420 Annals of the South African Museum. 



in front, and, excluding the mandibles, about as long as wide. Posterior 

 half of the head smooth and very shining. Occipital emargination 

 wide but not deep. Second node of petiole angular at the sides, its 

 anterior margin nearly semicircular or very convex 



crassinoda, Emery, and races. 



P. punctulata, Mayr. (Plate VI, fig. 67.) 

 Verb.. Zool. Bot. G-es. Wien, vol. 16, p. 899, 1/, 1866. 



%. 4 - 2-4*5mm. Head and thorax varying from dark reddish-brown 

 to light brownish-red, the head always darker than the thorax, espe- 

 cially near the anterior corners and along the middle of the vertex ; 

 abdomen yellowish-brown, legs and antennae dirty ochreous, mastica- 

 tory margin of the mandibles dark brown. Antennae with a fine and 

 pale pubescence, absent elsewhere. Pilosity sparse, composed of long, 

 yellowish and semi-erect hairs, oblique on the tarsi. Mandibles and 

 posterior half of the head very shining, the latter sometimes less so 

 owing to a fine alutaceous sculpture. Anterior half of the head 

 faintly shining, with widely spaced longitudinal striae, the spaces 

 between the striae finely reticulate, punctate or aciculate. Mandibles 

 strongly and sparsely punctured. Clypeus with a few longitudinal 

 striae in front, the middle one strongest, forming almost a carina. 



Pronotum and mesonotum very finely rugulose or alutaceous, the 

 former slightly shining and with faint transverse striae. Epinotum, 

 sides of mesonotum and upper faces of the nodes finely and regularly 

 reticulate-punctate, the dorsum of the epinotum slightly shining, the 

 nodes dull. Abdomen microscopically reticulate, feebly shining. 

 Legs smooth and shining. 



Head not deeply emarginate behind, very convex above in all direc- 

 tions, widest at about the posterior third, as wide as long, narrower in 

 front than behind, the sides and occipital lobes very convex. Seen 

 from the side, the head is higher in front of the eyes than behind them, 

 i. e. the front part is much thicker than the part behind the eyes. The 

 sides behind the eyes are slightly hollowed out, but the wide depression 

 so formed is not easily visible except at a certain angle. Clypeus 

 arcuately emarginate in the middle. Eyes placed in front of the 

 middle of the sides. Mandibles broad, convex, the masticatory margin 

 concave and armed with two strong obtuse teeth at the apex. Frontal 

 carinae short, hardly extending beyond the level of the posterior 

 margin of the eyes, widely divergent behind. Scape extending back as 

 far as the middle of the head, the flagellum not much longer than the 

 scape. Pronotum considerably narrowed in front to form a neck, and 



