410 Annals of the South African Museum. 



the husks are bleached almost white by the action of the sun. The 

 nests of this ant appear to be very free of myrmecophilous insects, and 

 even the ubiquitous Thysanuran is rarely to be found in them. The 

 ants appear to have definite foraging grounds, to which access is 

 obtained by well-marked and smooth paths leading from the nest in 

 various directions. 



Var. Schencki, Forel. 

 Schultze, Reise Slid. Afrika, vol. iv, p. 13, $ , 1910. 



" ^ major. 9 mm. Entirely black. Sculpture a little less close and 

 coarse ; pilosity on the body scantier. Pronotum with less pronounced 

 lateral humps. Epinotum rounded, without teeth. Head evenly and 

 longitudinally striate. Petiole as in the race. • 



" Bethanien, Great Namaland. (Schenck.)" 



Var. decipiens, Forel. 

 Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg., vol. 49, p. 177, £ , 1905. 



" $ . 4 - 5-9 mm. Head of the $ maxima of 8-9 mm., transversely 

 rectangular, one-sixth Avider than long. Epinotum cuboid, rounded 

 between the two faces, usually unarmed, sometimes bidentate. First 

 node as in the type of capensis, but with a shorter peduncle than in 

 the other races ; both nodes thick. Head and thorax fairly strongly 

 and irregularly striate. A few striae on the nodes. Abdomen with a 

 few large piligerous punctures at the base. Like capensis, to which it 

 stands in the same relation that the race capitatus does to barbarus, 

 but much smaller, and entirely black. $ 10-11 mm. Like the £ . 



"Natal and Cape Colony (Wroughton)." 



Var. proba, Forel. 

 Sitzungsb. K. A. Wiss. Munich, p. 266, £ , 1911. 



" ^ major. 10-11 mm. Black, head red, thorax with reddish-brown 

 markings. Epinotum entirely unarmed. Pronotum 'rounded as in 

 the var. decipiens Forel. Head sharply striate, but not, as in the 

 type of capensis, reticulate-punctate in between the striae. Thorax 

 and petiole more coarsely and sharply sculptured than in decipiens. 



" Bothaville, O.F.S. (Dr. Brauns)." 



