum of epinotum long, the declivity short 

 and gradual. Node of petiole above with a few almost obsolete 

 striae. Abdomen shining, 1st and 2nd segments with a few 

 irregular punctures on the dorsum near the base, their apices more 

 closely punctured. Third and 4th segments evenly and fairly closely 

 punctured ; apical segment microscopically rugulose at the base, 

 shining and impunctate at the apex. Anterior tarsi densely clothed 

 beneath with golden, bristly hairs. 



? 23 mm., including the mandibles; similar to the £ except for 

 the usual sexual differences. Pronotum more than twice as wide 

 as long ; mesonotum wider than long, one-quarter longer than the 



